The Silence Between Sentences

Megan was short, barely yet a woman. She had been slaving away all day at the novel she’s been writing, hoping to finish her first draft soon. She’d been having trouble all week on trying to decide on how her main character would face their fears. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to give them a hapily ever after, or go the cynical route and leave them in agony.

She continued to clack away on her keyboard, brows creased and tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth in determination. The longer she sat here, the more exhausted she started to feel. She could feel the flutter of her eyelids as she tried to pry them open with sheer force of will; she was determined to finish this chapter before dozing off to sleep. 

Megan shot up in her seat, ecstatic at the sudden burst of inspiration, only when she sat up a glint of gold caught her eye. She had no gold adornings in her room, so she glanced around and found that she was somewhere else entirely. How had she not realized that her walls were now blue with teal and golden peacocks and not their normal beige? And was that a golden chandelier hanging from the center of the room? It did not feel like a foreign place, but one that she felt drawn to. Although the opulence around her was not an environment she had ever stepped into before, the room held a familiarity that she couldn’t name. 

She got up from her desk, all thoughts of inspiration withdrawing from her mind as she took in her surroundings. There were beautiful furnishings all around the room. Couches with ivory legs embossed with designs in gold leaf, and upholstered in blue velvet. Coffee and side tables with made of the same ivory with gold leaf embossings. It was the most breathtakingly beautiful room that she had ever laid her eyes on, and it suddenly hit her. Megan knew where she was standing, but the rational part of her brain knew that it was inconceivable. She was standing in the middle of her novel, and not just anywhere in her novel; she was in the sitting room of her main character. 

She would never admit it, but Megan wrote this novel with her crush in mind. She had always been too scared to talk to her crush, Levi, so she made him into the main character who admires the girl from the distance; which is exactly what she has done to Levi. Sure, Levi and Lee are closely related names, but no one who has read her story thus far has mentioned anything. And maybe Megan sounds a lot like Maeve, but nobody on this planet needed to know that she based these characters off of her personal life. That was a secret that she would be taking to the grave.

Panicking from being trapped in her novel, Megan found the closest door and darted out of it. She raced down the corridors and down the stairs until she found her way outside. Once outside, Megan continued to wander around in hopes of finding a way home. She ran into Mr. Lee himself near the pond just a few moments later. He looked just as she imagined him to, a mirror image of Levi. He was a head taller than herself with bright eyes filled with mirth. His curly hair bounced as he caught eyes with her and started to trot over.

“Maeve! I had no idea that I would see you today, what a pleasant surprise!” 

If Megan thought she knew panic before, it was nothing compared to what she was feeling in this moment. How could she have forgotten that Maeve was created in her image? Should she play along with this and say she’s Maeve? Should she fess up? How would she even fess up? ‘Hey Lee, just so you know, you’re a fictional character in a fictional world. I wrote you to cope with my own pathetic romantic life, and now I’m stuck in the book that I wrote.’ She just couldn’t see that going over well at all. She only had a second more to decide before he reached her, so she pasted on her brightest smile and said, “I was just out for a stroll. It is a pleasure to see you today, Lee.”

Lee stopped dead in his tracks, mouth falling open while he just stared at Megan in astonishment. Megan could not for the life of her understand why he was looking at her like that. What had she done wrong? Wouldn’t anyone say hello back? And then it dawned on her… Maeve had always brushed Lee off. How could see forget something like that when she’s the one who wrote it?? She was going to blow her cover before she knew what hit her.

The thought suddenly hit her… this could be good. She could still play this off; she could still pretend to be Maeve. Maybe this is exactly the push that Lee needs to get over his fear of going after the girl and silently watching her from the shadows. 

“If you don’t close your mouth soon, you’re bound to catch a fly, Lee.” He quickly clamped his mouth shut, before opening and closing it again at a loss for words. “Sorry, have I interrupted you? I can leave if this is a bad time for you?”

“No!” He answered a little too quickly, and it took everything in Megan to stifle a laugh, although a small smile slipped onto her face. “Please stay, I was just out for a stroll myself. We could accompany each other?”
He had such a hopeful look in his eyes that all Megan could do was offer a small smile and nod of her head. As they started their walk again, Lee glanced over.

