Hideout - Grayson Dolan

2

Though I had been busy with family for the rest of the weekend and school during the week, Grayson did not once slip from my mind.

The night of my birthday he walked me back to the spot under the bridge and just left without another word been said despite the fact we had talked about many things during our stroll through some of the back streets to get there. It's strange just thinking about it.

And when I got home that night also, both my parents were caught up with how no one was coming so they drank a shit load of the alcohol themselves. Crazy enough as it is, I didn't even bother. I just grabbed the extravagant cake Mum had made me, went straight to my room and pigged out on the vanilla cake with icing sunflowers on it until I was put into a food coma and fell asleep.

Now a week later I am once again trekking down to my hideout under the bridge with a packet full of permanent markers in my back pocket and a new pack of cigarettes to stash in the hole. The wind is calmer than it was last week but the temperature was decreasing slightly giving the impression that winter is coming.

I reach the small ledge, tie up my hair in a quick ponytail, squat and jump down to the rocky surface about a metre and a half below me. The crunching beneath my feet as I walk beside the track was one of my favourite sounds; it was one of the few beautiful things in my life. Just like the giggle of a baby was my grandmother's favourite sound and the smell of freshly cut grass was my father's favourite scent.

As I step closer to the walls that surround my little cave, the beginning of the peak hour trains begin to pass by and I see a glimpse of a young child waving at me through the window instantly warming my heart. It's extraordinary that the tiny things that occur during the day can make or break it. And somehow, that definitely made it.

"Well hello stranger, what are the odds that I see you here again?" an echo of Grayson's voice stuns me as I pass the wall.

"I'd say there's a one in a hundred chance and spectacularly you've managed to be that one" I grunt at the sight of him being here. I wanted a quiet evening alone with my markers and smoke but instead I'm plagued with his presence.

I crawl up to the top and repeat his actions of last week and sit to the right of him. He puts out his cigarette whilst rearranging his black jeans. His wearing very similar clothes to last time I seen him but instead he's wearing just a plain grey muscle tee; compared to my sweat shirt and pants, he still looked warmer than I was.

"Glad to see the attitude change in you" he rolls his eyes as I stretch over to the crack and place my full cigarette packet in it.

"And I'm ecstatic that you are here in the evening instead of your so called mornings" my sarcastic tone reels off my tongue.

I lie down on my back, pulling out a yellow permanent marker and begin to draw a sunflower while putting a cigarette in my mouth. "There you go" he says flicking alight his lighter and blazing the end. I take a puff and thank him. "What are you drawing?" he asks.

"A sunflower"

"Like the one down there?" he points to the blooming piece of nature. I raise my head and look at the way of direction.

"Yeah"

"Did you plant it?" he asks. "It wasn't there when I first started coming here but then it kind of just appeared out of nowhere really"

I continued to sketch the outlines of the petals onto the smooth surface. "Yeah, I planted it a couple of weeks after I began coming down here. It's my favourite flower and sort of brings me joy." I say under exaggerating. It brought me more happiness than my own home does.

"Well you did a good job with it. I find it astonishing that it's grown so well in the cracks of a shady spot. I thought sunflowers needed a lot of sun."

"I'm amazed as well to be honest. I think of this miracle as even though the world is a dark place, there is still hope and a ray of sunshine encouraging us to move forward" I say with a smile on my face.

"That is truly beautiful" he pouts running his index finger from his eyes down his cheek.

I push him lightly. "You're a loser" I laugh. "I was trying to be inspirational"

"Pass me a marker" he says. Though he seemed to be lacking in manners I give him the black texta out of my back pocket and he begins to write a quote along the side of drawing. 'The darkened cracks of this Earth can be haunting without a little ray of sunshine' it says. "You want inspirational, there it is" the smile wiped from ear to ear shows he's proud of his hard work and I am lost for words.

He hands me back the marker and lies on his back only inches away from me taking the smoking stick out of my mouth. The series of rings exit his mouth making me wonder why he does it every time. I finish the petals the begin drawing the long stem.

"Why did you plant the sunflower, Frey?" he questions me.

I swap the green for the brown. "I don't feel like telling you"

"Why not? I'm your friend"

"I met you a week ago, we aren't friends. Just simply acquaintances"

"Acquaintances that share the same hideout. Please tell me"

He lingers on for quite some time begging me to tell him and I am getting frustrated. I barely know him and he barely knows me. I keep refusing but he continues to pester. A loud slap to the ground comes from my hands connecting with the concrete and lurid language pours out of my mouth but I still end up telling him.

"I planted it because for a while it was the only sunshine in my life." I yell using my fingers as air quotations when I say sunshine. "When everything in your life feels worthless you do crazy shit in attempt to make yourself happy again. And I planted it in that precise spot so when I come here I see the yellow against the cracks and I can hope that maybe one day my parents will stop arguing so I can stop being used to get back at each other" my voice quietens with every word I say.

His face drops. Fuck I can't believe I told him about my parents arguing. He apologises and pats his chest. "Come here" he says. I shake my head but once more he pesters me. I surrender and put my head on his chest where I can feel his breathing. He wraps his right arm around my shoulder and rubs my arm sympathetically.

"I can't believe I told you about my parents arguing. I barely know you" A few drops on tears run down my face. That god I wore my water proof mascara today.

"Stop saying we barely know each other. To get to know each other we have to tell the other things."

"Well, tell me something then" I say

"I've been to dark places"

Oh haven't we all.