Drowning(Hiatus)

Chapter 2

Without properly explaining my late arrival to Diana and Dave, and making a lame excuse to ditch dinner for the night, I burst inside my room, breathless. I threw my bag on the floor, pulled the curtains close, grabbed my painting supplies from the shelf and set a blank piece of paper on the easel.

I closed my eyes, recalling the dream-like beauty I had witnessed today. The sunset, the cascading water connected to a never ending lake and that man. This is it. 

I opened my eyes, paint brush in hand, and set to work. The entire oeuvre was an endeavor difficult to conquer and I was worried whether my skills were good enough to do his beauty justice. Capturing the allure of his eyes was the most difficult. Those emerald eyes, bewitching at a glance and enticing all the same. The closer I came to finishing the painting, the more incompetent I felt.

Yet, here it was. An opportunity to do something with the talent I honed. But for some reason I felt the painting lacked something. I used dull colors in contrast to his vibrance and it made him shine but it was not enough. 

 This painting lacked something crucial and it was insight. I painted a spectacle but that's all it was.

One thing I knew for sure, I needed to go back and meet him again. The mystery-nude-man. And I wanted to paint him again. But this time, not just from memory. I want him to model for me. 

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I woke up with a groan the next morning as Diana took the liberty of entering my room without permission. 

"Get up, already, you laggard!" she yelled followed by a gasp. "What in the world...?" she trailed off as she examined the state of my room which I'm sure wasn't pretty since I fell asleep without cleaning up after my artistic outburst. 

I should have taken a bath before bed, at least. Now I have dry paint all over me. 

"Oh my lord, the bed!" she squealed, shoving me off the bed and inspecting the damage. "Do you normally do this?" She pulled the sheets one by one. 

"Well..." I scratched the back of my head, my eyes barely open, not really having the energy to deny it. "I'm sorry?" I said, hoping that alone would suffice. 

Diana sighed, "It can't be helped." She stuffed the bed sheets under one arm and made her way to the entrance of my room. "I'll make breakfast, today." She gave me a good look from top to toe and said, "You go and wash up." 

I nodded as she left. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I looked at the painting lying on the easel and smiled. Now, this is what I call a good distraction, I thought before I walked over to the bathroom to clean up. 

After having eggs and toast for breakfast Dave took me to the poultry shack next to the work garage. He explained the basics of what I had to do. Just feed them grains and collect the eggs. Over at the barn, I was to unstack a few bales of hay to use as fodder for the barn animals. Since they didn't use cars for transport, they owned a few riding horses, kept at the stables. Dave even said he would teach me how to ride in his free time. I was in no hurry, though. 

Apparently, my aunt and her husband were filthy rich judging by the amount of property they owned. They had some help from hired employees to manage the lands but I had no doubt, the two of them were more than capable of working by themselves if they had to. 

My initial tasks at the farm were easy but the real problem was running errands. It took too much time and also my existence in the town was becoming more renowned. I was hoping to avoid familiarizing myself with the townsfolk. It makes it a lot less awkward for me when suddenly bombarded with questions regarding my history.