Line of Time

A Falling Out

As the first week of Gunnar's grounding went on he was completely bored out of his mind by the second day, he hated school so much more now that he was forced to stay there now. His brothers and sister were to tell Miss Cooper if any of them saw him leave the school grounds before the bell rang for the end of the day. But when he got home it wasn't any better, Wednesdays and Saturdays was when the family went to the wreak center and did volunteering the Sunday they went to the soup kitchen to help out, everyone enjoyed it but Tino didn't go since they had learned that the first time they brought him in his chair that he couldn't really do much. So they all took turns staying home with him. For the next four family outings it would be Gunnar that stayed with him. But this time he wouldn't be able to leave Tino alone.   

Tonight Gunnar was sitting at the kitchen table with his head on his arms when the family left. He stayed there for a while as he took a small nap by accident and then panicked when he noticed that the family was gone. He ran around looking for Tino and then found him outside in the garage that was attached to their apartment since it had originally been the maintenance resident. 

There were car parts, old boxes and gardening tools scattered everywhere along with some tools. Then in the back by a window was a large wooden table on an angle, that's where Gunnar found Tino. He walked up behind him and looked over his shoulder, he was working in his art book. Gunnar's eyes watched as he worked, unaware that he stood there. He was sketching a woodland area with large trees in the back round along with some mountains. Then in the middle of the scene was a wolf standing on a rock and peering out on the meadows below. 

"That's really cool..." Gunnar said almost speechless, Tino jolted at the sound of his voice, slamming his book shut and clutching his chest from the scare. 

"Please don't sneak up on me Gunnar... You almost gave me a heart attack just now..." Tino said as he looked up at him. 

"Sorry..." He said as he then looked down at the book that Tino held a protective hand over, keeping it closed tightly. Gunnar could see pages falling out and that the paper inside was old and worn now. It was leather bound and it had long since faded with ware. It was only a about a year old but so far it looked like it had been around for about twenty or so due to Tino taking it everywhere he could. He hit it from everyone, shoving it behind the book case, his bed frame, in his school bag and locker sometimes. This was truly the only thing that Tino hid from people he trusted like his family. He hit a book which Gunnar found strange due to the fact that Tino struck him as an open book kind of person. It was funny when Gunnar thought about it. 

"Why do you always hid that thing anyways, no one's going to make fun of it, it's good." Gunnar told him as Tino took his hand off of it.

"If you want to look through it you can... "Tino said as he pushed it towards Gunnar, the older boy smiled and pushed it back to him. 

"I won't do it if you don't want me to, keep it for now and come see me when you actually want me too." He said as he saw Tino breath a sigh of relief. 

"You always know what I feel on the inside don't you... or am I just that bad at hiding it?" Tino said as he looked down at his lap. 

"It's a trick I picked up, but your every good at hiding things, especially when you keep them inside..." Gunnar said as he knelt down in front of Tino now turned chair. 

Tino looked at him with a ghost smile. As a silent moment pasted between them. 

" . . . Hey, I didn't just come in here to spy on your book... I came in here so I could apologize . . . For everything. For saying that stuff before I left and scaring you when you were on the counter. I didn't mean for you to get hurt. So I'm sorry... " Gunnar said as he then looked at the ground beside him, he didn't want to meet Tino's eyes because he was scared of what his reaction would be.