Wonder • Five Hargreeves

25

Man on the Moon

"Whats wrong with that girl?"

"Is she ok?"

"Someone should talk to her, shes rocking."

The 1st floor of the Argyle Public Library was the designated study and meeting floor. It was a low-level noise area with hundreds of tables for patrons to use however they liked. At the very end of this floor was a black-board that stretched all way to the ceiling.

Usually this blackboard and corresponding chalk was for anyone that asked. Early that morning, however, a young girl in filthy clothing and no shoes had slipped the librarian a hundred dollar bill to rent it out entirely.

That girl then spent the better part of a dizzying 3 hours, crushing the chalk and using her hands to spread it across the board in a beautiful heart-wrenching picture. An almost 7 meter long mural with colored chalk acting as makeshift spray paint.

Up close, it looked like a mess of swirls and colors. Further away...

She had done the entire mural without stop as well. It gathered quite a crowd, watching the young girl create art in the most chaotic way possible. People were as entranced as she was.

Her captivating actions didnt come without a price though. When does it ever?

3hrs and 47 mins in, the girl had slapped on the last handful of chalk to complete her masterpiece. She then collapsed not even a second later.

"We should call someone."

"I don't think shes alright."

"Who the hell is she?"

Winnie Hargreeves stared vacantly at the carpeted floor past her toes. She was hunched over with her head between her knees and hands locked behind her head. Gently, she rocked herself back and forth at the base of the wonderful art.

Someone screwed with the goddamn timeline and Winnie felt like she was choking on the pieces. She had to set it right. Change it. Paint it.

And she did. But now she was exhausted, in pain, and a little bit drunk. Not to mention looking like she walked out of hell with the head of satan on a stick.

That's exactly how Diego and Luther Hargreeves found her. They waded through a thick crowd of onlookers and fell to their knees in front of her.

"Winnie?" Luther said breathlessly. In spite of his limitless expectations for the girl, his heart still ached in moments like those. She was one of the few who loved him, after all.

Winnie hesitantly unclasped her hands and looked up. Her eyes welled up when she saw her caring brothers only inches away. She loved her family.

The crowd slowly dispersed when they saw she recognized the two men. Maybe they were her parents, or a pair of weird uncles. Whoever they were, it calmed the worrying crowd and they left them to their privacy. Though not without snapping a few photographs of the mural before they went.

"Hi." Winnie whispered, looking between them with big watery eyes. Her voice was raw and soft, and it told the boys all they needed to know about how she was doing.

"Hey princess. We're going to take you home, ok?" Diego told her.

Winnie nodded her head sloppily, relief flooding her body, and unfolded herself entirely. Luther reached out to hold her, but Diego was quicker. He scooped her up with an arm under her knees and her own arms instinctively wrapped around his neck.