You wake up the next morning still feeling tired. You slept through the night, but were plagued by strange and confusing dreams. What time is it?
After checking your alarm clock you jump out of your bed. It's already 11:30! You quickly get dressed and hurry downstairs. You didn't set an alarm because you're still free today, but you didn't expect to sleep the entire morning.
Koizumi
"Good morning! Well, barely, but still.
I thought I'd let you sleep since yesterday must've been pretty exhausting for you. Though I admit I didn't expect you to sleep the whole morning. But it's Sunday, so it's not really a problem anyway. I actually just made some lunch, feel free to have some if you're feeling hungry."
You eat some bacon and toast, then clean up and help your aunt set up for her painting class.
Koizumi
The class starts at 3, just a heads up. Feel free to join if you want! The Sunday group is a bit smaller than the other ones, so there's some spots open. You don't have to! But I'd love to have you if you decide to join.
You thank your aunt for inviting you; it sounds fun but also a little scary as you haven't painted in so long. For now, you decide to step outside and use your free time to discover more of Grey Springs.
Grey Springs - Main Street
The street is quieter than yesterday. The first place you check is the bookstore; even though your intent was to discover new places you feel drawn to it. You find it's closed on Sunday and Monday. Of course, you think. If anything it's strange your aunt hosts her classes on a Sunday, but then again, it is the day most people are free you suppose.
You find out Sunday might not have been the best day to go exploring; Grey Springs is a very sleepy town and there is little to do on a day like this. At least you've found out how to walk to school from home, and where the nearest supermarket is. For lack of anything else to do, you decide to go back to the abandoned buildings where you met Temperance. You've tried to ignore the feeling all day, but something draws you back to that place. Or maybe it's drawing you back to her.
Grey Springs - Abandoned Factory
As you approach the building where you met Temperance, you hear two unfamiliar voices. It sounds like they are looking for something and are getting annoyed at being unable to find it. Are they also looking for her? It takes them a second to notice you in the door opening.
Short determined boy
"She was here! I swear. She was just standing here..."
Tall disinterested boy
"Just standing around in an abandoned building? Are you sure you didn't imagine it?"
Short determined boy
"Of course not! She was talking about a bird or something, I don't know... But I didn't imagine her! She had long, blond hair and she was wearing a light blue dress. And she was wearing this really flashy blue medallion-"
Tall disinterested boy
"We have company."
Short determined boy
"Are you looking for that girl too?"
Tall disinterested boy
"Why the hell would he be looking for her too..."
You ask them if they're talking about Temperance. The shorter boy suddenly seems a bit dejected, while the taller boy raises an eyebrow.
Tall disinterested boy
"Temperance? [He turns to the shorter boy.] She's one of Murphy's seven? Give up on her, Julian, she probably just came here to pray for the pigeons or something crazy like that."
Short determined boy
"I need to talk to her. There's some things we need to discuss."
Tall disinterested boy
"Discuss what? Her dad will kill you if he finds out you talked to his daughter. Probably her, too."
Short determined boy
[He fumbles uncomfortably with his hands for a second before he looks over at you. He doesn't want to say anything more with a stranger around.] "So you know her too, huh. What did she say to you?"
You tell them you had a short but strange conversation with Temperance just the day before after just arriving in town. You mention the magpie, but not that it had three heads; you figure that detail might be a little too absurd for them.
Short determined boy
"You moved here? Why? There's nothing to do in Grey Springs."
Tall boy: "It's fine. We're not too far from a bigger town so it's not like there's nothing to do if you don't put in some extra effort. Plus I like how you can walk everywhere and that it's pretty quiet. It's all about perspective."
Short boy: "Only a year? I guess that's manageable. I guess Grey Springs isn't so bad but it kinda sucks that it's so small and it feels like everybody knows each other. It's boring."
Short boy: "The whole town was bought out by a company? That's weird, I don't think I've ever heard of that before. Even the houses?" Tall boy: "Sounds kind of like a cult thing... Why else would a company want a whole town to themselves. At least our local cult is small fry in comparison, ha." Short boy: "The Murphys aren't really a cult. They just run the local church, that's all. They're a bit weird but they leave people alone." Tall boy: "You're just saying that because you've suddenly developed a crush on Temperance Murphy." Short boy: "Shut up!"
