The Earth Painter

by Melissa Turner Lee

  “Good, I’m glad you’re up. I came to check on you.”

  My heart leapt at the sight of Theo. I thought about what I’d been thinking and glanced around the room. “Is Fritz here?” Maybe he was responsible for my train of thought.

  “No.”

  So it was just me thinking that. I looked at Theo desperate for an answer, “How do I know when he’s with me…whispering his…mind tricks?”

  Theo came and sat next to me, “Fritz will play on what hurts you the most. If your thoughts go there and stay there or go somewhere even darker…it’s him.”

  I stood up in frustration. “Why does he hate people so much? We’ve never done anything.”

  Theo let his head drop over his knees before he looked up at me. His gray-blue eyes were dark and serious when he looked into mine. “No, you did exactly what he predicted you would do—not you in particular, but humans. When Fritz found out about your kind, he said you guys would ruin everything. All the hard work to prepare the world was for the arrival of people and people would bring it to destruction.”

  I watched Theo, waiting for him to say more, but he didn’t. “We haven’t ruined the world.”

  He looked at me, “Really?”

  “It’s the sciences who do the tweaks, not us.”

  Theo stood. “I’m not talking about the tweaks. You know that stuff you were talking about, the chlorine in the water, the side effects? The sciences didn’t make that…humans did. Your friend all black and blue—human. Your mom’s inability to grow up—human. You ever looked at the newspaper or watched the news? The worst things about this world can be traced back to humans.”

  I trudged back to my bed and plopped down on it, thinking about what Theo’s words. “Then why do you want to help us?” I looked up at him. “The well…why protect it…why help us at all when we bring such destruction?”

  Theo sat down with me again. “Because you also carry such promise…such possibilities. The well…drinking from it brings out the best, the parts that make humans what they were meant to be.”

  “Are you sure we’re worth it?”

  Theo took my hand and led me to my dresser and placed me in front of the largest piece of my shattered mirror still in the frame. We stood there, but I didn’t get it.

  “What?” I shrugged at him.

  “I want you to see how beautiful you are. Your eyes are the color of the purest parts of the sea. Your skin the whitest sand speckled with volcanic rocks from an explosion of power and fire and strength. And your hair is the sun sizzling into the sea at the end of a day. Absolute beauty.”

  I looked, and I tried but… “I don’t see it.”

  “Then look closer. It’s right there.” He’d said this before, but I couldn’t understand. All I’d ever seen in the mirror was that I wasn’t my mom’s idea of beautiful or Hollywood’s. But the way Theo said it, the way he looked at me, the way he poured all those feelings into me—it made me think his words were true.

  I changed my focus when I looked in the mirror. Instead of looking at me, I looked at him…at the way he looked at me. Maybe that would be the closest I’d ever get to seeing what he saw.

  After a while, I was finally able to sleep with Theo standing watch. But there was still the issue of Shelby. She didn’t show up to pick me up for school either. I hated having her mad at me. I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I sat in AP history unable to take notes for thinking about it.

  If you’d stay out of other people’s problems this never would have happened. But you like playing around where you don’t belong, you stupid speckled thing.

  My head shot up at that last part. I never called myself a speckled thing, but I knew who did. I turned to see Fritz inches from my face. He smiled as I recognized him. I glared into his mossy eyes, making sure not to flinch. I raised my hand until Mrs. Jolly called my name, and I asked to go to the restroom.

  I stood silently and walked to the restroom without acknowledging him, but I knew he was there. Once inside and alone, I turned to face him. “Get the hell away from me. I’ve got enough on me right now. I don’t have time for your mind games.”

  He smiled and bit his bottom lip in a seductive way. “I find that to be the very best time to play them. How did you know it was me?”

  “I’m over my freckles.” It was true. Knowing Theo liked them made me less sensitive about them.

  Fritz’s eyebrows raised. “Good to know. But I was on track with the other stuff. I’ve been hanging out with Shelby. She’s not the type to let things go. She doesn’t forget. She’s like me in that sense. I like that about her.”

