The Man Who Never Speaks

15. Painting The Town

"When no one is around, my dear
You'll find me on my tallest tiptoes
Spinning in my highest heels, love
Shining just for you."

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Thanksgiving day. A holiday FP hadn't celebrated since high school. For a long time, he had forgotten that the holiday even existed. However, this year things were different. Last year, he had barely realized that it was the day where he had to stop and think about all the things that he was grateful for.

FP was aware that a year ago, he didn't have that much to thank the universe for. He was alone, the way he always thought he believed he preferred. Nothing was less true. From the moment Alice had entered his life, the sky that had been grey for most of his life suddenly turned golden.

Alice closed the door of the cabin behind her and looked at FP, who was standing right in front of her, his back turned to her side. He was looking around, as if it was the very first time he saw the woods. It had been his home for so long and yet he had never taken the time to really look.

All his art was based on the voices and demons in his head, that he had never realized that he could paint the outside world the way he saw it. For the first time in his life, he wasn't afraid for the world outside his home. And the woman who made it all possible? She was the one walking his way, taking his hand and reminding him that he wouldn't be alone, not ever again.

"Where do you want to go first? The choice is yours." Her angelic voice brought him back on earth. He looked at her as the warmth of her palm ran through his veins, making him send her a soft smile.

"Sweetwater River. I've always wanted to paint that beautiful view." He told her, tugging her a little to the front, walking them over to her station wagon.

There was no other way he wanted to spend the day of gratefulness, with the one person that he was most grateful to have in his life. She had been the one to propose going out together and look for places that they could make theirs. It gave him the idea of using the town where he was born and raised as inspiration for his new work. He was ready to face anything that he had been so scared of. 

**

Alice turned off the engine once they had reached the edge of the river. As soon as the cold air hit their faces together with the warm rays of the sun they knew it was going to be a beautiful day.

Last year, she had worked late and went straight to bed when she got home, ignoring her husband's hurtful comments as he had asked her why she hadn't made dinner, his only complaints being about eating take-out alone instead of wondering if she was the slightest bit okay.

It had been a moment of rock-bottom and she had remembered very vividly that she had thought to herself that maybe, things wouldn't ever get better. But they did. She was in a new town, in love with a wonderful man that she had been waiting for all her life and felt more at peace with herself and the world for the first time in forever.

She watched as FP walked over to the bed of the river and bended down. He extended a hand and let his fingers touch the ice-cold water. He smiled a little to himself. Noticing something so simple as the temperature of water and how it created a shiver over his whole body felt so special, after years of feeling numb inside.

"Nothing is more mysterious than the element of water, don't you think? It can both destroy and heal so many things at once. That's like magic." He said out loud, his hand still in the water as the stream rushed past his skin.

Alice smiled at him as she rested against the car, finding nothing more beautiful than to see him in his bubble.

And as he took his art crafts, she had watched him with the same look of admiration. She could see the the spark of happiness in his eyes as the brush stroked over the canvas and how he focused on the water, trying to find the right emotion to immortalize