Innocence

Paintings

December 13th, 2017

*splish sploosh*
The sound of the watercolour paint made as it swishes around in the jar.

I was in my bedroom, or as I like to call it, my workshop. It's where I spend, literally, most of my time in. The amount of man hours spent at this desk is uncountable. Paint marks everywhere, chipped wood on the corners front and back, and of course, my actual work.

Paintings. Drawings, murals, portraits.
All of them mean the world to me. I never was the one to look down on my own work. If what came out met my expectations or hit close, I was proud of them. I kept all of my works back to when I first started when I was nine, a dendrobium orchid flower. My mothers favourite.

It hangs above my bed to this very day.

I was painting another piece, of the watercolour kind. A dandelion. Whilst listening to Small Black on the speakers, it gets me into the correct creative mind set to create a piece.

Painting nature always soothes me, and being surrounded by it as well. I've spent countless hours and days in the forest blocks away from my home. I go there for my own little isolation, but in the outdoors. I go there to let out rage, sadness, or to set up and paint.

It's been weeks since I've been there as the snow clutters it all up and the roads are too covered in snow to ride a bike in. So lately I've just been in salvation in my workshop.

I finish adding the final touches to the dandelion painting, and clean up the area. Then mom tells me dinner is ready, mashed potatoes and chicken breasts. We have big feasts like this all the time, and Christmas dinner is where it really shines.

Mom and Grandma both cooking up the meal for the whole family, with seconds and thirds! Turkeys upon turkeys and the greatest stuffing made in the whole town, it's one of the days I most look forward to following the present opening the day after.

I head upstairs to the dining room, where I can see the steaming hot chicken and white fluffy mashed potatoes on the table, I immediately grab a plate and stuff my face.

_____________________
Later that night, 10:51pm.

I was snooping around in the living room, looking in the cabinets for old items. Instead I found a family book, of all the members on my mom side. My aunts Caroline, Debbie, and Jade. Then there's uncle Peter, who passed away when I was only just graduating the third grade.

As I look at all the photos of all my family members, my mother calls me from the kitchen, thinking I'm in my bedroom. I come up behind her from the doorway, "Yeah?".

"Oh geez! Sorry, you scared the shit out of me." She panicked, holding the landline to her chest. "The phones for you, it's your aunt Jade. She said she'd like to speak with you before you sleep."

I grab the phone. "Hello?" I say.
"Oh hi Tracey! How are you doing you handsome little devil? It's been so LONG since I've seen you last and I can't WAIT to see you in a couple days!" She giggles.

"Oh really?" I responded. "Yeah! Haven't your mother told you? You're vacation to Rhode Island is in less than ten days. Two weeks at one of the nicest hotels to offer! And I'll be coming over on the fifteenth for the early Christmas dinner with you guys, it will be SO much fun! I especially can't wait for my present to give to you, Tracey. It's really special and you can't tell no one okay?"

"...what is it?" I ask.

"Now that'd be ruining the point of a present if I told you, now would it? I'll speak to you when I get there, see you soon, Tracey! Love you and you guys a bunch." She makes a loud pucker sound of lips into the phone and giggles, then hangs up.

I hand the phone back to my mom, and get back to the photo albums. "What did she say?" My mom says, as I turn around to walk away.

"Oh nothing, just that she is coming to town for the EARLY Christmas dinner?" I reply.

"Oh darnit we wanted it to be a surprise, but I guess you know we're going to Rhode Island for a couple weeks huh?"

"Yep." I say.

"Yeah well, we're staying at the Holiday Inn, you're free to bring ANY painting items you like, as it will be a long two weeks there." She replies.

_______________________
Later on, 1:39am.

I was up late, in bed on my tablet. I was thinking back to my call with my aunt Jade. She seemed really...different, then usual. Like she knows something we don't, like she has a plan for SOMETHING or SOMEONE. It could've just been her, but it still made me think.

Especially the kiss and laugh at the end. Why or when in the hell has she EVER done that?

I decided that I need some sleep, so I put my tablet on the charger and rest it on my nightstand next to my bed.

As I lay awake, covering in blankets and staring at nothing except the roof. I look over at my first painting, the dendrobium orchid. I thought about how far I've came in my career. With over forty pieces requested, made, and sold. It was clear that I was getting some where.

All I want is somewhere big to notice who I am, my work and all I've done. Perhaps a news article about me, that'd be nice.

I slowly begin to fall asleep as my eyes begin to lower. I let out a yawn and turn over on my side, Despicable Dogs by Small Black plays on my speakers lightly, I ultimately fall asleep.

_______________________