Short determined boy
"So do you go to school here? Don't think I remember seeing you around."
You explain that you'll be starting tomorrow, and that you'll be in class 2B. The short boy's eyes suddenly light up. He walks over to you and clumsily but confidently shakes your hand. He seemed so apprehensive towards you initially, what changed? You tell him your name.
Julian
"I'm in class 2B too! That's so cool. My name's Julian. That's Ezra, he's in 3C. There's a seat open next to me, you can take it if you want."
Ezra
"Jeez, slow down. You sound like you're trying to sell him something. [He turns to you.] But yeah, nice to meet you. We usually hang out outside of school hours, so you're welcome to join if you want. If Julian hasn't scared you off."
Julian
[He walks back over to Ezra and holds out his hand.] "Now we're done with introductions, it's time to get back to business. Give me that marker you always carry around."
Ezra
[He hands Julian a marker from his pocket, looking a little apprehensive.] "What are you gonna do with it?"
Julian
[He turns to the wall of the building and uncaps the marker.] "I'm gonna leave my number here. That way if she comes back, she can call me."
Ezra
"Are you crazy? Who knows who's gonna call you if you leave your number here. Besides, the Murphys don't carry mobile phones! Why are you so dead set on talking to her anyway?"
Julian
"It'll be fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine. Who's gonna look inside this old building beside her anyways?" [He puts a double, thick and unnecessary line under his number.] "And she'll know why I want to talk to her. It's none of your business."
You tell them you're living on the main street, with your aunt. When you tell them your aunt is a painter who runs several workshops a week, Ezra seems to know who you're talking about. Julian doesn't show any recognition, or any particular interest; until you mention the house is a few doors down from the bookshop with the purple front.
Julian
"You're near Kaminski books? Oh shit, the owner's daughter is like, super hot. She's in our class too, actually. But I call dibs! So no hitting on her."
You're a little confused why Julian seems so possessive over Robin considering he just wrote his number on a public wall for another girl, but you figure it doesn't really matter. You mention that Robin told you she's trying to get new members for her club in school and that she gave you a sign-up sheet.
Ezra
"Yeah, she's recently been handing them out in school to anyone who makes eye contact with her. She's my neighbor, I think we've got about five of them at home. Robin's always been into spooky stuff, though she never showed interest in the occult club until this year. Not sure what changed."
Julian
"We should totally join! It's only her and one other guy right? It'd be so easy to get close to her that way. Plus she'd practically owe us for saving her club."
Ezra
[He hits Julian in the shoulder. Julian stumbles a little and gives Ezra a dirty look as he rubs his arm.] "Don't talk about her like that. If you like her just ask her out like a normal person."
Julian
[He scoffs.] "Yeah, like she'd ever say yes. Nah, this needs a bit more planning beforehand. Make it so she can't say no." [He quickly but clumsily jumps aside when Ezra tries to hit him again.] "Not in a creepy way! In a normal way. Like I just put some thought into it, y'know. That's not weird." [He turns back to you as Ezra gives him a rather intense side eye.] "Anyways, we'll see you tomorrow in school, yeah? We can talk more then. Don't forget the sign up sheet! Don't think I have mine anymore so we'll have to share."
You part ways with Julian and Ezra and decide to head back home. It's almost time for your aunts painting class, and you are pretty curious to see what it's like. You're mostly just excited to try out her art supplies again, but it should be fun to see your aunt, who you know as a very easy going and relaxed person, working as a teacher.
Koizumi Residence - Living Room
You find the class is already in full swing when you get home; thankfully it seems your aunt anticipated you joining them as there is an empty easel set up in the circle of students. Most of them appear to be of pensioner age, though there are two women that look to be a similar age to your parents, and -to your surprise- one sullen looking boy your own age.
Koizumi
"Yon! Welcome home. Please join us, if you want! This is my first class with a new group, so everyone's just trying out materials to find out what they're most comfortable with. Grab whatever you want, have some fun! You remember from when you were little, right?"
You grab the closest art utensils available, which happen to be pastel crayons. You don’t really remember how to work with them, but you feel a little too awkward with all these eyes on you to go for something you might feel more comfortable with, simply because it’s too far away. You stand in front of the empty canvas, and try to decide what to draw.
