The Artist's Shadow

Chapter 11

"One thing in life is certain,there is always going to be someone that triggers you to change who you are or what you believe in."

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Jaftha glared hard at the streak of paint that had fell onto his trousers. It wasn't the paint that irritated him, no matter what he painted or how he painted he always ended up leaving stains of paint on his clothes. It was the thought of once again having to change and go over to Mrs Hill's house and using her washing machine. Mrs Hill never let him wash his clothes in the 6 days that he had been living in the dark, always insisting that Jaftha needed to use the time to focus on schoolwork. No matter how he pleaded with her she refused to let him do anything at her house,other than eat and use the bathroom.

Sighing he stood up from the chair infront of the canvas and put the palette ontop of the table and went upstairs to grab a fresh pair of clothes. He groaned again when he realised it was raining outside and turned back to grab his schoolbag and umbrella, figuring it would be better to just leave from Mrs Hill's house instead of coming back. He opened the front door and the umbrella simultaneously and rushed out,locking the door and running over to the house next door. He raised his hand to knock but lowered it again as the image of Mrs Hill lecturing him continously the oast couple of days to stop knocking.
We already know it's you,Jaftha. No need for the knocking. She had said it again last night when he came over for dinner.

Grabbing the bull by the horns he pushed opened the door and went in, closing the umbrella and placing his bag down on the bench at the front door.
"Mrs Hill!" Jaftha called out moving towards the dining room where they had been eating everyday for the last couple of days.
"In the kitchen,Jaftha. And for the love of the Almighty, call me Claire." She screamed back and Jaftha smiled as he moved to the kitchen. He looked at the pictures of her family on the walls and willed his thoughts away from his own bare walls. All photos of him and his parents had disappeared when his mother died.
"I have been thought to always respect my elders." He teased walking through the doorway. Jaftha laughed as Mrs Hill pretended to throw her rolling pin at him.
"Boy,you better be lucky, Henry would succumb to deep depression without me around. Otherwise this rolling pin would have been your death." She said pointing him over to the chairs. Jaftha looked over at Mr Hill who was busy reading the newspapers but had looked up when he entered. Snickering as Mr Hill rolled his eyes behind his wife's back,he gestured upstairs.
"Going to have a shower and get to school before the rain pours down any heavier." He said and Mrs Hill nodded as she pointed over to her husband.
"Hen can give you a lift,since he drives past your school on his way to work. Is that okay,Henry?" She asked looking over her shoulder at her husband who nodded.
Jaftha said thank you and rushed upstairs to shower.

30minutes later he left Mr Hill's car, umbrella already opened and over his head as he said thank you and ran through the parking lot. He shook of the rain from the umbrella when he got inside and closed it. Pulling his turtleneck further onto his face and his bucket hat more down,he entered the streams of students moving through the corridors. A manicured hand wrapped around his arm as he moved and he looked over to stare at Olivia who was texting with her free hand. Confused he raised his eyebrows and cleared his throat, there was never any interactions between them in the corridors and they didn't have an assignment or something to work on.
"Don't want to fall." She said glancing over at him quickly before going back to her screen. Baffled he left the situation and walked over continued his walk,reaching class finally when everyone dispersed into small groups and walked at the end of the corridor. When they stood infront of the classroom, he looked next to him at Olivia who was now frowning at the phone, her hand tightening around his arm as she tensed up.
"Olivia?" Jaftha said and she turned her head from her phone and looked over at him. Noticing they were infront of the class she unwrapped her hand from his arm and smiled at him.
"Thanks,you're a livesaver." She said giving him a kiss on the cheek and going into the classroom, eyes already back on her phone. Touching his kissed cheek,he turned to stare at Olivia in confusion but she was now rapidly texting on her phone. Shaking his head he walked into the classroom and went to take his seat.