Dear Diary, I am so excited right now! Bae is finally coming back to town from visiting his family. I haven't gotten to hear all about everything he did while he was out of town, but tomorrow, when I pick him up I know he will catch me up with everything that is going on! I'm glad I had this time to myself to just reflect on things in the past that I really hadn't taken the time to deal with. I finally feel like I can let go of all of this baggage and finally be happy again! I only started acting like this AFTER all of that mess started to happen years ago, after my brother died. This isn't me. This reflection period really showed me that! Hopefully i'll be able to just keep all of this to myself and not have to tell Tae. I know you're supposed to be honest with the people you care about the most, but I just don't want to lose him. We've been together for seven months now and I just feel like that would destroy everything we've built if I just tell him now. Guess we'll see how things go.
That next afternoon, Brittany went to pick up Tae at the airport and everything seemed to be going just fine! They were so excited to see one another just as they would have been any other time. Brittany was sure that all was well, but Tae spent his time doing more than he expressed to Brittany, while he was away.
During the week Tae spent with his "family," he was actually doing some research of his own. Alicia, the secretary at the office they both worked at, had told him something a few months before she went missing. Tae never thought much about it until things started to add up to what she had told him. Alicia told Tae that a friend of hers from another firm told her that word on the street was that Brittany spent a pretty good amount of time in a psychiatric facility and that she was someone he ought to stay away from. She also told him that people said that Brittany could appear to be the sweetest girl but in reality, something had caused her to become very deceiving and manipulative.
Of course, Tae swept this under the rug, because there was no way that the girl of his dreams was really this manipulative psychopath! And then it dawned on him... "the girl... of my dreams." It literally seemed like from day one, she was perfect and that she knew exactly what to do for him to think that she was perfect. When Alicia went missing and Brittany didn't seem to show any concern at all, all of his suspicions were verified.
That following week, Tae decided that he was going to get to the bottom of all of this on his own. But he wasn't going to mention this to Brittany, of course. One, because she might be legitimately crazy. And two, if she wasn't this crazy psychopath she had been made out to be, he didn't want her to know that he ever entertained the theory.
Tae told Brittany that he was going to visit his folks for a week or so and that he would be back. He contacted a few of his old buddies from college to help him dig up the dirt and figure this all out, because he knew it was important for him to know the one he was with. Once he started digging, he made some terrifying discoveries. After uncovering that Brittany was more than likely responsible for the disappearance of multiple people, spent time in the psychiatric ward, and more than likely devised the entire plan for them to get together, he knew that this was going to be their end. Although, he did feel horrible about what happened to her brother, the crazy counselor that tried to brainwash her, and everything else that occurred in her past.
Tae decided that he wasn't going to turn her into the police, but did realize that he was going to have to break up with her as soon as he returned home.
The next day, after he got home, Tae decided that he wanted to go ahead and make the break up official. He decided to take Brittany to a public location (just in case her crazy come out play) and have this discussion with her.
If someone was sitting across the street, looking into the coffee shop where they went to talk, you would think that Brittany was told that her puppy had died. It was clear that they were both heartbroken, because they both truly cared for one another. Tae ended up calling a Lyft to take Brittany home and he drove separately. As each of them walked out, a few tears rolled down their cheeks.
And there you have it, folks. The love story of Brittany and Deontae came to an end just as Brittany was really starting to make changes within herself. As unfortunate of an ending this was, Tae finally knows the one that he was with.
Author's Note: This story was loosely based off of the battle between Beowulf and Grendel. In that battle, Grendel snuck in like a thief in the night (literally) into the town that Beowulf was staying in. Grendel casted a spell that made each of the men fall into an extremely deep sleep. Beowulf, being the extraordinary man that he is, was able to wake up, only to find Grendel devouring one of Beowulf's comrades. Grendel and Beowulf ended up having a fight with one another and Beowulf ended up coming out in the end, victoriously. The story of Brittany and Tae is an ongoing story that you can read here on my blog. This is finally their conclusion, just as the fight with Beowulf was the final conclusion for Grendel. If you're interested in learning about how this love connection all began, read the very first story, entitled #KnowTheOneYoureWith: The Introduction PART I, and go from there!
This story is part of the Beowulf unit. Story source: The Story of Beowulf by Strafford Riggs with illustrations by Henry Pitz (1933).
Photo of coffee mug came from here.
Even though this is obviously very loosely based on the original, I loved your modern day adaptation and all the emotions you instilled within your story! I did not even think this story came from Beowulf until I got to the authors's note! I have never really been too interested in Beowulf but this story definitely made me go and read some! Nice job.
ReplyDeleteHey Bri!
ReplyDeleteIt's been a while since I have been back to your blog and I have to say yours is one of the most memorable. Your writing has a certain style that I just really enjoy reading. It's always so fun and different, but also very modern which is the part I like most. I really enjoyed reading this story because it was so different and original. Great job!
Hi Bri! This was a really entertaining and interesting story from start to finish! I couldn't stop reading because I was so excited to see what would happen next. Although, I was sad that Brittany didn't end up throwing a huge fit and going crazy, I loved the ending and that Tae finally knew what he was really dealing with. Great job with this story!
ReplyDeleteHi Bri, I really like how you took the original story and made it a modern one. I thought that was really cool! I hate that Brittany and Tae couldn't be together, but I guess what Brittany did was too much for Tae to handle. A lot of people get frustrated at the person that they're with because they start to realize who they really are after a while, but you have to remember that no one is perfect. Great story!
ReplyDeleteHello Bri, I thought that it was interesting that you choose to base your story on the dynamic between Grendel and Beowulf. I have actually the 'Grendel' novel. I read it in 2010 and at the time it was a very dense reading at the time. It felt as though there was no limit to the symbolism used in that book. With respect to your story I think that it is impressive that you managed to stick to a similar theme and plot throughout multiple weeks. For my stories in the Indian Epics class I did not hesitate to write two very different stories (although based on the same novel) which were meant to exist in different universes.
ReplyDeleteI wonder, if you decided to use this technique of revisiting the same characters then why didn't you simply choose the storybook option instead of the portfolios for your semester project.
Nonetheless, I do not read alot of stories from outside of my class but thank you for posting this interesting story.