TELL

Brushing Her Feelings

Maya was quietly standing by her locker, grabbing her books for class, when she turned and saw Lucas walking up to her. She tried to walk away from him, but he reached out a hand to her shoulder to stop her.

"Hey Maya? Are you avoiding me?"

She turned around and saw his frowning face. She opened her mouth, but couldn't make any words come out. It was like someone was covering her mouth with their hand. She shook her head and looked up at him with sad blue eyes begging for him to understand what she couldn't say.

"Are you mad at me? For choosing Riley?" But he didn't, he thought it was about Riley and Riley thought it was about Lucas. No one understood that it had nothing to do with either of them. "You told me to choose her. I thought you would be happy, we're not in a triangle anymore, and I- I thought you liked Josh anyway."

Maya's eyes widened and she gulped. Before Lucas could say another word she ran away from him as quick as her short legs would carry her.

"Maya!" Lucas called after her, but she didn't stop running. "Maya! Wait! Did I upset you?! What did I say?!" He yelled getting the attention of people in the hallway, but he didn't care.

Maya ran down the hall, down the stairs, all the way to the art room.

"Class is over, Miss Hart." Her art teacher said looking from his easel to the girl in his doorway. He noticed that she was breathing heavy and he knew it wasn't from running in the halls. "Grab an easel and a chair." He said nodding over to the corner.

Maya tried to catch her breath. She nodded and walked over to an easel. She took a deep breath and started painting, brushing her feelings onto the canvas with every stroke of the 2 inch brush in her hand. She blinked trying to make the haunting images leave her mind. She didn't notice her art teacher walk up to her station.

"Very good. I see a lot of fear and pain. I also see silence." He pointed to an area of her painting. "And this here, this looks like a battle between the colors, the black and blue fighting to take over the canvas. Starting from the edges and pooling into the center where they meet the green.. tree?"

Maya nodded slowly.

"It seems like the black could be dark water, like it's going to drown the tree, but the blue is.. a sky perhaps, trying to protect the tree." He sighed. "It really is very good, Miss Hart."

Maya swallowed. "Thank you."

"You are welcome to come paint or draw whenever you feel the need."

Maya looked up at him and gave him a small smile. The first smile she felt in a while. "Thank you, Mr. Jackson."