acrylic dreams | reddie

deux

eddie liked long walks.  he enjoyed feeling the breeze of the early autumn wind hit his face, the smell of pumpkin and cinnamon.  normally he had a walkman with him, clipped to his shorts, but today he wanted to enjoy the natural sound around him.

usually he'd walk a small trail behind his house that led to a small forest.  he'd played in the small land behind the house when he was little, his mom always within seeing distance.  listening to music, he'd just walk.  left foot, right foot, repeat.  he'd do it until he got tired, it was time to go home, or if he got bored with the tape playing in his walkman.  

music.

it was something that helped him see.  that opened his eyes to a world beyond the cold one he was trapped behind.  it made colors in his head though he'd never truly know what they looked like.

as he walked down the sidewalk that framed the perimeter of most of derry central park, he looked around, taking in his surroundings.  cold.  it was all cold.  the apartment buildings that stood tall on the opposite side of the street.  cold, muted brick lined with cold white trim.  trees with fluttering leaves that were plucked off due to the growing wind.  mothers with their strollers, humming and whistling though they were tone deaf as they strode past eddie.

but he noticed someone who stood out among the dim horizon of his cold scenery.  a boy.  eddie noticed him sitting under a heavily branched tree, leaves almost hiding the boy from the rest of the world.  he looked peaceful.  simply at ease.  eddie smiled softly.  he stopped walking as he noticed the boy looking down at something that rested in his lap.  a canvas, it seemed to be.  which only got eddie's head running with questions on what was on the canvas.

before he knew it, he was walking off course to the curly headed boy and his canvas, his hands in his pocket as he walked against the pushing breeze.  leaves crunched beneath his feet which caught the other boys attention, eyes locking with eddie's as he earned a soft smile accompanied with a shy wave.

"hi."

"hello."

eddie smiled in return, pulling his hand out of his pocket to nervously scratch the back of his head as he stood in front of the boy.

"may i help you?"

"oh-oh.  i.. just wanted to see what you were-"

eddie looked at their surroundings.  a backpack.  next to the backpack, some books.  next to the books a pencil case.  next to the pencil case a cup.  in the cup was water.  in the water were brushes.

"-painting."

the boy flashed a gentle smile at him and eddie felt a rush of something he'd never felt before.  warmth.  shuddering, he watched the boy turn his piece so that eddie could have a better look at it.  he crouched down, supporting himself on one hand as he looked at the boy.

"may i?"

the boy nodded at eddie, earning another smile in response as he sat down in the spot he was in.  he crossed his legs and looked down at the shifted painting, his eyes wandering across the canvas.  it was beautiful.  eddie couldn't help but smile as he took in every detail that the boy had painted on.  then it clicked.  eddie looked up at the scene in front of them.  the sky that held a background for the houses and trees in front of it.  the boy had just painted it.  and it was almost a perfect replica.

"it's really pretty," eddie said, handing the painting back to the boy, "have you ever thought of showing it off?  like in a museum?"

eddie noticed how a light pink tint creeped its way onto the boys cheeks as he shook his head, looking down at the painted canvas.

"no.  never thought i was good enough to be in one."

"really?  that's truly amazing, if i'm honest.  i've never seen something as good as what you've made."

the boy looked at eddie with that warm smile again, causing his heart to melt a little.  eddie almost didn't like this feeling.

"i'll have to think about it."

eddie smiled and nodded, looking down at the painting once more before the two boys were enveloped in silence.  but not an awkward silence.  a warm one.  almost as warm as the smile that the boy would flash at eddie every now and then.  eddie couldn't stop thinking about the feeling of pure warmth and how it'd been so long since he'd actually been pulled from his never ending trance of cold.

cold cold cold.

but this boy made him feel warm warm warm.

eddie snapped back to life as the boy spoke up, engaging in conversation with him to break the silence -- which, eddie didn't think about it, may have been awkward to the other.  eddie looked at the boy as they began talking, asking each other questions back and forth.  eddie learned what his favorite color was, what other things he had painted, how long he'd lived in derry.  but when he asked for the boys name, the other shut down it seemed.  silence.

"i'd rather keep it a secret for now."

eddie nodded.

"whatever you say, mystery boy."