Keys of Life

Chapter Four: Keenan and a little bit of Faye

Chapter Six: Keenan

   Faye slipped quietly through the door, her feet barely making a sound as she treaded the boards softly. Slinging her coat over the banisters, she sank onto the sofa, looking like her only wish was for a hot water bottle and a fluffy mattress. As a couple of minutes passed, I continued to steal glances in her direction from behind the kitchen door, hoping that the cloak of mystery that surrounded her would part during the brief time she was alone. She remained utterly still in silent contemplation, her brow furrowed against thoughts she apparently would rather not hear.

   I ambled into the room, making enough noise so as not to scare her. She glanced up as I turned on the TV, her bottle green eyes settling on my face for a moment before once again returning to middle distance, unfocussed and far away. I pretended to watch the screen, secretly and silently trying to gauge her emotions through the intensity of her expression, through an upturned corner of her mouth or a tear caught on an eyelash. After an agonising ten minutes, I gave up, and turned to face her.

   "What did you do?" The question I had asked was too harsh, too prying to be termed as casual. I winced inwardly, cursing my undeveloped charisma. She seemed so fragile; as if a sharp tone or a rough word could shatter her into a million pieces. I felt a brotherly need to protect her, like I would if she was the sister I had left behind me. Faye gave a small smile, barely turning up the corners of her mouth, as if sensing my inner turmoil.

  "I went to Belfast. Saw old friends, etc." My jaw dropped, and I stared in utter shock. Her expression was caught between a grimace and a giggle at my own stunned appearance. In a palpable attempt to change the subject, she searched the corners of her mind for more neutral territory. "How's the painting going? Is my career as an artist's muse over?" Belfast? Artist's muse? Was that really the most obvious connection between something she didn't mind discussing and the way she had spent her day?

   "I need another couple of hours to get the drawing right. If you don't mind, you'll have to do another sitting." I rushed through the words, doggedly eager to steer the conversation back to what I had originally asked, but too polite to ignore her questions. "Isn't Belfast a little far away for a daytrip? Don't your parents mind?" I was being too abrupt, my stubbornness shining through my feeble attempts at conversation like a lava lamp. Her eyes glimmered for a second, filled with annoyance at my assumptions and intruding manner, before fading once more to their normal intensity. I sensed the time to cut my losses. "Sorry, I'm being insensitive. I'll leave you alone." I rose to leave, full of apologies and ready to give up any hope of ever knowing her better.

   "No! No. It's just that you pick the wrong questions, the ones difficult to explain," she clarified. It wasn't particularly reassuring, but her eyes were boring into mine, making me stop. I dropped back down into my chair uncomfortably, the seat seeming too stiff and pristine to have been used all that often. "I don't know why I decided to go. I just saw the bus and... Anyway, I went back to all the places I liked to hang around in, found my way around the city again." She saw the confusion written across my expression. "I used to live there." It was only a small sentence, filled with regret and disappointment. I half-smiled, reluctant to speak and yet trying to console her. "I met an old acquaintance, and we chatted for a while. That was really it. As for my parents, they're too busy to check up on me every second of the day." She had used a lot of words to tell me nothing, and a strange bitterness had entered her tone when she was talking about her parents. From what I'd seen, they didn't even know where their daughter was, and didn't really care. I wondered about this mysterious person she just happened to run into. There had to be more to it than that, judging by the tightness in her jaw coupled with the thankfulness in her eyes.

   "And this old acquaintance was...?" She smirked slightly, the sign of someone who knew exactly what you were up to, and really didn't mind. Yet even as her lips pulled upwards, her eyes flashed with pain, with barely restrained emotion, before growing iron hard and steely.