"You'll meet them all again on their long journey to the middle."

In the spirit of “The Usual Suspects”, this week’s original fiction tries to get all Verbal Kint.  There are 43 song and album title references.  This was a great exercise and I encourage you to try it.

 

There's a reason Stillwater sounds like Heart

“You’ve Got to Have Heart”
By Jon Stark
September, 2013; 344 words.

Spy versus Spy.  Black on Black.  You spend your life Alone, running with a Brigade of Bad Animals.  Some think I am Heartless, a Wild Child who learned the Secret.  Sure, I like to Kick it Out, maybe Even it Up every now and then – get some of the Rage out of My Crazy Head.  You may think my life is Nothin’ At All but you don’t know the hours I’ve spent Stranded, struggling to get Back to Avalon.  You haven’t lived the Cruel Nights of doubt, absently humming a Sylvan Song while cooling my heals outside of the Dog & Butterfly, always certain that the next gust is the cleansing Mistral Wind that will sweep me away.  Inside the pub I Wait For an Answer and then, There’s the Girl, though we are Strangers of the Heart, when our gazes cross –the unspoken “I Want Your World to Turn.”  In the dark she Rings Them Bells and I know I haven’t Fallen From Grace.  At least not yet – Under the Sky where Anything is Possible and she is not afraid to say, “I Love You.”  When Desire Walks On, she traces my scars and whispers, “You Ain’t So Tough” and I wonder if it’s true, but it can’t be.  Her next words an anathema – “Will You Be There?”  “I didn’t Want to Need You” I tell her.  “Run” she taunts.  But I can’t run, not with her, she’s such an Easy Target and the people of my world are Heartless.  I can Never run away - you say it’s choice - but ask yourself, Who Would You Run To?  If Looks Could Kill she’d have slain me a hundred times, “These Dreams” she tells me – “When I Dream of the Archer and see How Deep it Goes, I know you are lost, that your destiny is in the hands of a Little Queen prodding a Voodoo Doll, taunting you.  Taunting us.”  That’s not really it though.  This life is a part of me.  It’s The Call of the Wild, How Can I Refuse?