The Boy Who Paints Me (2 page)

Scanning the empty street, to ensure that no one was around, I walked around the side of the house until I had reached the back fence. I threw my bag over the fence before scanning around the area again. Once I was sure that I wouldn’t get caught, I lifted myself awkwardly over the fence, landing a little louder than I had hoped, on the other side. Once I caught my breath, I looked up at the window that belonged to the room that I always stayed in, whenever I visited. I knew that I could lift myself onto the ledge since I had done this so often, as a child when my aunt wasn’t around, of course. Making sure that I had securely fastened both straps of my bag on my shoulders, I began my mission. I prayed that old habits did die hard and that when I reached the top, the window would be open. If I was wrong then I had no plan B. Lifting my right leg onto the lower ledge, I got a firm grip on the ledge above and hoisted myself up. A satisfied smile reached my lips as my left foot joined my right. I wasn’t as fit as I was when I was a kid so this was an achievement. I prepared my right leg to step onto the ledge that my hands were on, while moving my hands up to next ledge. Another victorious smile filled my face as I prepared to bring up my left leg as well. Unfortunately my fingers slipped, causing me to completely lose my balance. I didn’t scream as I expected, instead a silent gasp escaped my lips as my eyes slammed shut. Part of me was relieved, because if I didn’t make it then I could stop running. Mitch couldn’t catch me if I didn’t exist, right? I waited for the pain to hit me as my body thudded against the warm, soft floor. My eyes flew open as I took in my last thought.
Soft floor?
Looking down, I realised that I hadn’t hit the floor but in fact, I had fallen into a pair of very strong arms. Something about the arms sent a tingle straight up my spine, causing my breathing to speed up. When the realisation that I was in a pair of male arms hit me, I started to panic.

“Let go! Let go! Get off me!” I screamed, realising that Mitch had found me. I struggled against his tight hold, and my screams drowned out the sound of his voice as I fought to break free. I knew that if I was going to get away then I had to fight like I never had before. I turned my body to face him and froze. It wasn’t Mitch. My body slowly became still as I took in the features of the stranger in front of me. His hair was dark brown, and stray strands were stuck to his forehead – probably because of the heat. He had light brown eyes that seemed to see into the depths of my soul, and they were so warm. They were the first eyes that I had seen in years that actually looked at me with kindness. Not as though they wanted anything but they looked at me with genuine concern. I could feel the outline of his abs as my arm rested against his chest, and the vision of the floor gave me a good idea of just how tall he was. As my senses slowly came back to me, his words started to make sense. His low and gentle voice filled me with a calming feeling that was beyond description.

“It’s ok. I’m not going to hurt you,” he whispered as he stared at me. I didn’t trust people anymore. It was something that I had trained myself not to do in the past three years of my life. That’s why it made no sense that - without my permission – my head nodded as my eyes remained fixed on his. “Are you ok?” He asked, once he had placed me back down on the ground. I nodded again as I looked deeper into his eyes. They seemed so familiar but they were too kind, and there were no kind eyes that had crossed my path in a long time. We stood silent for a moment before he finally spoke again. “So, can I ask what you were doing?” He asked as he gestured towards the house with his head. It suddenly dawned on me that he had seen what I had been doing. I hadn’t seen him before, and he probably thought that I was a thief.

“I’m not a thief,” I blurted out in a panicked voice.

“And, I’m not a cop,” he said as a smile gently tugged the corners of his lips upwards. “Just wondering why you were climbing the side of a house. I mean, there are plenty of mountains, not too far from here that you could clim-”

“I was trying to get inside. I mean, my aunt lives here, she was supposed to be here but wasn’t, and I was trying to, erm, I was just...” I found myself becoming more and more tongue tied as I tried to explain. It felt strange. I was so used to feeling nothing, which is why I gasped in shock as my cheeks heated from the embarrassment of the situation. I watched as he chuckled, quietly to himself. “Why are you laughing?” I asked, slightly frustrated.

“I find you amusing,” he said as he tried to contain the smile that was threatening to break onto his face.

“You don’t know me to make the judgement that I’m 
amusing
,” I replied, hastily. I wasn’t even sure if the sentence made sense but I was so lost right now that my words were all over the place.

“Correct. Maybe that’s something that we can work on,” he said with a smile on his face. I was left speechless as I took in his words. I recognised the fluttering feeling in my stomach, better known as butterflies. I had felt this feeling so many times over the past three years that I had become numb to it but this was different, I could feel every last flutter, and I knew that that couldn’t be a good thing. “Let’s just say that I believe your story. What would you say if I told you that I could help you to get inside?” He asked with a more serious expression on his face. I scanned him for a moment, knowing that I shouldn’t trust him. Men couldn’t be trusted, I had learnt that better than most but something about him made me want to trust him.

The gullible part.

I pushed the thought away for a moment because, let’s face it, I didn’t have many options right now.

“How?” I asked as I scanned his face again.

He turned away and walked towards the fence. “Are you coming?” He asked as he swung his head back towards me. I nodded my head before walking towards him. “Come on then,” he said as he held out his hands in front of me.

“What?” I asked in confusion as I stared down as his strong hands.

“I’m going to lift you over,” he said, gesturing towards the fence with his hand.

