Hidden Whispers

d a n i e l // 23

The canvas in front of me was milk white, and I brushed a blue stroke across it. Fayne said that art calmed one's mind.

The stroke was soft and loving. I topped the blue one with a soft ombre one, giving it a pricey look. Looking away to see Leesha engrossed in her self purchased tab, I decided to concentrate.

A few hours later, I stood in front of a complete mess of polychromatic hues. I sighed, dropping my apron.

"This isn't made for me," I stated to Leesha. She looked up, snarled and went back to her tab.

"Thanks, that was really supportive to my future of being the next Van Gogh," I rolled my eyes at her.

"Little girl's making her boy draw. You really love her, don't you?" Lee kept her tab aside and looked at me.

I nodded.

Yesterday I introduced her to my parents, and strangely enough, they love her way more than they have ever loved me. After she left, the first thing they asked was, "How in the world's name did she agree to be with you? You don't even deserve half of what she is."

I was internally ecstatic. And due to such a happy reason, we would go out today to get cake.

The honking of a car made Lee and I jump out of our positions. Max and Fayne had come as their shift was finally over.

We drove down to the Glenville Market, where they separated ways with us. They wanted an undisturbed time alone.

Getting out of the car, I looked at Fayne. "Where do you want to go?" I asked her. "Let's get the cake. We need to talk," she replied sternly.

My face dropped. I knew what "we need to talk" meant. She'll leave me.

"Hey, you. I'm not breaking up with you. I need to show you something," Fayne laughed softly and I breathed out a "phew". She really understood what I thought about.

Advancing towards the cake shop, I looked at her. Her emotions ventilated nothing. It was as if her feelings had drained out of her body. I was scared of her sometimes. She was strong, but her emotions fluctuated a lot.

She chose a blackcurrent cake and we decided to savour it at the Café itself.

Taking a bite out of her slice, she opened her bag and handed me a dirty little diary. It was brown paper covered, and most of the pages had turned yellow.

"Read it," she ordered.

"Is this one of your old diaries?" I asked her.

"No. Open the first page, you'd understand," she motioned towards the diary.

I opened it.

~

18th February

Hey, I'm Claire Whittaker. I'm going to start writing my feelings and my days here. And if you're reading and you're not me, stop. Don't read any further.

~

I closed the diary immediately. "Where did you find this?" I asked, my heart pounding really fast.

"Mom's locker. I stole it. Couldn't do anything about it, it's too costly. Read it, Daniel. It's not really long. Just about twenty or twenty five entries," she nudged.

"Why? What interesting thing lies there?" I asked.

"Read. Just.. stop talking and read," she urged.

//

A few minutes later, I closed the last page of the book and looked sideways to meet the forest of Fayne's eyes, who looked beadily at me, her hand moving vigorously in her sketch pad.

"You done?" She asked, keeping it aside.

"Y-yeah. I.." I trailed off.

"I'll give you some quiet time to process it," Fayne nodded.

"No it's okay. Is Sasha's friend Brianna?" I asked, my voice cold against the Café table.

"Let's walk," she whispered.

Walking out of the Café, I felt that I had lived in a lie for so long. I looked at Fayne. She was staying at home with a monster herself.

"So, what did you understand?" Fayne asked, once we were safely hidden behind a house.

"If Sasha's friend was Brianna, it explains a lot. She used to talk about two girls. Clearly themselves. And then she killed Sasha in order to cause the same pain she felt to Jake," I said, everything falling into place.

"Yes. And Jake is a criminal of forced sex too. Namely, rape," Fayne offered.

"Brianna thought that Mikaela killed Claire, but that wouldn't have been possible as Mikaela went away and there was no entry about Mike hating on her," I said.

"Love is utter complexity. Love can make one do crazy things. And we," Fayne trailed off, holding my hands, "we are just mere products of love. It is us who need to teach the world what love is."

Fayne was right. Love wasn't about falling for someone else when you are committed to someone. Love wasn't about lust. Love wasn't about revenge. Love was pure.

I cupped her cheeks and kissed her, the sunlight warming up our faces, softly and gently. But we were cut off by police sirens.

//

"Mikaela's body has been found in the Lake," Fayne informed us. The four of us were sitting at a campfire in my backyard.

We updated Lee and Max about the diary and all of the facts that we had accumulated.

"The same way she tried to kill Brianna? You think Brianna did this?" Max offered.

"Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe Brianna is happy in Toronto, with a job and a dog. Or maybe she came back for revenge. And took it," Lee said.

"She came back," I said.

Three pairs of eager eyes looked at me while I filled them up with the blonde woman who kissed her chain.

"And that's where the chapter closes. Brianna took her revenge. Jake has been arrested after we handed over the diary to the police. And we are here, completely out of the love quadrilateral's life," Max said.

"But where's Brianna right now?" Lee asked.

"There are millions of possibilities, Lee. She may be back in Toronto. She may roam around the streets depressed. Or, she may simply fall in love all over again. Let's leave some loose ends, shall we?" Fayne smiled.

"The main question is, where is the verification that Mikaela killed Claire?" I asked.

Maxine looked at me. "Some things are better left unsaid, right? What's the fun in knowing everything? It's not our lives anyways."

The warmth of the fire lit our faces up as we looked up towards the sky, drenching ourselves into millions of possibilities.

Truly, there are millions of things left to be witnessed. Millions of secrets yet to be told. Millions of hidden whispers yet unheard. And that is what makes the nature beautiful in its own rights.

__________

♡