Just as the commencement of her visit, the time Willa disbursed in the antique manor with her grandmother passed by fairly quickly. She spent her time locked up in her room, creating extraneous cantos of poems, drifting around the mansion out of pure interest or through anxieties from her grandmother, fervently questioning if there was any gardening to be done for another fortuitous to see the amiable boy from next door and of course, shaping an endless stream of paper hearts out of the wallpaper from her bedroom.
Willa waited and waited for another fortuitous to see the boy once more, and she anticipated and implored to a celestial form in which she didn’t believe in for an elude out of the mansion whose cosmic walls seemed to suffocate her. Her aspirations were soon answered as Angela called Willa down to go out to the courtyard and get some watering done.
Angela scrutinized in surprise and curiosity as her granddaughter stumbled ineptly down the stairs, tripping over her own feet before smoothing down her floral dress resting over her insipid, bony knees, and nipping at her chapped lips as she zipped out of the splendid front door.
Between the rose bushes and the burgundy bricks lining the gardens, Willa yawned away the early morning like the gulf talking to the shore. She lugged the watering can like a travel bag, being careful not to have any water leak over the edge, and toddled over towards the potted plants, holding her breath and making lame attempts to silence the brash pounding of her heart in her ears in order to keep a watchful eye on the extravagant property beyond the fence as she teetered on her curled toes.
The sound of trickling water through the diminutive holes in the nose of the watering can soothed her, for the fresh spring day was still awakening. She hummed to herself, admiring the large hubs of the brilliantly colored roses and breathed in profoundly, dazing her stuffy lungs with sweet enchanting air.
The soft padding of footsteps on freshly expurgated grass from the reverse lateral of the fence captivated Willa to skillfully rush over to the wooden boundary and poke her head over the edge. She watched with eclectic eyes as he finally walked out of the house, the sophisticated wicker door shutting behind him with a light slap as he treaded off of the patio and stepped onto the floored yard, lacing his slim fingers together and propping his interwoven hands atop his disheveled head of hair.
I don’t know him, she alleged. Yet she has the compulsion to hurry over and caress him. Her eyelids fluttered shut and she breathed tenderly through her nose, imagining his touch to be no graceful than the sea washing itself upon the shore in ribbons, mingling together gently like the veins beneath her skin.
“Willa,” The abrasive voice of her grandmother spoke closer than she had foreseen, instigating Willa to jump and let out a yelp of fright.
“Goodness,” Willa gasped in surprise, a nimble shade of discomfiture taking over her features and she turned to face her grandmother. “You gave me a fright.”
Angela smiled softly, an incompatible countenance engaging in her tempestuous silver eyes.
“I’m sorry, dear,” Angela began. “I thought something had happened to you; you’ve been out here for quite a while and I saw that you had only watered one pot.”
Willa blinked, disregarding the longing to flush a deep cerise before replying to her grandmother in the politest way she could muster.
“There’s no need to worry, I just got distracted, is all.”
Angela tightened her lips, only believing half of Willa’s story as she observed her granddaughter’s eyes flicker back over towards the neighbor’s yard.
“Your parents called,” Angela continued, disapproving of how effortlessly Willa got diverted towards the glorious piazza next door.
Willa discounted her grandmother’s avowal, keeping her gaze focused on the posterior of the enigmatic boy and endorsed the information to easily coast over her head, seeing that her parents called nearly every afternoon.
Angela sighed, “They’ll be having me send you back in a couple of months.”
Willa’s attention snapped back towards her grandmother.
“Why?” She demanded.
Angela muttered a few words of plea up towards the heavens before answering her perplexed granddaughter.
“They’ve found a rehabilitation center specializing in your case,” Willa shook her tangled tresses of hair, disapproving immediately. “They just need a couple of months to sort out finances, and you’ll be off learning the steps to a new life in June.”
“I don’t need to,” Willa argued sharply. “I’m sixteen for goodness sake; I’m capable of making my own decisions and doing what I want to do with my life. I know where I want to go and what I want to do, isn’t that enough?”
Angela shook her head, clucking her tongue in pity, “Willa, you have to realize that though you may seem like you are perfect normal –“
“I am perfectly normal!”
“That sometimes what you think just isn’t quite enough –“
“Of course it isn’t enough.”
“But you have to realize that your parents and I only want the absolute best for you, darling.”
Willa groaned, “I honestly don’t understand the problem here. So what if I have a slight obsession with wallpaper? Everyone has some fetish that others find weird, and mine just so happens to be for pretty wallpaper. Besides, the patterns and the sounds of the tears soothe me.”
“And that, my darling, is the problem here.” Angela intervened lightly. “You may not think so, but it is not normal to enjoy the sound of tearing and the patters of wallpaper. It’s odd how you find them so calming, they’re dizzying and hypnotic.”
“Exactly!” Willa chimed. “The hypnotic patters are dizzying, putting your mind at ease as if –“
“Willa,” Her grandmother interjected sharply, causing surprise flooding the young girl’s facial expressions. “We will not be discussing this any further, especially outside in the open. Now come, it’s getting late and the forecast calls for a chill in a few hours.”
Willa stared after her grandmother indignantly through the pale pink light of the settling sun, an innovative fortitude settling within the crevices of her bones. She took large strides, irritation searing off of her gracious figure as the boy athwart the fence watched her disintegrate further and further away into the nightfall of the divergent side before suddenly, there was nothing at all.
