6
1267 Words
'Coz your heart's against my chest,
Lips pressed to my neck,
I've fallen for your eyes,
But they don't know me yet.
~~~
We don't talk. But my eyes are glued to the window of the car. Drinking in the world that rushes around me. A busy street of people hurrying to get home from their jobs. It's easy to forget that life still races by when you feel frozen,
"Are you ok?" Rev blinks at me for a moment,
"Yeah." I tell him and I'm surprised it's not a lie. In this car, with his soft scent of gardens and pine trees washing around me I feel safe and warm,
"Art was the only thing I actually liked in school. But I never done the exam and I had to make a living so I learned how to garden. It was good money but after awhile I found I enjoyed it." Rev laughs, "All my mates thought I was turning into an old man, but I made a decent wage." I like hearing his memories. If you share your past with someone it becomes their memories and it lives on,
"Why didn't you finish your exams?" I ask still staring out the window, watching the shops in the town close up as the day ends,
"My mum got sick, so I looked after her. She's alright now." He smiles again. It is not a rare thing, his grin but my breath always catches when I see it, "We're here." I blink back out the window. I've been here before. Mind you, dad took us to every art gallery so it's not a surprise. The car park is full. I watch as people walk to the building's doors. The sound of laughter and chatter drifting around me. We sit and watch them for a moment,
"When was the last time you went outside Willow?" Revs gently says,
"A couple days ago." I smile slightly but I know that he doesn't mean going in the gardens.
Should I tell him?
"Three months ago." I mutter and he nods as if understands and maybe he does,
"So it's now or never?" Rev smiles and this time I nod,
"Pretty much." I chuckle and it feels good to almost laugh. To feel a smile filling up the holes inside me like glue,
"Lets go look inside then." He jumps out the car and rushes to my side opening the door grandly, "After you me'lady." I snort and watch as other people grin at him. Rev winks at me and grabs my arm carefully, he leads me in slowly and I let him. This time I lose myself in his touch and not old memories of Lilly and mum and dad. I lose myself inside Rev.
*****
"Fruit. Fruit. Strawberries. Bananas. I think the theme is fruit, Willow." Rev jokes as we walk passed the fruit bowl paintings. I like them. They are simple, fresh and plain. Dad would have hated them. Boring and dull. There's another painting at the end but this fruit is rotten and painted with ugly browns and yellows. Dust covering the oozing apples. It reminds me of myself. One painting next to it, fresh and alive, the other one ugly and rotting,
"Lets look down here." I say pulling Rev through a new room. I freeze at the entrance. The paintings are something.
Something that pulls at my heart.
They are a thousand swirls of the sky. Setting sun, moon beams, clouds and thunder. I know them. I've seen some of them being made and a few that are brand new.
It is dad.
I walk carefully so I step up to the biggest canvas. There is a hill and four people hiding in black silhouettes under a Caribbean sunset. They have wings. All of them. I know I'm crying. Dad got part of this painting right but not all of the four people got wings.
Some of us were left behind.
"Did you know?" I ask Rev as he steps behind me,
"Yes." He admits. I don't know if I'm angry, or sad, or happy. I am filled with so much,
"But how? It's been three months...I don't understand?" I ask him through my cool salty tears,
"It's a tribute." Rev softly grabs my arm again, "Are you angry?"
I don't know. I think I wish I'd known before I'd stepped from the car but it is lovely and nice all at once. I have seen dad again in a new form. In a way he would have loved,
"I'm...surprised." I whisper instead. He leans towards me, so our foreheads touch and I can see his eyes. I find that they are not so much like Lilly's. His are filled with tiny turquoise flecks, they are a forest in the blaze of a sun.
They just are.
So we stand in that room, forehead to forehead. Eyes blinking into each others souls for awhile, surrounded by a thousand skies. He can see me. My scar, my skin and eyes and Rev is not horrified,
"Do you want a drink?" He asks when my tears have stopped leaking along my skin. I nod and he smiles before turning away so I am left alone with dad and his skies. A few people step into the room, a family of three, a young lady on her own and a few teenagers lagging behind,
"This is boring." One of them says loudly. I am able to ignore her. With my gaze on the painted hill and the winged four silhouettes
"Here." Rev is back with two glasses of bubbling fizz. I turn too him, my eyes meeting the teenager and she looks at me. Catches my eyes, she can see it. Her face turning to a horrified scowl as she tugs at her friend's arm. They both look at me now. I lower my head but I hear those poison words,
"Ughh it's ugly." A hushed whisper that feels like a shout. And suddenly I need to go. Rev frowns but doesn't stop me as I rush passed him, not a finale glance into the sky room.
I am gone.
My head pounding with a head ache that travels through my skull. The outside air greeting me like an old friend,
"Willow?" He calls after me, as I pull on the handle of the locked car door, "Wait!"
"Let me in. Please just let me in." I throw myself down into the seat as he presses the lock, slamming the door behind me. Hugging my knees to my chest so I am covered and safe and hidden,
"They don't know what they're talking about." He's telling me with his smooth husked voice.
I wish I wasn't so weak. But I'd crumbled.
I used to be so strong,
"Willow!" His voice pierces loudly,
"But it's true what she said!" I hiss. Anger hits me. Why can't he see it? I yank my hood down and thrust my hair from my face, "Why don't you see it?"
"All I see is you." He whispers. I am frowning, "You only see this." He touches my scar, "But I see these," His finger's run under my eyes, "And these." My lips. Heat washes through me, my spine tingles,
"How?" I ask. How is it he can bypass the ugly thing on my face,
"Because you are so full of life Willow. I see your sadness but there is so much life in you." Rev starts the car and turns from me but I still feel his touch long after it has disappeared.
- Writer
