here is a story i got of melissa's blog.. i like the story, and i so i got her permission under .s3(1)CDPA (1988) (got this from mel.. looks like she studied her intellectual property ahha) to put this here to share with everyone else haha.. enjoy..

Hands Down
by Artemis Obscure (aka Mel)

It was just one of those days.

You'd never think that it was special or anything. It was one of those days when Fall was slowly, but surely giving way to Winter. It was also one of those windy days, that blew, quite strongly. Strong enough to send the last remnants of the leaves that clung on stubbornly to the almost bare trees, swirling to the ground.

It was under on of those trees where we stood. Or rather, where I stood, whilst he chased around madly under it.

Until today, I never really knew why I allowed him to come with me. It was ridiculous. Here I was, nineteen, cold and running utterly late for class, and I still stood there, shivering a bit, watching him, time after time again, try to catch one of those falling autumn leaves. He had offered to walk with me to my class on the other side of campus, and I had said yes. We had just walked, silently, and then, the next thing I knew, the wind started blowing, and he had just smiled broadly, and dashed off to the nearest tree, and tried to catch the falling leaves.

I think that part of me knew the real reason why I just stood there, just looking at him catch the leaves. The answer I kept locked away at the back of my head, with the rest of the useless feelings that I really didn't need.

He came up to me, his face pink from running around. I couldn't help smiling. He just had that effect on people. “What are you doing?” I asked. “You're acting like an idiot.”

He smiled back. “Catching the leaves.”

“I can see that. What for?”

He shrugged nonchalantly. “It's just something that I do every autumn. There's an old saying that in autumn, if you manage to catch a falling leaf before it touches the ground, you'll get a day of happiness.”

“If that's the case, if people would just stand under a tree all day till they managed to catch 365 leaves,” the cynical side of me said. “They then won't need to work for the rest of the year because they have enough happiness to last them till next autumn.”

“Perhaps,” he said. “I've got seven so far, so looks like I'll have a week of happiness at least.” he held up the dried oak leaves. “You should try it also.”

“Me?” I asked, surprised, but the next thing I knew, he had grabbed my wrist and hauled me to under the tree.

“Go on,” he called out encouragingly, as a fresh gust of wind blew. “Try to catch some!”

And I did. It was not as easy as I had thought it to be. Those leaves, flickered close enough for me to touch, but not to catch. It was as if my happiness had suddenly decided, on a whim, to be elusive, and to stay out of my reach. There were so many times, when my fingertips had nearly caught a leaf, but then it suddenly just flew out of my grasp. But it didn't seem to matter, for I was laughing hard, and so was he, and it somehow seemed we were laughing at each other and at ourselves, as we ran around in circles, trying to catch some happiness for ourselves.

“I'll never be able to catch it,” I panted breathlessly to him, as I sank to the ground at last. “Maybe it's just my luck that I'll never be happy,” that was added jokingly.

He had snatched another leaf from the air as it floated down. “I have twenty eight,” he said. “Why don't I just give you half of my leaves, and we could both have a fortnight's worth of happiness.”

I laughed, and swatted playfully at him, which he managed to dodge. “Shut up you idiot,” I told him. “It's alright.” I got up and brushed the dirt of my jeans before I noticed the time.

“I'm really late for my class now,” I said. “I have to go!”

“Wait,” he said suddenly.

“What?” I responded impatiently.

He had come up beside me, and was staring intently at my head. I shivered, though not from the cold as he reached out and touched my hair lightly, teasing the strands apart. He was standing close enough, that I could feel his heat seeping into my jacket and to smell his cologne. Somehow, I kept imagining, over, and over again, him doing this to me, almost permanently. And I didn't quite want it to end.

“Here it is,” he said, after what felt like eternity.

“Oh,” I said.

He took my hand and pressed something into my palm. “Here it is, and it's honestly better than nothing. So keep it safe. And, I think that you're late for class, aren't you?”

I was, so we ran together, side by side all the other way across campus. I was half and hour late for class that day, but I hardly heard the scathing comment from my lecturer as I entered in. my mind kept reeling back, over and over again, thinking about the dried leaf that he had plucked from my hair just now, and how that I was clenching it tightly in my hand, as if the happiness for the rest of my life depended on that tiny, withered, brown leaf.

Perhaps, I thought that night, as I (as if not by my own actions) put the leaf in my journal. Perhaps, I had used up all the happiness that my leaf had to offer that day. But then again, perhaps, that little bit of happiness could last longer than I hoped it could.

And it did. Those feelings never quite left me, no matter what. He later started going out with a friend of mine later, despite my initial disappointment, and later acceptance, I grew to see how they complemented each other in every way, and how much they both cared for each other. Even later still, they got married in their final year, and had a baby together shortly after. And I loved him even more for that.

The leaf in my journal has now withered to pieces, and I have thrown it away. But since that day, I have always taken the time, to try and catch at least one leaf, that falls from a tree during autumn. Because, you'd never really know, that one short day of happiness would have lasted so long.

~end

that's the end of the story :p credit goes to mel chan for writing such a romantic story with a song stuck in her head haha.. if you wish to give her comments, please go to her blog, which is linked to mine.. :p

-Oracl3-