Till The Count Of Five ✓

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

People adore a badge but do they ever think about the hiding needle that binds it to one's shirt?

Vee

4th May 2019, Saturday
13:58

The good, old Picasso Club. More like the good, old Club of the Damned.

"What's with the frown?" Shay asked as soon as I entered.

I touched my lips and found them pressed in a perfect line, no frowns. "What frown?" I mumbled and placed my bag next to hers.

"Okay, I get it. You're in a bad mood." She eyed me and continued to fix the statue.

I was taken aback from her words. To my surprise, I had a good night's sleep last night. No nightmares, no flashbacks, no drinks, no father. Maybe the last one should stay off the list. I wasn't even that lucky. My mood was perfectly fine, a little cheerful too. I turned and checked out my face in the glass of the window. I looked fine, neutral but relaxed.

"What are you doing?"

I dropped my hand from my mouth and shook my head at the wide-eyed Shay. "Nothing. What are you doing?" I walked up to the table. "Just throw the frame. We'll get another one."

She nodded but continued to work on it. I sighed. Incorrigible.

"Where's everyone else?" I asked.

She kept her head down, as if I wasn't audible. I didn't bother asking and walked to the door, looking for any one of those truants.

"They're upstairs," Shay replied.

I raised an eyebrow. "Upstairs? As in the other Art Room? Why?"

Again, with her head down, eyes focused on that worn out frame, she kept her mouth shut. I walked back to her and hovered over the frame that interested her so much. Her stained fingers trailed around the frame's edges. The almirah behind her was opened, another frame peeking out of it. Then, I realized what she was doing. Black frame, golden design. She picked up her brush and wrote a 5 on its edge, the lines curving in her style.

"That's incorrect," I said.

Pulled out of her spell, she looked up at me, half dazed, half embarrassed.

"The 5 should be plain, no calligraphy or extra curves," I said. "Just like normal."

"Is this not normal?" she asked.

Before I could explain it to her, she pulled a paper out of her skirt pocket. I could faintly make an outline of a frame but due to my direction, it made me feel dizzy. I leaned over the table and tilted my head to get a better look.

"See," she said and pointed at the 5 on the frame.

I shook my head. "Look, the formation of the lower part, it is a laterally opposite C. You're curving it a lot."

She compared the two and gave me a confused look. I took the brush from her hand and drew another on the other edge.

"Use another brush," she said, noticing the black colour getting on my hand.

I shrugged. My fingers had already been stained by the time she offered me another as I moved a little forward to draw the rest of the design.

"See," I said, after finishing. "That's how you do it."

She bent down and took a closer look, shutting the left eye, looking from the right. Then from the left, then again from right. It continued for a minute. "I see nothing."