“I don’t need you to,” I replied, a little too quickly. I felt my insides tighten up as my mind tried to take me back to the places that I didn’t want to go. I didn’t know him and neither did I trust him. The idea of his hands on me, on any part of me, scared me.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said in a gentle voice.

“I don’t know that,” I whispered like a little child.

“Ok,” he said as he tapped his chin for a couple of seconds. “Here,” he said as he got down on all fours, causing me to widen my eyes in surprise. “No touching, just step on me like a ladder,” he said as he turned his head towards me.

“What?” I asked as a shocked look filled my face.

“I want to get you over the fence, you don’t trust me, and so, I’m meeting you half way. Either we do it like this or we wait until your aunt comes back, which is when by the way?” He asked. It suddenly dawned on me that I had no idea where she was or how long she would be gone for. I looked back at the house and then him before finally making up my mind.

“Ok,” I mumbled as I stood, staring at him.

“Great, can we speed this up then, green knees are not attractive,” he said as I looked down at him, spread out on the grass on all fours. A quiet chuckle escaped my lips as I walked up to him and placed one foot on his back.

“Are you sure?” I asked before lifting my other foot.

“I’m sure,” he said. It was strange but I could hear that he was smiling, so I gently stepped onto his back with my other foot.

“Ouch! Oh my gosh, my back!” He began screaming as I stepped on.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean-“

“I’m just kidding, come on, I’m going grey down here,” he said as he began laughing.

“That wasn’t funny,” I said as I tried to stop the smile from forming on my face. I finally lifted my body over the fence which was a lot easier than the first time. I waited until he was over the fence too and then I started to walk towards my aunt’s front door.

“Ok, so the best way to get into this house is over there,” he said before walking ahead of me, towards the front door. I wanted to come up with a sarcastic reply but decided against it.

“What exactly are you going to do?” I asked as I stepped beside him.

“Use these,” he said as he pulled a set of keys out of his jeans pocket, causing me to stare at him in shock. I watched in silence as he used the keys to open the front door before turning to face me again.

“I don’t understand,” I stuttered as I looked up at him with a confused expression across my face.

“It’s pretty simple, keys fit doors, I have the one that fits this door,” he said as he leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest and a smile on his face.

“Do you live here?” I asked, not sure what else to say.

“No, I’m just watching the place. Sarah’s on holiday for a week. You probably should have asked about that before the surprise visit,” he said as he chuckled to himself. I was speechless for a second. I wanted to be angry that he had played along all this time instead of just telling me the truth but a strange part of me didn’t want to get mad at him.

“But how did you know that -”

“You were her niece? Easy, she talks about you all the time, and you haven’t changed much,” he said as he smiled at me.

“Huh?”

“From the pictures, she has a lot of them, of you, I mean. There’s a lot, kind of hard to miss. I feel like I already know you,” he said as he chuckled to himself
nervously.

“Oh, well thanks for letting me in, I guess,” I said as I looked down at the floor before shifting my eyes back up to his face again.

“It was my pleasure,” he said before we stood in another awkward moment of silence. “So, you’ll probably need these, right?” He asked as he dangled the keys in front of me.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, sure, thanks,” I stuttered before holding out my hand to take them from him. As the keys passed from his hand to mine, his hand gently brushed against the skin on mine. I felt a slight electric feeling and removed my hand quickly before I started to try and analyse it.

“So, I guess I’ll see you around,” he said before heading towards the steps of the porch.

“Yeah,” I whispered as I headed towards the front door. “Wait,” I shouted a little louder than I meant to. “You didn’t tell me your name,” I blurted out before I could stop the words.

You don’t need to know his name, Rainie. Asking his name creates a relationship; relationships are for people who stick around.

I knew that the voice in my head was right but it was too late, I had asked. It was only a name, right?

“Daniel,” he said as he turned to look at me, “but everyone calls me Leighton.” He watched as I raised my eyebrow in confusion. “It’s my last name,” he cleared up.

“Oh, well thanks, Leighton,” I said, wishing that his name didn’t feel as good as it did in my mouth. “I’m Rainie but you already know that,” I said as a smile slipped onto my lips, “people call me Rai -”

I suddenly cut myself off, remembering that she was someone else. Rainie and Rain are different people. Rain was the girl that I left behind, the girl that I want to forget. I’m Rainie now, just Rainie.

“Rai, I like that,” he said, snapping me out of my mental battle.

“Huh? No, I meant, people call me Rainie, everyone just calls me Rainie,” I lied as I tried to avoid his eyes.

“I know but I’m not everyone,” he said as he looked into my eyes as though he was studying me.  “Bye, Rai,” he said before making his way down the stairs. My mind told me to step back but my body was frozen in place, watching him walk away. I came back to life when I watched him walk up the stairs of next door. I gave him a confused look, causing him to smile. “See you around, neighbour,” he said before disappearing through the door.

“Yeah, “I whispered to myself before walking into Aunt Sarah’s house. I closed the door before letting my back rest against it. Then, for the second time today, I let a genuine smile slip onto my face as Leighton’s name rang in my mind. I let my head rest against the door as I tried to understand how, after three years of teaching myself to be completely numb, I had let a boy that I had known for barely five minutes make me feel something. Something small but it was something and that was more dangerous than anything that I had ever encountered. That was the reason that I knew that this visit could be nothing more than temporary.