FALL AWAY ⇢ JONATHAN BRANDIS

four ↠ sarah

"I see why you like to come out here." I told my father as I watched him paint.
"Would you mind explaining it to your mother?" He chuckled.

I loved to watch my father paint - or really, I'd love to hear him talk whilst he painted. I learned a lot about my dad that way. He told me all sorts of things, like, how he got his first job delivering hay and how I wished he'd finished college. Then, one day, he surprised me.

"What's going on with you, and, uh, Jonathan Brandis?" My dad asked, tutting his head in the direction of the blonde boy's house.

"What do you mean? Nothing." I replied, trying to stop myself from smiling at the thought of him.

"Oh, okay... my mistake." My dad didn't sound very convinced.

"Why would you even think that?" I questioned.
My dad shrugged. "No reason. Just that you... talk about him all the time."

"I do?" I asked. I could feel my cheeks heating up.
My dad nodded. "Mhm."
I shook my head and looked down at my fingers. "I don't know... I guess it's something about his eyes..." I said, smiling at the thought of his beautiful, blue eyes. "...or maybe his smile..."
Wow, did he have a beautiful smile.

"Well, what about him?" My father questioned.
"What?"
"You have to look at the whole landscape."
My eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"A painting is more than some of its parts. A cow by itself is just a cow, a meadow by itself is just grass and flowers, and the sun peeking through the trees is just a beam of light. But you put them altogether... and it can be magic." My father explained.

I didn't really understand what he was saying, until one afternoon when I was up in the sycamore tree:

I was rescuing a kite. It was a long way up - higher than I'd ever been. The higher I got, the more amazed I was by the view. I began to notice how wonderful the breeze smelt, like, sunshine and wild grass; I couldn't stop breathing it in - filling my lungs with the sweetest smell I'd ever known.

"Hey, you found my kite!" Jonathan called from below.

My eyes lit up. "Jonathan! You should come up here! It's so beautiful." I took my eyes off him and looked at amazing view of the field.

"I-I can't. I sprained my, uh... I have a rash."

From that moment on, that became my spot. I could sit there for hours - just looking out at the world.

Some days the sunsets would be purple and pink and some days they were a blazing orange setting fire to the clouds on the horizon.

It was during one of those sunsets that my father's idea of the whole 'being greater than some of its parts' moved from my head to my heart.

Some days I would get there extra early to watch the sunrise. One morning, I was making mental notes of how the pink and orange streaks of light were cutting through the clouds - so I could tell my dad - when I heard a noise below.

"Excuse me! Excuse me! Sorry, but, you can't park there! That's a bus stop!" I called down at the men who emerged from the fancy blue and white car below me.

"Hey! What're you doin' up there? You can't be up there, we're gonna take this thing down!" A man called back.

My breath hitched. "The tree?"
"Yeah. Now come on down."
"But, who told you you could cut it down?" I questioned.
"The owner." One of the men replied.

"Why?" I scoffed.
The man shrugged. "Because he's gonna build a house and this tree is in the way, so, come on, girl, we've got work to do."

"You can't cut it down!" I said, as my tears started to blur my vision. "Y-you just can't!"

"Listen, girl, I'm this close to callin' the police! You are trespassing and obstructing progress on a contracted job!" Another man said as Jonathan and his best friend approached the scene. "Now, either you come down," He held up his chainsaw. "or we're gonna cut you down."

"Go ahead!" I spat. "Cut me down! I'm not coming down! I'm never coming down!" I protested as the man began to rev his chainsaw.

"Jonathan! You guys! Come up here with me! They won't cut it down if we're all up here!" I called down at the teenagers watching me.

Everyone soon began to step onto the bus. Everyone apart from Jonathan.
Tears streamed down my cheeks as I saw Jonathan sigh.

"Jonathan, please don't let them do this! Jonathan, please! You don't have to come up this high, just a little bit!" I cried. Jonathan took his eyes away from mine before following his friends onto the bus. He was gone.