For Alistair

Rich Boy Strange Girl

Rich life, expensive belongings and trips to wherever. Ryan had everything any teenager could ask for. His friends were all rich, as was his family. His younger sister did pangents and he did...nothing.

His father hated it. His true friends were the same kids who had family issues or drank. He didn't hang with smokers, the air was always filthy around him. Made his parents suspicious. He did like his friends and they all enjoyed their time together but he wanted something more. Ryan took plenty of photos for his friends, uploaded them, and hid them from his father. Until she came along...

It was evening by an abandoned construction site. The building was made of cement walls and steel beams. One of his friends told him they had met her there, painting away. They decided to do a photo shoot with her.

She stood there with her hood up and a buff over her mouth and nose. Ryan could barely take his eyes off her. Without a word she turned and went into the building where ladders and planks of wood led up to the other floors and across gaps. The walls and floor were covered in art of wings and tails and spells. All of them were missing owners, wearers. She had deliberately made them that way.
All of his friends posed in front of the various paintings until they had to leave. Ryan didn't want to leave yet. He wanted to stay and learn more about her. The girl was strange, new. She fascinated him.

"May I take your picture?" He asked her in the darkened silence of the evening. His camera still had plenty of space and he needed a reason to have more contact with her.
She nodded. "You...want to pose in front of your work?"

She looked around at her pieces before going to the ladder and climbing up to the next floor. He followed up and found her standing in front of two large wings and tails feather. Each feather had been carefully painted and detailed. All of the others had been done in spray paint except for this one. "Perfect..." he said not sure if he was referring to the work or the creator. She sat down in front of it, sitting with her legs to the side, her eyes closed, and her head down.

He took too many photos. Often ten or twenty of the same pose. When he uploaded the photos he smiled at all of them. His friends being ridiculous, cool or badass with the different backgrounds. And then he got to the photos of the girl. The strange girl. The one who barely spoke and never showed her face. She looked so fragile in all of the photos. Like a tiny bird.

The strange girl continued to spend time with his friends and he started staying longer. Everything she did was different. When they crossed the street she balanced on the lines with her arms out like a tightrope walker. Instead of walking she often skipped. And the way she communicated, she was almost like a dog. She would be sitting on her knees, closing her eyes half way before toppling over and lying down. He could even pet her hair and she would rest against him. Her hood would come off more and more as they grew closer to her. The buff never came off. In a way he was glad. He didn't want to judge her based on how she looked. He never stopped taking photos.

One day his father found the photos of him and his friends. When he found the ones of the Strange girl he yelled at Ryan.

"I love her!" Ryan argued. "She's different than other people! I care about them all they're my friends."

His father was furious and took away all of his photos and his camera. Ryan couldn't keep late hours anymore without his father sending people to search for him. He wanted to run away. If only to be with the Strange girl.

One evening he met with her at the building where they first met he sat in the corner watching her work. When she finished she stood there staring at it. It was a scenery of wolf howling at a moon. Ryan came up behind her and put her arms around her, burying his face in her shoulder. The past months he felt trapped, unable to spend much time with his friends, no longer able to take photos.

"I don't care...I don't care about where you're from or what your family is like. I don't care that my father doesn't approve of you. I don't care that my sister gets my mothers attention. Don't care that my family is more concerned about game and fortune rather than spending time doing things for the fun of it. What I do care about...is you. I hate that I barely see you. It sounds crazy and naive...stupid and childish...but I love you. You're perfect. I may never see your face but I will still have feelings for you."

He held her for a while waiting for a response. She was...crying? Ryan looked at her not letting go as he moved to stand in front of her. There were tears in her reddened eyes.

"I love you too..." she sobbed.