The Earth Painter (14 page)

“I’ve got to get out of here.” I pushed my way past them and ran to my car as fast as I could.

C
hapter 14

I didn’t want to go home yet. I was passing the Bantam Chef and saw Shelby’s car parked in the back. I wanted to check on her and see how she was doing. I pulled into the parking lot of the fifties retro burger place and went in. Shelby was at the counter with her hair pulled back and scribbling an order. She handed it off, took the customer’s money and pointed them down to the other end of the counter where orders were picked up. She did it over and over until I reached her.

It took her a second to recognize me, but then she smiled. “Hey. What are you doing here?”

“I was in the mood for a milkshake. We used to get those here when we’d visit Grandma as a kid.” I didn’t want to be too obvious and jump right into asking about her and Brad. I did notice her makeup was thicker than usual on her slapped cheek.

Shelby leaned down over her pad. “What kind of shake would you like?”

“Chocolate peanut butter.”

She posted the slip and rang me up. “We are swamped today, and one girl quit.” Then she looked at me. “Say….would you want a job here? I could put in a word for you, and we could ride together.”

I had been thinking about getting a job.
“Yeah, sure.”

Shelby gave me an application that I filled out while drinking my shake and then gave back to her before I left. She told me the manager would call me for an interview later. I’d planned to ask about how things went with Brad, but Shelby was too busy to talk.

The rest of the day was uneventful. I kept busy with research for a history paper that was due in a month. Monday was Labor Day. Not a single teacher had assigned homework, not even
reading. I needed to keep busy so I wouldn’t think. And if I was busy with school work, my parents wouldn’t force me to talk.

I must have been moping at dinner because my parents kept asking me what was wrong. I told them, I was tired and excused myself to go to bed early.

I drifted off to sleep quickly. At that point, all my avoidance of thinking about Theo, Fritz and the sciences fell apart. I was on the stage; delivering my monologue when out of nowhere orangey-rusty water came crashing through the doors at the back of the auditorium. It rushed over the seats and towards the stage like a giant ocean wave headed for the beach.

I saw the cascade coming, but all I could do was stand there, frozen in its path. Suddenly Theo swooped down from the catwalk holding onto a set rope and grabbed me. Warm blood rushed through my entire body the moment he touched me.

I looked around, and the auditorium was gone. We were on the beach lying in the sand. Theo was lying on top of me. His face was inches from mine. My breath caught as he leaned in to kiss me. But just before he did, I realized it wasn’t Theo but Fritz.

I tried to push him away, but he was too strong. He leaned closer, but I turned away. Still his lips brushed my earlobe as he asked, “Why is it you can see Theo? What’s so special about him that a scrawny little human would notice him?”

I scrambled and clawed at him, but he wouldn’t get off of me. “I don’t know.”

He held me down and got even closer. “Tell me what he did to get your attention.”

I wedged my hands in between him and me and pushed harder. “He didn’t do anything. I just saw him. Now get off me!”

Just as the weight of him on me was making it hard to breath, he got off of me. Then I heard a loud crash.

I sat up in bed relieved it had all been a dream, but then I heard noises in my room. Someone was bumping into things and knocking them over. Shadow figures appeared that looked like two men wrestling by my desk. I jumped up and flipped on the lights. It was Theo and Fritz.

Theo was ramming Fritz head first into my mirror and shouting, “I warned you to stay away from her.”

Fritz smiled even as his face put more cracks in the glass. “Since when do I take orders from you?”

Theo let him go and rushed to me. “Are you alright?” His hands were on my shoulders. His forehead almost touched mine as I stared into his gray-blue eyes. Just then my parents busted through my door. Their eyes wide as they glanced between me and my broken dresser mirror. “What happened? Are you alright?” Mom stepped closer to me. Neither she nor Dad noticed Theo and Fritz there. I thought it best not to point out the guys alone in my room with me.

“I’m fine.” I looked at Theo when I said it because he had asked first.