“I’ve never seen such an outfit before. Where did you procure such an ensemble?”

Megan internally palmed her forehead in frustration, remembering that she was writing a historical romance. And she was standing smack dab in the middle of it with her jeans and oversized sweater; it was comfiest outfit to write in. 

“Oh… umm… this is nothing really. I hear that it’s a new fashion trend in England, so I figured I would see what all of the fuss is about.”

“Well I quite like this new look on you; you look stunning.”

Megan couldn’t stop the blush that was creeping up her neck and staining her cheeks bright red. She had always longed to hear Levi complement her, and while this wasn’t Levi, she feared that it was as close as she would ever get.

“Thank you, Lee; that is very kind of you.” 

An awkward silence fell upon them, as both of them were too nervous to look at or speak to each other. The minutes stretched on while they continued to talk in silence, and Megan wondered how to fill the silence. She knew how Lee was feeling it, because they were basically the same person, but she wanted to help him overcome this. What would she do or say if it were Levi walking with her? 

“Lee, how has the estate been?”

“The estate is doing well. We’ve just leased some land to a new farmer who has just moved to the town. We’ve also just bought a new business in town, so we’re hoping to see growth from that soon.”

“Wow, that sounds like you’re doing very well for yourself! You must be very busy these days.”

“We’ve finally hired a steward, thankfully, so my time has actually freed up.”

“Oh my! I’m hoping that means that we’ll be able to spend more time together then.”

Megan had to curb the laugh that threatened to bubble out of her as she watched Lee’s face get progressively more red by the moment. 

“I apologize if that was presumptuous of me, I was just hoping that we could get to know each other better. I feel like we orbit each other with how closely our families work together, but I know nothing about you.”

“It was not presumptuous at all, Maeve. I would love nothing more than to learn more of you.”

As they continued on their walk, their conversation drifted from topic to topic. Megan soon found herself laughing alongside Lee while went back and forth sharing stories from their childhood. The more they spoke, the more relaxed Megan felt. She almost forgot that she was spending time with a fictional character from another time period. Maybe it was because she was talking to Levi’s doppleganger, but the idea of approaching him no longer seemed as scary. 

Hours had passed in the blink of an eye, and it wasn’t until the sun started to drop along the horizon that they noticed just how long they had spent together. With still no idea on how to get out of her novel, and not wanting to break the spell with Lee by telling him that he’s fake, she decides to do what Maeve would do.

“With it getting so dark out, would it be too much to ask for you to call for a carriage to take me home?” She isn’t sure what she will do when she shows up to Maeve’s house, but she’ll figure that out once she gets there.

“It would be no trouble at all. I’ll call for one now.”

“Thank you Lee, I had a wonderful afternoon with you.”

“The pleasure was all mine.” Lee strode away with a confident stride and a broad smile plastered to his face.

It only took a few moments for a carriage to be brought, and soon Megan was loaded up and headed to Maeve’s house. She was trying to go over plausible reasons for why a clone may show up on her families doorstep, but nothing was coming to mind. Her thoughts continued to churn with the rocky yet steady sway of the carriage. She hadn’t realized how long of a day it had truly been until her eyelids started to flutter and her thoughts began to drift away from her.

Megan mind felt hazy as she awoke, the carriage no longer moving. She started to wonder why no one had tried to wake her to get out of the carriage until she looked around and found herself sitting at her desk. Her computer screen was filled with the letter “b” from her forehead resting on it while she slept. Visiting with Lee felt too real to be a dream, but she had no time to debate it then. She knew exactly what kind of ending she wanted for Lee, and she now knew what kind of ending she wanted for herself as well. She wouldn’t let her fears hold her back anymore.

Reviews

[Nightmist]

the story being about an author is what pulled me in, I absolutely love the way this is written. This story is funny and yet beautiful.
This makes me want to read the story Megan is writing as well.
I do wonder why Megan worried about going back to Maeve's house, since that is where she initially wakes up isn't it?
In overall, I loved reading this, it's a very well written story!