Behind the Darkness

Remembering

*One year previously*

"Chloe come back!"

I laughed as i ran through the doors of fox hall and straight to a bench in the middle. That's where you get the best views to see all of the art.

"Beth hurry up we only get one half an hour slot to look."

She chuckled and came and sat next to me, hand outstretched to take my hand.

"Okay so which one caught your eye first? "

"What?"

She explained.

"Well i always work by the rule that whichever painting or artwork or whatever it is you're looking at takes your eye first, that's the one that you're drawn to the most."

"Hmm. Well i guess it was that one."

I raised my hand to point at a medium sized canvas just diagonal of where we were sitting in the middle. It was a colourful painting of a girl in a field of daisies, she was facing our perspective but held a sunflower over her face, the delicate yellow petals covering any personal features.

"Why that one?"

"It seems happy. I know, I know you can't see her expression, she could be crying for all we know, but the colours, the yellow. To me yellow is the happiest colour. The whole painting seems content with life y'know?"

She smiled at me.

"You're crazy, but you're right."

I analysed the look on her face, she seemed to be happy, the little wrinkles at the side of her eyes formed as she grinned at me. Her eyes had their usual sparkle, at least that was the sparkle i saw when i was with her.

"I dare you to take that security guy's glasses."

I laughed and turned to the direction she was looking, just behind my head. It was a rather round, bald man with a security vest over the top of his white shirt and black trousers. He had a face that looked displeased, and looked as though it had been stuck in that expression for several long years. A pair of iridescent lenses glasses balanced on the top of his podgy, shiny head; my new target.

"How the fuck am i going to do that then?"

She laughed and shrugged her shoulders.

"That sounds like a you problem Chloe."

I considered the problem for a moment. I never backed away from a challenge.

I stood up and casually wandered towards the exit where he had settled, he seemed to be looking intensely at a troublesome group of teenagers giggling and huddled around a painting of a naked woman. Typical. I approached carefully and as i walked up to him began a conversation.

"Excuse me!"

He looked up with a softer expression.

"Hi, could you point me in the direction of the toilets please?"

He nodded and began giving elaborate directions for me to follow, i knew the toilets were impossibly to find in this place so he'd be distracted for a while. As he focused on showing the directions with gesticulations of his hands, i shuffled to his left side where i could snake an arm round the back of his head and quickly whip the glasses off of his head as his head move. I dropped a coin from my pocket on the floor.

"I'm so sorry?"

"No problems, let me pick that up for you."

As he bent down i snatched the glasses from their resting position and held them behind my back with one hand as i received the coin from him in my other.

I quickly wandered out of the exit, pretending to be in search of the toilets and waited for a rather over-excited Beth to follow me through.

"Have you got a hobby you need to tell me about?"

"No i just pay attention to when people stop paying attention."

She watched me smile and couldn't help but chuckle, i must sound pretty crazy at times.

*Now*

"I still can't believe you did that."

She laughs with a hand over her face.

"Well you know me, i always was the class clown."

I checked the time on my phone and sighed.

"I have to go."

She smiled and looked down.

"That probably means i have to too."

We walked out together before saying our goodbyes.

"So when are you going to pop up again?"

"Whenever you need me."

I frowned. She had a habit of disappearing for weeks at a time. Just as we were about to separate i jumped and wrapped her in a tight hug, resting my head on her shoulder.

"I missed you."

She chuckled.

"I'm sorry."

I walked home following the path around the park, the world seemed to have settled back into its normal colours, they seemed brighter than they did before.