Connections

III ~ A Sardonic Grin

~'One/Two Weeks Later'~

Hmm...

Hum.....

Hu-

"Whatcha doooin'?"

Once again, I was startled by Leo's presence. His specific, yet divergent scent snaked around me, almost as if he touched me physically - even thought he was a couple feet away, leaning over my shoulder to spectate my newest creation. Which, by the way, was nowhere close to done.

I turned to see his glorious smile - it looked so genuine and youthful, which comforted me just like the sun, if the sun weren't secretly so evil.

Are all other people like this?

I cleared my throat. "Uhm... You can't look at this yet. I'm not done." Leo cocked his head to the side, retorting: "But you're also not even close. I'm not gonna miss too much. Just a couple minutes - I've always wanted to watch someone paint!" The excitement in his voice resonated in a childish manner. He's so animated, it's crazy to me...

"B-but if you watch me like that, then I'll get uncomfortable..."
"Well, don't you wanna try new things? For instance, painting in a new environment? Ooh, ooh, I know," he added hastily, clapping his hands together in delight like a child with a new toy, "we could go to the park!!"
I froze.
The park was outside. The only reason I went outside in the first place was to get Leo to return, and even then, I felt my skin crawling with stares from other people as we headed back. I didn't want to do that again.
But then his words from a moment ago ricocheted in my head once more:
"Don't you wanna try new things?"
Not alone, no.
But maybe with you.

Determinedly, I placed my brush on my easel and turned to face Leo. I cleared my throat before saying the words I thought I'd never hear:
"I'll do it."

The sun shone through the colourful, budding trees as birds of all shapes and sizes and colours danced from branch to branch. I had never seen so much life in one place, nor so many people. There were people everywhere: young, old, eating, sleeping, walking dogs, feeding ducks, sitting together, hugging, kissing... there was so much variety that I didn't even know where to begin.

"So? What do you think?" Leo spoke after a few moments, pulling me out of my train of thought.

"Well?" He waited patiently for my answer.

"...I want to paint them," I whispered. Leo looked down at me. "Then what are you waiting for? Go on, ask them!"
I held my breath. 'Right,' I thought, 'I have to ask them. They won't be cruel about it, right? I'll just go up and ask to... paint them...' In a moment of doubt, I turned to Leo. "This is a bad idea. We should go home now-" "Hey, whoah, whoah, you're not leaving yet! At least try to talk to one person. Hey," he added, "how about that old lady over there?" Leo gestured towards a woman with countless wrinkles - most likely from smiles in her day - and beautiful, silvery white hair which shone even brighter thanks to the midday sun's incandescent rays. In vain I tried to swallow the annoying lump in my throat, but it only grew until I reached the bench where the old woman sat. She was so serene, so peaceful; I longed to feel as she seemed to. Alas, that wasn't how I worked. I tried to speak multiple times, but nothing would come out; the lump in my throat got in the way each time. Momentarily, a quiet "ahem" startled me. The old woman, noticing my pitiful efforts to get her attention, turned to me and showed me a smile. However, her smile faded slightly as her eyes traveled down from my eyes to my body. I cleared my throat once more to regain her attention before beginning: "I...I.... I like to paint, and, uh, your hair is gorgeous - uhm, pretty, uh," I stuttered sheepishly.

"I would like to paint you."

The woman's smile widened, a sympathetic acknowledgment of my charismatic finesse. "Well, dear, why didn't you say so before? Go ahead, I don't mind," she added, and sunk back into the park bench in relaxation. So I smiled back, and I did. For awhile, time seemed to flow by as smoothly as each stroke made with my paintbrush created a new river of colour on my canvas. The sun shone, and as its liquid rays seemed to drown out my surroundings, so too did my mind drown out everything and everyone other than my painting. "Miss?" Again, the woman startled me. "Y-yes?" "I was asking you if that boy you were with is your beau." This time, I was startled in a different manner. "N-n-n- Leo?? No! He wouldn't- no, ma'am! He's..." Even as I scrambled for a response, I felt the rush of blood and colour to my cheeks. "There," the woman added with a smile while meeting my gaze, "you look a lot better now..." She was silent then. I hesitantly returned to my painting without a response. What did that mean? After quite a few moments of reflection, I decided to ask. "Ma'am, what did you mean by-?" My question trailed off as I peeked my head around my canvas. The woman lay silently on the bench, her head resting on the back of it. Her lips were still contorted - like her body - into a smile in her slumber, and her breaths were-

"Hey... Hey!"

I whipped my head around as a young man and woman came running towards me. I froze, fearing the worst, only to feel the air as they rushed past me. I realized what had happened then before the man spoke:

"This lady's dying!!" "Somebody call 911!!"

The woman was dying. And I hadn't even noticed.

And it was my fault.

"Miss! Miss! What were you doing just now? Did you see what happened?" The woman who had accompanied the man had now noticed me standing aimlessly by, and had proceeded to question me. Little did she know she was wasting her time. Leo was wasting his time.

I was a waste of time.

"Grec!! Grec, where the heck did you and the lady go? I- 'scuse me sir, ma'am- I found some food, and-" Leo stopped short when he saw the center of all the attention - when he saw me, standing next to the dead woman, completely deflated. I turned to meet his gaze - the last thing I wanted to see - and held it for a brief second before looking around to the bystanders. One small boy looked at me in horror. For another second, everyone was quiet.

"Mommy, mommy!! She killed the lady!! She's dead!!" The little boy suddenly wailed. His mother shushed him and took him away, denying his claims. The rest of the crowd began to murmur. I turned back to Leo, whose gaze reflected just as much confusion and concern as I had. I gave him a pleading look, which is all I felt I could do. I was frozen, looking into Leo's eyes and praying he didn't suspect me too.

And in the worst timing possible, the police arrived.

My brain began to shut out the words of the crowd and the police officers attempting to speak to me. My chest tightened, and my eyesight began to blur. I felt the officers take my hands and place them behind my back, as I heard some slurred words spoken from somewhere near me.

"Don't touch her!!"

Suddenly I heard a small crack behind me where the officer had been. Cacophony broke out, and the last thing I observed: If my view had been a canvas, there would have been a bright orange blob of paint being dragged across the scene and out of sight, and black taking its place.

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*I'M BACK SNITCHES*

Lmao ok but seriously sorry for not updating I'm horrible and I couldn't think of how to continue and you're probably all gone now and nobody gonna read the chapter :'(

BUT ANYWAY If you read this then thanks! <3 I figured out what's gonna happen!! It's gonna be a super short story but I'll try to write it well so yeah

I'll tryyyy to update sooner this time!

P.S. I FORGOT TO MENTION A THING!!

Idk why I wrote it that way but I described Leo with raven hair. WELP I can't get myself to imagine him that way sooo he now has ginger hair X-P

I wish I could write with emojis dang it