11:05 pm. I grab my bag and carefully, slowly, silently walk out the backdoor, I take my bike and ride out on the road. I ride off to the old 'broken' playground and drop my bike by the swing. I take a look around, making sure I'm alone. I walk up to the abandoned building by the corner. I walk up the stairs to the second floor where all the windows are broken, there's a giant hole in the ceiling. I take out the giant brushes I bought earlier and walk to the corner where I kept all the buckets of paint. I roll up my sleeves and dip the brush in the pink-ish paint. I stroke the brush on the floor and the paint stains the concrete floor.
After a few hours of painting, I check the time. 1:17 am. I lay down on the unpainted floor, looking up to the stars. I sigh, knowing one day, this day will be torn down, so will all the memories. I take a few, close my eyes and breathe in the night.
"Hey." A voice comes out of nowhere, startling me. "I had a feeling someone was here" A tall boy comes up from the stairs. I sit up, turning to the staircase, where he's to be found. "What are you doing here?" He asks. "I could ask the same for you." I say, getting up to close the paint cans. I quickly stick the paintbrushes in a zip lock and throw it in my bag. "Soooo" he walks up to me, about to take a step on the floor I had just painted, "STOP!" I throw a rock towards him, he dodges the stone, taking a step back. "The paint's wet." I sigh, going back to fixing my junk before I leave. "You made this?" He asks. I shake my head, in disagreement. "Really now? Who else would've painted this? I've got to be honest, this looks really cool." He walks around it. "Look, why don't you just leave. I'm taking my battery for the lights, so it'll be dark, why don't you just go home to your mom and forget you ever saw this." I say straight forward, gesturing to the whole building. I grab my backpack and hurry off down the stairs.
"Wait up." He laughs, following me down the stairs. "What do you want?" I stop, turning to him. "Your number." He laughs. I give him a glare and he quickly says "Just kidding. I wanna be your friend" He smiles. "Thanks, but that sounds creepy. Plus, it's almost 1:30. I should go home already." I continue walking, all the way to the playground. I pick up my bike, to get on it, check the time and place my leg on the pedal to move, but before I could move, a familiar voice calls out "Hey!" I take a quick glance towards the sound of the voice. Him again. "Lady, I don't even know your name, but, could you, and I, maybe get some coffee together? Tomorrow?" I look at him with a smirk, "Not a chance." As I get ready to go, I look at him and say "My name is Aira Leana. Call me Aira." I smile at him, taking a quick look at his face, then quickly pedaling away, as fast as I could. I felt my face heating up.
He was in shock as I left him, but then his face grew light and happy. Is that normal? The feeling I felt was there, it was alive. I felt it. It felt real. I should've said yes. I shouldn't have left. I fill myself with regret on the way home.
As soon as I get home, I silently bring my bike to the backyard. Opening the back door, I walk to the kitchen, to get a glass of water. I rush up to my room, slowly shutting the door, trying not to make too much noise. I take my sweater off, followed by the jeans I wearing. I go through the hell of a mess in my closet and take a pair of pajamas and change into a comfy sports bra. I hop onto bed, plugging in my charger. I roll to face the ceiling. I stare into the dark, but it feels like colors rushing through my whole body. I fall asleep, thinking about the guy I met. Wondering if he was thinking of me as well. My head has been spinning around that one thought.
I wake up the next morning, in the greatest mood possible. Sunday morning, waking up while mum was out for a run. I rush downstairs to make breakfast. I fry up some sunnyside-up eggs, quickly cooking rice and chopping up and tossing and some bananas and strawberries into the blender, I put in a few scoops of cocoa powder for a chocolatey kick. I put in a ton of ice, blending it all, and fixing up breakfast for mum. I pour in half the shake that has successfully fit in her glass, and the other half into mine. A few minutes later, she comes in the front door, and comes up to the kitchen. I greet her good morning and she gives me a confused look. "Are you okay?" She takes a seat and looks at the food I prepared. "Banana strawberry?" She asks, pointing to the shake. I nod my head yes and she smiles. "What happened?" She asks, taking a sip of the shake. "Nothing really." I smile.
The day goes on smoothly and the night had fallen again. Do you ever get that anxious feeling, the one that comes out of nowhere? It was 9pm already. I pull on a pair of leggings and change into a sports bra and a loose white shirt. I grab my phone and a jacket, hop on my bike and rush to the playground. I had no intention to paint tonight, none at all, so I drop my bike by the swings and sit on the swing, breathing in, and out.
I take the time to think a little deeper. This playground never has any visitors anymore. Nothing's really broken. Just a little dirty. And a bunch of trash around. There I sat, on the swing, expecting him to appear once again. It was getting pretty late already. 11:29 pm. I had to go home, there was class tomorrow. Sigh.
Just like that, the feeling was gone. I didn't want it to leave. But it went by as quickly as he did. He was just like vapor. I was unlucky to have breathed him in, when he'd be gone right after I breathed him out. Who would've thought he'd stay anyway? I never got his name.
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Hello! 🙈 Please tell me if I spelled anything wrong or my grammar is wrong or something 😹 thanks for reading, love 💘 see you in the next chapter
-L