  Suddenly his tempting me had backfired. And this last case of him in my head only strengthened my resolve. “I’m not quitting. I’m going to the school board meeting. I’m going to fight you.” Then my glare became more focused. “And I’m going to win. How’s it going to feel to lose to a little speckled human…Water Painter? Oh wait, you’re not even that anymore.

  He looked at me with such hate like I’d never experienced. “You will regret that.” And then he was gone.

  I went back to class just as the bell rang. Time for Drama.

  Ms. Jones came fluttering into class shortly after we all arrived. “Good news, good news everyone. Our scripts have arrived.” She made her way to a box on the stage and pulled out little blue booklets and started handing them out to us.

  “We will spend the class time reading the play to ourselves. Then tomorrow we will start tryouts. As you can see, there are more parts than drama students so after class try outs, we will have one open to the general student body on Thursday after school. We will work hard and make The Lady of Dragon Castle the best production we’ve ever put on at Chesnee High School.”

  I read in between looking up towards the stage curtains for Theo. He wasn’t there today. I read through the play at my usual table. Anthony and Wayne sat down.

  “Hey, is that The Lady of Dragon Castle?” Wayne asked after removing the rubber bands to eat.

  “Yeah, Ms. Jones asked me to play the lead. But they’re having open auditions for some parts.”

  Wayne started making that hiccupping laugh he did that day in the parking lot. “Anthony, why didn’t you tell me about this?” He elbowed his friend beside him. “I’ve got my own copy of the play and my own costume including sword. The edge is not sharp of course. I know the entire part of Sir Triton of Greenshire by heart. When are the open auditions?”

  “Thursday after school.” I looked at him for a second before I asked, “Why do you have the play and costume? I didn’t know you were into theatre.”

  “I’m not. But that play is hugely popular on the LARPing circuit. I got my copy and costume at a LARPing festival last summer. That’s also where I learned to shoe a horse. I was the blacksmith during one round.”

  “What’s larping?” It sounded nasty. I almost didn’t want to know.

  “L-A-R-P stands for Live Action Role Playing. People who enjoy studying about that time in history get together and experience the renaissance through role play. It’s lots of fun. You should come with us some time.”

  “Us? You go to those too, Anthony?” I was choking on a giggle. I could tell Wayne was serious, and his feelings would be hurt if he thought I was poking fun at him.

  Anthony swallowed without chewing so he could answer. “No. He and his friends from science club go. I’m his friend from track and cross country—the only cool one he has.”

  “You’ll make a great Lady Oliandra.” Wayne looked almost giddy when he said it. “Page forty-five will be so much better with an actual lady. At camp, there were only guys. Thadius Hoffman ended up with the part of the lady, so we omitted the scene at the top of page forty-six. Hopefully, that will stay intact.” The hiccupping sound started again.

  I hadn’t gotten to that part yet. “I can’t wait to read it.”

  I didn’t have to work that day, so my dad picked me up and took me back to the lot. There I sat and read the entire play. On
page forty-five, Sir Triton of Greenshire breaks the spell binding the lady to the dragon charged with guarding her and keeping her in the castle. And on page forty-six… “No! No!”Dad was out on the lot. No one was in the building to hear me scream, “I refuse to have my very first kiss on stage in front of everyone.”

  Chapter 19

  Dad and I took home dinner from Turner’s Family Restaurant. We took a plate home for Mom too, but she ignored us and ate a meal she had prepared. Well, she tried to ignore us, but I could tell she honestly wanted to say something about Dad and me eating directly from the white foam takeout trays. But she held it in.

  I took my time eating and checked and rechecked my math. Then I decided to work on more research for my presentation to the school board on Saturday. Without the sciences helping, it was all on me. I kind of liked that—having the chance to do it on my own.

  I discovered the well under the high school was the first dug in the city. I wasn’t sure how I could use that information, yet. When I finished my research, it was bedtime. No time to rehearse the character of Lady Oliandra, but that was the plan—to not try and hope Ms. Jones would recast the part.

