Ten Days >> Douwe Bob | Wattys2016

Day 1

"No way he's going to be allowed in." I chuckled to myself as I listened to the doorbell echo around the house.

The bitch herself answered the door. I knew because I could hear her heels click against the marble floor as she went to the door.

And just like another usual day, I was locked inside my room.

I was pulled out of my thoughts as I heard her annoying, loud, high pitched laugh. She was laughing in his face, I just knew it.

My heart sank a little.

I had been secretly hoping that he was the one who was going to finally save me, but I guess I was destined to being my mother's prisoner forever.

Well, until I killed myself, of course.

But it wasn't long before I heard something hit against my window.

It couldn't be.

I slowly opened my window and peered down.

And right below it was the one and only Douwe Bob, with five small stones in his hand.

"Surprise." He smiled, as I just stood there, speechless.

It hadn't even been a day and he had already done the nicest thing anyone had ever done for me. Ever.

"Come down." He called, looking up at me and squinting one eye because of the bright sun against him.

I looked at him for a moment, before swiftly turning my head towards the door and listened quietly.

I lived my life in constant fear of a woman who didn't deserve to be called my mother. Biologically she was, but in every other sense she was long dead to me.

Only silence followed, so I turned back and leaned over my windowsill.

Douwe was now sitting down on the grass, patiently humming to himself. It was still strange to me how he was even here. Why did he care? It wasn't as if he knew me!

"Douwe?" I hissed, trying to get his attention. I was careful not to be too loud though.

He looked up at me and a sudden smile spread across his face. He scrambled to his feet and held out his arms.

"Jump." He said, looking down into his arms. "I'll catch you."

I stared at him in shock, but still thought about it. It was only around a story down, and besides, the worst that could happen was death.

And, you know.

So I nodded my head quickly and grabbed my phone. Then carefully, I stood up on the edge of the window sill and held the frame for balance.

"Ready?" I whispered, barely daring to look down.

"Jump."

I squeezed my eyes shut and pushed myself forward enough so that the window sill wasn't underneath me anymore.

The feeling of falling engulfed me, but it was over all too quickly as I landed heavily into Douwe's arms.

"You caught me." I laughed, standing up on wobbly knees.

He pretended to get offended.

"Rosie do not tell me you didn't think I'd catch you."

"I knew you'd catch me." I giggled, then stopped suddenly. "How do you know my name?" I whispered, eyeing him.

He lifted an eyebrow at me and with only milliseconds of hesitation, grabbed my small hand in his and ran.

The wind whizzed through my loose hair as I was tugged along away from my house.

And I couldn't lie. Just feeling the distance between myself and that house lit a fire within me. A fire of freedom.

In fits of laughter, we stopped as soon as we reached the small bridge. Barely able to breath, I leaned onto my knees as Douwe did the same.

"Hey you ok?" He asked, as I tried to regain my breath.

"Huh?" I asked, looking at him.

"Are you ok?" He laughed lightly, confused to why I hadn't understand him the first one.

"Douwe Bob if only you knew how long ago the last time someone asked me that question is, you'd be shocked." I told him.

Then, seeing that he didn't exactly know how to respond, I quickly added:

"I'm fine."

"Well, Rosie White, let's go."

"Where are we going?" I asked, following him as he crossed the bridge. "And how do you know my last name as well?"

"Ten days was all I asked for Rosie." He said, pausing to look at me. "No questions."

I nodded silently and continued to follow him. I eyed his long legs as I struggled to keep up with him.

"Hey." I laughed, jogging up to him. "Not so fast."

He smiled.

"Right. Because one step of mine is like five steps of yours. That's... cute."

"Cute?" I blurted, looking up at him as we continued to cross the bridge.

"Mhm." He said, barely loud enough for me to hear him. Because just then, he jogged off as we reached the end of the bridge and kneeled down next to the river bank.

"Rosie come here." He called, as I sped up my walking pace to reach him. I knelt down besides him.

Daylight has begun to drain away as I followed his gaze to a single lily pad, floating on the murky water.

"Look." He whispered, pulling me closer to him so that I could hear his whispers.

Out of an old decayed log, long softened by rot and spotted with moss, a rough-skinned frog camouflaged against cracked and lined bark emerged.

I gasped softly as it hopped up. Douwe just looked down at me and smiled.

"I've never seen a frog." I whispered, watching it hop across the log and then onto the lily pad.

Douwe sat back onto his heels and looked at me.

"So you're saying, you live literally minutes away from here and you've never seen a frog?" He asked, studying my face.

I bit my lip.

"I've never been here before." I confessed, taking in my surroundings. The only time I was allowed to leave my house was to go to school, and that was in the opposite direction.

"Oh." Douwe said, not making a big deal out of it. I appreciated that. "Anyway." He shook the heavy mood off and turned back to the frog. "Back when I lived in Amsterdam, frogs used to visit me all the time in my backyard. I think they liked me." He giggled, his eyes twinkling.

Just then, the sky opened, and rain began pouring down.

"Look." He smiled, making me look at the water once again. The rain pierced through the murky water, sending ripples through our hazy reflections.

"It's pretty." I commented, watching as a single pink flower floated towards us.

Douwe titled my chin up, and silently motioned at me to look at the sky.

The sky was a mystery of colours. Red, pink, purple, orange, yellow and brown all mixed together to give the picture perfect landscape. Just gazing at it, brought a sense of tranquility. The sun drowned in the horizon, it's rays of light glimmering in the darkness of the clouds and the pale moon peeked at me from the stars. With every moment that went by there was a change in the colour of the sky, barely noticeable yet crystal clear.

I drew in a sharp breath, barely able to believe what I was seeing.

"Douwe, I-" I began.

"Shh." He cut me off, reaching over into the water.

I pulled my eyes away from the sky and looked down at the tiny pink flower in his large hands. It was limp and it was wet but it was there and it was beautiful.

"Reason number one." He whispered, handing me the flower. "Because the world is beautiful."