You put down the initial lines; the general shape of your head, and your shoulders. You immediately regret the size you’ve started with, you can’t fit anything more on the canvas. You try to set this thought aside and use an orange pastel to scribble on your hair. Is that right? You take a step back to get a better look at your work; only to discover you’ve drawn your head far too large for your neck and shoulders. You hear the boy next to you scoff. Was that aimed at you?
You love cats! You’ve seen enough of them to be able to draw one… right? You bravely start with a black pastel to make the outlines. Head, ears, whiskers, the little 3 shaped mouth… What color should you make it? Black? But wait, if you make a black cat, the outlines will be invisible… And if you use any other color, they’ll be muddled by the black crayon… You sigh. This wasn’t your smartest decision. The boy next to you makes a sound of discontent. He’s not judging your decision to draw a cat, is he?
You wildly begin scrawling on the paper without paying any mind to what you’re doing. You switch between colors freely, grabbing whatever pastel speaks to you in that moment. You get so lost in your work that you don’t notice how much you’re flailing your arms, nor that you’re pressing down hard on the pastels. When you make a particularly grand swipe with a black crayon, it snaps in half. The part that’s liberated from its confines of being held in your hand flies at the boy working next to you, hitting him hard enough on the cheek to leave a mark. Surly boy:“Ow!”
You apologise, but it does little to take the scowl off his face. He rubs his cheek, but all it does is spread the crayon further across his face. You feel too embarrassed to tell him this.
You look over at his canvas. It is entirely black, or is it grey? But in some spots it looks more brown, you think, unless your eyes are playing tricks on you. They boy sees you looking and becomes defensive.
Surly boy
“I’m trying to create black by mixing all colours together. There’s a famous painter who’s works are all like this. But I can’t seem to get it right, his look perfectly seamless, almost as if they're printed, and the same color throughout… Mine’s just a muddy mess.” He looks over at your work. “But at least I had a vision for what to do, I guess.”
Did he just take a dig at you? What was that for? It feels especially unwarranted as in your eyes he’s just ruined one of your aunts canvases by painting the whole thing in one color. You want to say something back, but one of the other students has moved closer to you both and is studying the boys work. A middle aged woman, dressed too fancy for a painting session, looks at the canvas as if there’s more to it than a black slab. After a moment she sighs and tuts.
Expensive looking lady
“Oh Leander, I do wish you’d take this class more seriously…”
Surly boy
“I am taking it seriously! You just don’t understand what I’m trying to do.”
Expensive looking lady
“At least paint some kind of figure. Now all you’ve done is waste miss Koizumi’s paints, mixing them all together like that.”
Surly boy
“What figure? There’s nothing here to paint."
Expensive looking lady
She giggles, a sound too young for her age. You feel slightly uncomfortable, but you’re not sure why. You take a step back, as if this lady is somehow radiating the warmth you feel in your cheeks off her.“I am looking forward to the lessons with models. Do you think they’ll be naked? I do believe that is the best way to learn figure drawing.”
Surly boy
“Mom! Don’t be gross…”
The lady laughs again as she walks back to her own canvas, a noticeable bounce in her steps. You’re a little taken aback this woman is this boy’s mother; you can’t explain it but nothing about her looked or felt mother-like. The boy returns to his canvas, his face a bright red now. He looks like he wants to sink into the floor.
You mess around with the pastels some more, not really set on making anything cohesive, you’re mostly just drawing little figures here and there. You hope there will be no drawing sessions with nude models, you really don’t like the idea of a naked person surrounded by your aunt’s class in the middle of your living room; way too awkward. Your aunt finally ends the session and the students head home. You try to say goodbye to the surly boy, but he seems to be purposely avoiding your gaze.
You look at his painting. He ended up using the greyish paint as an underground for a drawing of a goat’s head which he did in white paint. The line work is simple but well done; the lines were put down confidently with purpose. It looks like he knows how to draw quite well. You wonder why he chose to just paint his canvas in one single color.
Koizumi
“Well Yon, what did you think?” She looks at your canvas, you’re a little worried she’ll be disappointed you didn’t draw anything better but she seems quite pleased with your work, or at least you detect no judgement in her face. “If you ever wanna join again, feel free. Just make sure you’re there when the class starts.”
You help your aunt clear up the tools from the class, and after you make dinner together. You’re pretty tired from today, so you decide to go to bed early, as you do have school tomorrow and you don’t want to risk oversleeping again.