Dad walked over to the dresser. “What happened? The glass shattering woke us up?”

I looked at the two of them. They looked at me waiting for an answer. I didn’t know what to say. I glanced at Theo. My eyes pleading for help. Theo was standing next to my mom. He leaned toward her and whispered, “Maybe she was sleepwalking.”

I saw the light go on in my mom’s eyes. She held me closer. “Were you sleep walking and bumped into the glass?”

Dad bent down and examined the mirror. “This was hit hard and in multiple places. It was more than bumping into it.”

Theo walked over to my dad and whispered, “Maybe she was dreaming she was being attacked.” He looked at Fritz as he said it.

Dad’s eyes lit up just before he turned and looked my way. “Were you dreaming something?”

I glanced at my parents then at Theo and Fritz. “Yes, I was dreaming about someone attacking me, and I was trying to fight him off. I guess that’s how it happened. I woke up when the glass shattered.”

Mom sighed, “Well, it was just a dream.” She stood and looked around the dresser. “I’ll go get the vacuum and clean the glass up.”

I jumped up. “No, I’ve got it. It’s my fault.”

“True.” She turned to Dad. “It’s the middle of the night. Let’s try to get back to sleep.” She left, and he followed her to bed

Once they were gone, I looked at Theo, “What are you doing here?” I scowled at Fritz who was watching us with a piercing glare. “Why are you two tearing up my room while I sleep?”

Theo stood straight up and glared back at Fritz. “I went to have a talk with Fritz…to try and work out some kind of agreement.” Theo looked at me again. “But I ended up here because he was whispering over you while you slept.”

Suddenly, I remembered my dream. I looked at Fritz who was smiling, his face unmarked by the attack that destroyed my dresser mirror. My heart stopped, it seemed, as I realized that Fritz
had invaded my privacy, not just once today, but twice. I felt violated. He had entered my space without warning, and I wouldn’t have even known he was there if Theo hadn’t told me.

It felt like fire rising up from my gut. It wasn’t the tingly warmth I got when Theo was near. This was a raging heat—flames that burned and lashed out setting other fires. I walked up to Fritz, and without thinking, slapped his smug face.

He only smiled wider as he addressed Theo. “She knows I can’t actually feel that right? She knows you and I feel the sensation of being touched and that’s all whether it is a slap or an embrace.” Fritz’s smile receded into an emotionless glare as he looked at me but continued to speak to Theo. “Why this speckled thing? Of all the people who could take notice or care…why her?”

With that, he backed up and was gone. I turned and glared at Theo. My rage hadn’t left just because Fritz had, so I spewed the remaining anger all over Theo. “How do I know he’s with me if you’re not here to tell me?”

Theo came and put his arms around me. “You have to become aware of your thinking. If all of a sudden you’re thinking a thought you know you didn’t think, look around. I mean really look around. You’re aware now.”

I pushed back. “What does that mean, thoughts I didn’t think?”

“Not all ideas originate from your mind. Sometimes they’re planted. Just because you thought it, doesn’t mean it was your idea.”

His words were gibberish to me. Thoughts I didn’t think. How was I supposed to know a thought in my head wasn’t from my own mind? I sat down at my desk and put my head in my hands.

I sat up and looked at Theo. “Thanks for helping me with my parents. I didn’t know what to tell to them.”

Theo tapped the floral border with his fist. It looked like he wanted to punch it. “This room really doesn’t suit you.”

My forehead wrinkled. What a time to bring up décor. “I told you, it’s my mom’s taste not mine.” Then, something occurred to me. “I thought you didn’t like to whisper to people?”

“I don’t…but you needed me to” Theo stepped back and sat down on my bed. His gray-blue eyes stared into mine. “Bio’s right. I’m not myself around you.”

We looked at each other until the silence became too much. Finally, I asked him about something Fritz had said. “Tell me what he meant when he said you can’t feel things. You know…the stuff he said when I slapped him. What was he talking about?”

