stepping out of the painting

The voicemail

I was walking down the more distant part of the town toward my old apartment with my head in the clouds. With my hand deep down in my pockets i strolled down the alley through garbage pins , white thick smoke and the smell of cigarettes. I didn't notice how awful it really smelled here before because i was daily passing through, but now it's was kind of unbearable. I coverd my nose with my arm as i increased my speed toward my street and my home. How long had I've been gone. It could have been days, it could be weeks but in the real world i had not been away for more than a few hours. But it felt longer. The time had stopped while we was wandering around the halls trying to avoid getting hurt. The clocks had all went in different ways making us believe that the time had been different in each rooms. In the real world they were all the same.

I passed through a few more street before i recognized my overdue apartment located as far as in the alley you could go. It looked just as shaddy as it used to. The four small Windows facing towards the Alley. The walls painted with spray cans and the shattered rooftop that desperately needed to be fixed.

I dug after my key in my left pocket of my coat as i walked up to the front door. I scooped it up and put it in the key hold and turned it around. There was a clicking sound as the door slowly opened. To my surprise there was no bugging with lock that it usually were.
I was about to enter as i heard a voice coming from behind me, it was almost like someone had whispered or whipped. Afraid that it might had been a criminal, I slowly turned around, ready to fight whoever was standing behind me whispering. It was quite common with people getting robe or killed in this area and I were no exception. I was about 15 the first time it happened, i had been walking along the street past eleven or twelve..The man had pointed a revolver at me as he had mumbling the words " Money" I was scared to death knowing that he would not leave unless i gave him some money and i was even more afraid with the knowledge that i didn't have any on me. If it weren't for miss. Penyain that had been woken up from a nightmare and just by coincidence had chaught a glimpse of the scene from her window, i'm sure i would have been killed that night. I'm forever grateful to her for possible saving my life that night and have as long as i can remember seen her like a family member as i had no one else, however i'm still not sure if she really had a nightmare that night or if it could have been that big of coincidence that she just looked out of the window. Neither why she couldn't be able to remember anything about the look of the criminal. The hole story felt a little weak, but again i was not the hero in this story, i was just a young coward , paralyzed with fear.

When i had turned around i reflexively started to whisk my arms around in the open area hoping i was going to hit someone and survive another day.After a while without hitting anything but myself i slowly opened my eyes as i unknown had shut. I froze. There was for my surprise no one in the alley and no danger whatsoever. I started to feel embarrassed about how i had acted and i tried to forget the whole situation by sneaking into the building as i had planned in the first place, but then i heard the voice again, a subdued voice calling my name. I turned around more rapidly this time while cheeking my surrounding more carefully. Once again there was no one to be seen. with a shaky voice i let out a small

- Hello is anyone there?

There were no answer so i just stood there watching every garbage pin and every corner of the alley for any movements, but whoever it was that had been calling my name was gone in thin air.

Eventually i turned around for the last time before I quickly sneaked into the building. As i closed the door behind me i took a last glimpse over the alley the remained empty and eventually i shut the door behind me. I hoped that it was locked this time.

I took a deep breath as i forced myself up the stairs to the second floor where i had my apartment. I eyed the interior of the building and the old architecture of it as i made myself upstairs. The awful dark green wallpapers con-bind with the old red carpet covering the floor was still a fact. The old fashion lamps decorating the walls were still not enough to light up the stairs and it didn't really helped that one of them was broken. I carried on upwards the stairs all the way until i was standing outside my apartment door. I stood there a moment in the stairs just going through my pockets once again for my other key. It was pure luck that i didn't manage to drop my keys in the art gallery due to the fact that we spend most of the time in there running, i shivered as i thought about it but soon shooked it of me. I put the key in the keyhole again and turned around until i heard the familiar clicking sound. I was about to open the door when i noticed my mail next to my feat. I sighted as i reached down to take it. I went through it as i entered my apartment and sat down in my soft sofa. It was bills , bills, advertising and more bills. Nothing noticeable. I threw it on table and went to the refrigerator for some milk to drink. I drank it right from the packet and didn't stop drinking until it was empty.

Afterward i went back to the sofa and spent some time looking out of the window. It felt peaceful and safe watching over the city, knowing that this was the real world and the only monsters that existed here was the human itself. As i thought about it, the more sad i became. It was like i was lower myself in my sorrowful mind and somehow created a cloud that made it rain outside.

I did not know how long i just laid there listening to the patter of the rain on my windowsill. But as i got back my consciousness i realized that it had turn dark outside. I sighed deeply as i hanged my coat next to my front door and went directly towards my bed. I undressed and crawled down to bed as i noticed that my answering machine had one message. I pressed the play button and lay there listening to the voice mail.

- Hi , it's Garry from the past letting you give future Garry a message right after the tone. *Beep

I let out a small smile due to my ridiculous message on my voicemail machine.

-...Hey Garry it's Maline , just checking in on you to see if you're okay ... I..probably shouldn't but i came by yesterday and you wasn't home so i got worried...well come visit me ..you know where i live!. bye

*Beep

The message was before the art gallery so it was old.

I sighted as i rolled over on my bed. Maline had been my neighbor for almost five years. I was about fifteen when i first moved here and so did she with her old uncle.I on the other hand got a place of my own. I was too young to live by myself but the state didn't know what to do with me for the lack of foster homes. So i made them promise me a own home on the condition that i would use the money i got every month to education and a normal life. They kept their promise yet had to cover the situation up from the abroad because a fifteen year old boy living alone and taking care of a household was not exactly okay. When i was sixteen, an old lady moved in next door and she was offered a little bit of money due to the fact that she would represent my grandmother. She strongly turned the states offer down and took the part of her being my grandmother anyway. When i was eighteen i got a job at the animal rescue center in town and both me an Maline started working there and do to this very day. I'm twenty now and my life would not have been the same if it wasn't for Maline forcing me to go out that day and for my interest in the new art gallery.

Note for the readers!

Sorry for my grammar, i am still learning how to wright good English even though it's hard. Please, please have patience with me and keep on reading.