The Painter

aftermath (3)

again, a little bit of blood, but not too bad :)

september 25th. 1978.
4:00 PM.
home

william watched his grandmother's head slowly ooze with blood, gathering around her in a pool of crimson. he watched her body go limp and lifeless.

holy shit.

HOLY SHIT

i just killed my grandmother- what the hell am i gonna do?! it's not like i can call for help, right?

when realization settled in and the adrenaline high was gone, william started pacing in front of the body. he had to get out of this somehow. he couldn't just stand here, so he decided to clean the blood and dispose of the body.

but how?

after going through the cupboard under his sink, he decided bleach would do. he diluted the bleach with water and walked up to viola. he picked her up with ease and moved her over so he could clean the blood. the scarlet liquid easily seeped into the white cloth. he cleaned every surface he had touched and then threw the cloth into the fireplace, watching to make sure every fiber of that cloth was turned to ash.

the only thing william could think was, "no evidence left behind." he repeated it like a chant in his head. the words seemed to burrow a hole into his brain, slithering in like a worm into dirt.

now that the mess was gone, he still had a body to tend to. william decided burying it was the best option.

if i bury the body deep in the woods, no one will find it unless they're looking for it, and no one will go looking for someone like her, but someone could stumble upon the dirt, and i can't let that happen.

and it was settled. he decided he would leave when it's darker out. for now, he had to go to the store and buy sodium hydroxide pellets to cover the body in, so she wouldn't be identifiable if she were to be found. he may be failing school, but he wasn't an idiot. he was just unmotivated.

5:05 PM.

he had been to 5 different cleaning and hardware stores before he arrived at walmart, which was his last hope. (A/N i have no idea where tf you buy sodium hydroxide pellets pls help) he parked his grandmother's rusty old 1960 ford falcon and jogged to the automatic doors of the store. with his grandmother's wallet in his pocket, he stepped into the building. the heated air was a stark contrast from the chilly september breeze outside.

after walking through the narrow cleaning isles multiple times, he bumped into a plump woman in a blue employee's vest. her tight black curls cascaded just past her shoulders, and her ebony skin had beautiful golden undertones. she was breathtaking, and william was mesmerized by her.

his thoughts were intruded by the woman's voice.

"would you like some help?" she asked, the corners of her lips curling upwards.

"uh y-yeah if that's alright with you." she nodded. "i was l-looking for the sodium hydroxide pellets. do you know where i could find them?"

the short woman smiled, her beautiful curls bouncing with her head. she motioned for him to follow her and she lead him to the hardware section of the store. william hadn't thought to check in there. she passed a few isles before walking into one. a light above them was flickering rapidly, slightly irritating william's eyes. the lady he was following didn't seem phased.

she stopped in the middle of the poorly lit isle, pointing to a white bag that william assumed had the pellets in it.

"it seems quite heavy," the woman said. "i can help you carry it if you want!"

william couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. he matched her spirit with a friendly nod, grabbing one end of the bag while she grabbed the other.

while they walked towards the cashier, the woman asked, "so, what's your name?"

"w-william"

"oh, that's a nice name. i'm jade!" she responded with a grin.

"that's a beautiful name. could i m-maybe get your number?" he asked nervously.

shit. she's not gonna want my number. i'm so stupid. stupid stupid stu-

"sure!" she said, pulling him out of wherever he went into the corners of his mind. her already big smile growing even bigger on her plump face.

a wave of relief washed over william. after they arrived at the checkout isles, they set down the bad of pellets and he handed her a gum wrapper and a pen from his pocket and she wrote her number, drawing a heart just below it.

william's heart melted even more as he looked at her radiant glow. something about her made him want to dance and sing and truly enjoy life. a comfortable silence fell over them while they waited in line for the person ahead of them to check out. jade faintly humming "blame it on the boogie" by the jacksons.

"y'know, there's something weird about you will." she said. "i just can't tell what it is."

william tensed at the use of the nickname. no one really called him that. it's always been william. but he didn't mind, he was too fond of jade to say anything to her.

"maybe it's your eyes," she continued. "there's something... cold about them. and you can't keep eye contact! i think it's kind of endearing to be honest, but sometimes you look pretty menacing."

well that was blunt.

"well, it is like negative two hundred degrees outside right now, so yeah, pretty cold" william joked, hoping to change the subject. luckily for him, she let out a loud laugh at his joke and they continued talking. the subject went from cold weather to global warming to conspiracy theories to what they would do in an alien invasion. they were able to hold a conversation for so long they didn't even notice that almost 3 people had passed them in line to check out. william died laughing when jade pointed it out, which of course caused jade to laugh too, and her laugh was contagious.

another 2 people passed the two before they finally stopped laughing, jade wiped her wet eyes and grabbed william's arm to drag him towards the cashier.

after checking out, jade helped william carry the bag to his car, even after william insisted she stay inside so she doesn't get cold. she ended up wearing his jacket, because he refused to let her leave without a coat, which she had left at home before she started her shift.

jade and william heaved the bag into his passenger seat, william was about to close the door when jade exclaimed, "wait!"

"what?" he asked.

without a word, jade leaned into the car and buckled the bag in. william had no idea how she was so cute, or how she became interested in having anything to do with him, but he wasn't complaining.

a good laugh later, william was finally in his car, with his jacket, and about to go home when he remembered why he had bought the pellets in the first place. the aforementioned girl had distracted him from the sequence of events that had happened that day.

shit.

thanks for reading this chapter!!