  At the beginning of drama, Ms. Jones announced that a student with prior obligations with the track and field team would be auditioning with us. Then out walked Wayne in his costume.

  “Holly, would you go read page forty-five with Wayne?” Ms. Jones asked.

  I walked up there with my script and read the part. Just read it. No emotional tone, no feeling, no expression. Wayne, on the other hand, was over acting the part. I was very glad she called cut before we got to the kiss.

  “Well, I think we’ve found our leads. And what chemistry you two have.” She clapped her hands and looked almost giddy. Was she kidding?

  When class was over, I couldn’t bare going to lunch with Wayne and Anthony. I lingered in the auditorium until everyone was gone. Then I made my way up the ladder, but when I got up to Theo’s home, he wasn’t there. The place had been painted to look like a solitary island in the middle of the sea. I sat and watched the ocean waves until the bell rang for lunch to be over. I pulled a sheet of paper from my bag and wrote a note to Theo, asking him to come see me after work. I was closing and wouldn’t be home until late.

  Dad and I had worked out a plan for me to walk to work after school, and he would pick me up around midnight. That was kind of late for him, but I knew Shelby wouldn’t be over my betrayal. I was nervous about what it would be like working with her that night. I wasn’t expecting Shelby to be waiting for me just outside my last class of the day.

  “Hey, Shelby. What are you doing here?”

  Shelby looked off, refusing to look at me. “I wanted to apologize to you. I know you were just trying to help. You were right about Brad. He took off the moment Mom told him that she was calling the cops.” Then she finally looked at me. “I wanted to see if you needed a ride to work and back home?”

  I wasn’t expecting anything like this. It looked like Fritz was wrong about Shelby. “That would be great. I’ll text my dad and tell him. He’ll be glad he doesn’t have to wait up on a work night.”

  We changed in the locker room and got to work. It was nice to have my friend back. All seemed fine all night, except…every now and then I caught Shelby staring at me with a look that made the hair on my neck stand. Maybe it was in my head, but in those moments, I had to wonder if things were really okay between us. But then she’d shake it off and say something funny or tell me about a new hair cut she learned.

  When it was time to lock up and close everything, Shelby handed me a box of meat and asked me to take it back to the deep freeze while she collected our things from the locker room. I thought it was strange that she wanted me to clean up the grill area instead of one of the cooks, but I didn’t question it. The more hands working, the sooner we got out of there. I carried it to the walk-in freezer, put it on the shelf and tried to exit, only the door had locked behind me.

  I didn’t panic at first, because I knew Shelby was aware I’d gone in there. The others were clocking out, but she’d come looking for me when I didn’t meet her at the car. I waited, but no one came. I pounded hard against the cold metal door, but no one answered back. I beat harder and screamed. Panic set in when Shelby didn’t come quickly. I beat the door until my knuckles turned red and sore. I’m not sure how long I did that, but then I remembered my phone in my pocket. I normally kept it in my locker, but I’d kept it with me after texting my dad. I dialed his number, but the call wouldn’t go through—no signal. I looked at the time on my phone. It was after midnight. No one was there to hear me yell. Up until then, I’d been so busy screaming I hadn’t noticed the chill bumps or that I was shivering.

  I pulled my arms inside my t-shirt and slunk to the floor and pulled my legs in. My breath was visible each time I exhaled. I’m not sure how long I sat there before I closed my eyes. I pictured my room—warm and cozy and Charleston, where even in the winter the temperatures were mild. In my dream, I was in my room—painted with care, no detail forgotten, just for me. Painted by my painter.

  But no, he wasn’t my painter. He couldn’t feel for me what I felt for him. The scene kept changing from my happy room to the night with the sciences and Theo telling me that he could never love me. But he wasn’t saying that anymore.

  “Holly, wake up. You’ve got to wake up.” Theo’s voice was so far away.

  I tried, but I couldn’t answer him.

  “You’re going to be ok. I’m getting help,” he said, trying to reassure me.

