Glow In The Dark

Chapter Three

Dani’s hands moved over the ground dragging the black chalk along it to leave a dark mark. She had already spent an hour and a half on the roof drawing, her father not yet coming up to get her like he would usually do. Her fingers, spots on her arms, and spots on her face were black from working with the calk for so long. It might have been messy and would take her a while to wash off but she didn’t care. Chalk was her favorite thing to use for art; she felt so much could be done with it if someone just took the time to actually use it.

            Putting the chalk down she used the back of her hand to wipe her forehead leaving a black smudge where she wiped. Slowly she stood up and started to wipe her hands off on her pants froze at the sound of her father’s voice. She knew he hated when she would get chalk all over her clothes, he said it ruined them and he didn’t have to money to have someone else get the stains out.

            “Dani.” She turned to watch him as he walked over. He was wearing his large jacket, she loved that jacket, and was tugging it tightly around himself to protect himself from the cold winds that were coming in, “It’s getting late, come inside.”

            Looking away from him she started to busy herself with picking up her chalk and putting them back into the box. Her eyes flickered over to him as he walked closer. He was no longer looking at her and was just looking at what she had done. It was a large flower with a girl drawn in the center. The girl looked sad and in her hands was holding a heart that had been shattered to pieces.

            “What’s it called?” His voice grew soft.

            “It’s a drawing dad, it’s not called anything.” She hadn’t meant her to words to come out as harsh as they had but didn’t really care. Picking up her box she stood and looked at him, “The flower represents grandmother, the girl is mom, and the heart is you.” He looked at her with a startled look, “Let’s go inside, it looks like a storm is coming.” She said quickly before hurrying over to the stairs.

            He followed after her, staying close to her as they went down the stairs. A smile played at her lips as she felt the weight of her father’s jacket fall onto her shoulders. Warmth soon was spreading throughout her whole body because of it. His hands reached past her and took the box from her so she could tighten the jacket around her small body.

Her father had always been a kind man and at times he was to kind. He hardly ever got mad and loved to make other people smile. His signature jacket had been a gift from her mother the day before their wedding and somehow always smelled like her mother. Ever since Dani had been little she had loved stealing the jacket and wearing it until he took it back. The only time he would take it back though was if her mother needed it.

Dani’s parents had been together since they were both sixteen and were now both in their thirty’s. Her mother had had Dani soon after they had gotten married and had happily thought her daughter the art of their lives. They owned a traveling shop, she had heard a few people call them gipsy’s because of it be she didn’t care. She had loved everything about what they did and was surrounded by hard working people that she considered family.

As they would travel her father and mother would put on a good show, it was usually a comedic act, and for the little kids in the afternoon her mother would do a puppet show. The others all did different things like magic, juggling, and other side show circus tricks. But Dani’s job was mainly to sell things, hand crafted one of a kind jewelry that he grandmother would make and send to them to sell. Sometimes her mother would have her make ‘potions’ and sell those. When she wasn’t selling she would be in her mask and out performing where ever she was need. The extras that had no big roles wore masks and she loved it because with her mask on she could be whoever she wanted.