Where I'd Gone ⌲ River Phoenix ((COMPLETED))

Willow

July 23, 1986

A sudden ring of my telephone woke me up. "Hello?"

R: Hey Chris.

C: Oh... Hey.

R: Whatcha doing today? I was thinking of going to the butterfly garden.

C: River, one thing I need you to know about me is that I don't like butterfly gardens.

R: Why not?

C: I'm sorry I wasn't born with an earthy name or an earth-loving descent.

R: Doesn't matter. I think you can do or be whatever you want.

C: How can you be so nice? This world is a cruel, filthy place and you're just here like 'oh a tree, I must hug it!'

R: I think we should care about our home and the animals that live in it with us.

C: River, you truly, genuinely belong in the 60's. Go move to San Francisco.

R: Are you calling me a hippie?

C: No.

R: I don't appreciate being called hippie.

C: What? I never called you one. I just said I don't like going to butterfly gardens.

R: Then do you want to go to a flower garden?

C: River you don't get the point. I'm not worth your time. Sometimes I think I have no worth for this world... I'm just not worth it.

R: But we're all worth it man. We're all worth millions of planets and stars and galaxies and universes.

C: But I don't deserve you. You're too kind for this world and I'm just a ticking time bomb. You're not normal River. You're this amazing person who doesn't deserve a friend like me.

R: I'm really normal though. I play football, go to the beach, drive. I can imagine people calling me a character, but I'm Joe Straight.

C: Alright Joe Straight, wanna go out and do something normal like pick up a pizza or something?

R: How bout a walk to the park?

C: Alright Joe, but I'm not hugging a tree.

R: Fair enough.

Then I hung up, dropped my head into my pillow, and fell asleep.

"Christine! River is at the door for you." Iris yelled and woke me up again. I groaned as I combed my hair into a messy bun, tied together with one of my mom's old metal claw clips.

"Why..." I grumbled sleepily into my pillow.

"I can tell you're happy to see me." River's voice bounced into the room.

"What? I am..." I coughed nervously.

"If you were, then you would've answered at least 1 of my 6 calls..." He bounced back.

"Well... I was um, sleeping. Can't you tell from the drool on my pillow?" I sat up from my bed and put on some bright pink eyeshadow with mascara.

"You know that that eyeshadow doesn't match with anything you're wearing?" He said as if he were the fashion expert.

"How would you know what's matching or not? You're wearing two different colored socks." I looked at him deep in the eyes as he glanced down briefly to his mix-matched socks. He chuckled and walked over to my James Taylor record. "You still have this baby?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?" I asked as I slipped on an oversized t-shirt.

"I don't know," He sighed as he looked up at my James Dean poster. "Some people in the studio said I was a mini James Dean," he laughed, "But, How could I be? I'm not nearly as handsome as he is." I let out a scoff of disagreement.