“I can feel the sensation that I’m touching something, but I can’t feel pain because something bumps me hard or if I fall.” He looked away and then back at me. “Or like Bio demonstrated. The way touch brings on physical and emotional responses from humans. That’s not possible for me.”

The numbness I’d forced into my core to cope all day couldn’t hold my emotions back any longer. It was like a dam bursting, and my feelings overwhelmed my whole body. I started trembling. It was all I could do to hold back the tears. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I spoke. “So all the times you put your arms around me, brushed my cheek…” I swallowed again. “It wasn’t real for you?”

“I just told you that Bio’s right. I’m different with you. I touch you because… well because it seems natural. But I don’t know why. It’s like painting. It’s just what I do. But…no, I can’t feel it the way a human would feel it.”

“And the fighting with Fritz? That’s new too?”

He jumped up from his seat, paced a bit and then faced me to answer. “I’ve always been protective of my work. You’ve seen me try to ease my original ideas back into play with Bio and Geo. It’s hard to watch it get messed with. To them, it’s an improvement, but to me, it’s destruction. I torture poor
Khai-Ree
for losing one painting because…it was my last moment of divine inspiration. I thought my time for painting was over and then it hit. It was dizzying. It was like the way humans are when they’re drunk. I hardly knew what I was doing. I just had to paint. And
Khai-Ree
lost it as soon as I’d painted it. It never got blessed.”

He smiled a guilty smile at me. “Don’t tell him, but I don’t even remember what it was of. I just remember it was original, and the inspiration that hit was like that from the beginning…but…but grander.” He became silent again as if thinking more about things. “But I’ve never gotten violent before. Not even when Fritz attacked my work. I mean, there’s no point. It’s not like I can actually do anything to him. But for the first time, I genuinely want to hurt him… and it has nothing to do with my creations at all. It’s because he’s after you.”

I couldn’t take much more. My mind was a tangled mess, trying to process what Theo had said. I curled my legs up under me and sat in my bed—silent. My despondency must have bored Theo. He said he had some things to work on. He didn’t want Fritz bothering me while I slept so he promised to send
Khai-Ree
to keep a look out. Theo was only gone a few minutes when
Khai-Ree
arrived.

I tried hard to stifle my laughter as I tucked myself into bed, but I couldn’t look at him with a straight face. His body and clothing were painted green to look like a stem, and his head to look like a tulip. He looked at me with an expression of sheer misery. With his monotone voice, he said, “I’m a pretty, pretty flower sent from Theo to you.” Then he went to work cleaning the mess, also following his painter’s orders.
Always the loyal assistant.

Chapter 15

Mom and Dad were heading out to some place in the country for breakfast. They tapped on my door to see if I wanted to come along, but I said I wanted to sleep a little longer. In my
groggy
state, I’d forgotten
Khai-Ree
was there, but then it came to me. I sat up in bed. There he sat, still painted like a flower.

“Did Fritz come back?”

Khai-Ree
rolled his eyes. “No.”

I got up and made my bed, flipping it to the tan side.

“Why did you do that?”
Khai-Ree
asked.

I tucked my pink throw pillows under my bed. “I don’t like pink or big flowers.” Then I looked at him, painted like a big pink flower. “Sorry.” I giggled a little.

“Well, I don’t like being a big pink flower. We have that in common.” He examined himself with disapproval in my dresser mirror. “Do you think you could ask Theo to undo this? It seems he listens to you.”

“I can try.” I motioned for the flower man to follow me. “I’m going to get some breakfast.”

He followed and stood in my kitchen while I filled the kettle to make instant oatmeal and some instant cappuccino. Mom had already cleaned the coffee pot. I didn’t want to clean it again and or hear about the mess. I took a seat at the table to wait for the kettle whistle. I looked at
Khai-Ree
still standing. “Please, sit.”

Khai-Ree
sat and stared out into space. Gosh it was awkward. “So how long are you supposed to stay with me?”