Holding My Breath [Wattys 2016]

6 1 ~ R u s t y

                 

Present Day ~ July 11, 2011

"That looks awesome," I say, shooting a sideways glance at Blue. He smiles at the wall, scattered with snowflakes. Then he smiles back at me.

I wonder if Bailey will like it. I wonder if this is the vision she had for her wall. The spray paint is masterly handled on the top layer, capturing that bright craziness that comes along with snowfall. It reminds me of a bad time in my life, but I push that aside and try to remember a couple days before everything happened, when I was playing in the snow with Toby. When I collapsed into the white wetness and he jumped on top of me with a pile of snow in his little hands to dump on top of me.

I smile at the memory.

I turn around to the cans of spray paint, sorting through the empty ones until I find one that is still at least a little bit full. I turn and hand it Blue. He looks at it, giving me a questioning look.

"What?"

"Sign it," I say, pointing at the R that I painted on the bottom of the mural. He grins and walks over crouching down beside it. Carefully, he sprays an A right beside it. I smile but am confused for a minute. I forgot his real name is Aaron, just like how sometimes I forget that my real name is Anna.

"I didn't know you were such a great artist," I say. He turns away a little.

"Yeah," he trails off and I get the idea that art is a sensitive subject for him. I just add it to the long list of questions I have about him.

"So now what?" I ask. I'm extremely awkward, so my changing the subject was really obvious, but he doesn't comment on it. Besides, if he doesn't give me a good reason to stay, then to me this was just a little break before I go on my way.

He glances back at me, then walks over. He carefully takes the cap off of my head. I look at him, holding his gaze before he looks down at the hat. "Apollo 13?" he asks. I stand on my tip toes and look over at the hat too. I laugh.

"Didn't notice that. I got it a Colt's this morning."

"You went to Colt's?" he asks.

I nod. "The drug store."

He nods as well, understanding. "So what now?" I ask again. He looks over at the window, thinking. I see the corner of his lips turn up with an idea and he puts the cap back on my head. I watch as he walks over towards the bed, stoops down to grab the guitar case, and heads toward the window. I follow him uncertainly.

"You'll see," he says as he hops out of the window, waiting for me until I get through as well. I look up at the sky. It's darker.

Five, maybe Five thirty. How did I sleep for that long?

"Where are we going?" I ask, trying to keep up with him as he circles around the garage.

"You'll see," he says again.

"Bluuuueee," I whine as he crosses the yard to the street. He stops and waits for me.

"Do you trust me?" he asks and I stop for a second.

"I'm still deciding," I say.

"Then trust me for the next five minutes, okay?" he asks. I shrug, but after a couple seconds, I nod. I can do that. Trust him for only five minutes.

"Do I have to trust you with my guitar case?" I ask. He smirks.

He turns left at the road, walking along it towards the way we came from. I walk beside him, just like I had before. We walk for a few minutes before either of us speak. We don't talk about when I woke up. He doesn't ask what my nightmare was about. I don't tell him. We just pretend it didn't happen. I think maybe he knows that I don't want to talk about it.