  And then I felt warmth. The cold slowly faded away. I awoke, for a second, to see I was no longer in the freezer, and a police officer was wrapping a blanket around me.

  I awoke again when someone slipped an oxygen mask on my face. Two medics lifted me onto a stretcher. Without thinking, I started swatting and kicking at them. I didn’t understand why they were strapping me down.

  “Miss, calm down. We’re taking you to the hospital. You’re going to be ok. We have to strap you down for safety reasons. Calm down or we’ll have to sedate you,” the large androgynous woman said just a few inches from my face.

  I tried to reach for the mask so I could speak, but my arms were strapped. My mind was jumbled. I couldn’t think of why they were taking me to the hospital. “What happened?” I managed to yell through the mask.

  “You were locked in the freezer. You’re lucky or blessed or haunted … something.” She held up a bag of clear fluids attached to my arm while she and another medic pushed me into the ambulance. The medic at my feet shut us in. She must have seen the confusion in my eyes.

  “The officer who found you said that either an angel or a ghost told him, you were in there. He said he suddenly felt the need to patrol around the restaurant. He pulled up and saw nothing and was about to leave when the lights inside started flickering on and off. He saw napkins flying out of the holders through the window, but then he said the front doors started shaking when suddenly he saw a man shaking them. When he finally noticed the man, he told the officer you were trapped in the freezer and disappeared. The officer entered the restaurant before back up arrived and found the freezer padlocked. He used cutters from his trunk to get into the freezer, and there you were.”

  Theo had broken the rule about not making himself noticed. What would the Sculptor do to him for breaking the rule?

  The ride to the hospital in Spartanburg was slow, and I was tired. I drifted in and out.

  ***

  The florescent lights and tile ceilings made me think I was at school at first. Then I saw the metal rails on the bed and heard monitors beeping and remembered. I tried to sit up, but my dad’s hand pushed me back.

  “Settle down Sweetheart. Just lay still until the doctor comes in to check you.”

  I leaned back and glanced around the room to see if Theo was there, but he wasn’t. Just then, Mom came in.

  “The nurse is paging the doctor now to let him know she’s stirring.” Mom
looked at me. “You’re awake. Good.” She came closer and tucked the blanket around me. “How are you feeling?”

  “You came. I thought you were ignoring me.”

  Mom fluttered about the room straightening random items. “Of course I came. How would it look if I didn’t rush to the hospital when my daughter’s hurt?”

  I let my head sink deeper into the pillow as I sighed. “What time is it?” There were no windows in my little ER room to give me an indication.

  “Almost six,” Dad answered after glancing at his watch.

  I tried to sit up but found it awkward with the way the bed was adjusted. “How long was I in the freezer?”

  Mom pulled a stool closer to the bed and took my hand. “The officer said it was around four by the time he got the lock off and opened the door. We’d been in bed for hours and didn’t realize you weren’t home. Mr. Walker is here. I think he’s afraid we might file a suit against the place.”

  “Or maybe he’s concerned about Holly,” Dad countered. “Sweetheart, how did you get locked in? Didn’t Shelby notice? Why didn’t she go back in and look for you?”

  Shelby—she knew I was in the freezer. She sent me in there. My gut churned as I considered the only possible explanation. “Quick, hand me a bowl!”

  Dad held out a kidney bowl for me. “The nurse said the medication they used to raise your pulse might make you sick.”

  When I finished, I leaned back on the pillow and stared at the wall. I had expected Shelby to be mad at me for telling my dad, but to try and kill me for it? I couldn’t wrap my mind around the idea enough to say it out loud.

  Mom and Dad stepped out to talk to the nurse and doctor. I was still cold and tucked myself deeper under the heated blanket the nurse had brought me. I had the blanket over my face, trying to breathe the warmth in.

  “How are you?” The voice was soft and familiar.

  I pulled the blanket off my face and looked at Theo taking a seat on the side of my bed. “Alive, thanks to you. I think Shelby locked me in.” Suddenly my problems with Shelby seemed small. “Are you in trouble with the Sculptor for what you did?”