She Needs Love

Chapter Four

Song: Looking Too Closely by Fink

Daniel got home to an empty house and a yellow note on the fridge. "There's dinner in the microwave." was written in sloppy handwriting on the post-it. No smiley face this time. He had been sure that his parents didn't bother to rewrite it. They just stuck the same note on the fridge every time they went away. Swallowing his disappointment, he went up to his room. Walking up the grand staircase of the massive house that he called home, would make anyone feel lonely.

Despite being the only one in the house, he made sure to lock his door behind him. The walls of his room were dark. A stark contrast to the rest of the house. Light flowed into the nearly empty room, furnished with nothing but a bed and a wooden closet.

The second he entered his bedroom, he did the one thing that he had been waiting to do for hours. Without hesitation, he grabbed the sketchbook and flipped it open.

The first page was blank, with a name written on it in cursive letters.

Ida Nelson.

Ida. He didn't have the slightest idea who this person was. He had never heard of anyone with such a name. He wasn't even sure if it was a boy or a girl. Maybe it belonged to the person he thought he had seen in the room. It could also be someone else who had access to the room. He had no idea how many people knew that the art studio existed. For all he knew, it could be everyone but him.

As a million thoughts rampaged his mind, he flipped over to the next page. There was an old, tattered photograph of a man stuck to the sheet of paper. He seemed to be well into his twenties. A sullen, brooding expression was apparent on his face. For some unknown reason, Daniel felt like he had seen this man before. His dark blue eyes were strikingly familiar.

Under the picture, a date and a place were written in the now familiar cursive handwriting.

New York, 1999.

Maybe that's where he had seen him. It had to be. If this picture was taken all the way back then, the man had to be a whole lot older by now.

Daniel had lived in New York City his entire life until his parents suddenly decided it would be better for them to live here. Better for him to live here. Far away from the danger and drama they thought his life consisted of. And something about improving his attitude.

Seven years had passed since then and he missed his life in the city every day. The people. The atmosphere. It was daring and exciting. Here, everything was the exact opposite. Boring and dull. The same carefully constructed routine, day after day. It drove him crazy sometimes.

The next page was filled with several drawings. Drawings of the same girl. One where she was lying peacefully in her bed. Another one where she was staring at the rain through an open window. One where she was crying. And in the last drawing, it looked like the girl was flying. The pencil strokes were messy and unsteady. It almost looked like the person who drew it had been shaking.

Daniel had no idea what all this meant or was supposed to be. But he gathered something about the look on her face. The way she stared into the emptiness. Though his curiosity was increasing, he decided that it was enough for now. He wanted more, but he wouldn't allow himself to be consumed by something so sentimental. He knew better. He closed the sketchbook and put it on top of his bedside table.

The thought that the owner might notice that their book had disappeared didn't bother him much. Frankly, he didn't care. He would never return it himself. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't. Not when he didn't have the slightest idea of who the owner was. Luckily for him, no one would ever suspect Daniel Reed of stealing someone's sketchbook.