This Town

I sat in the cold, metal chair and tapped my foot with intense irritation. Since I couldn’t drive myself to DMV I got up earlier than I needed to and called Jared the cab driver and asked him if he could give me a ride there and home. I had also made sure to arrive fifteen minutes before my appointment was scheduled in case they could get me in earlier. But of course, my plan backfired and I had been sitting in the same spot for over an hour. For what felt like the thousandth time I looked down at my ticket and sighed angrily.

“Saint?” I looked up at the sound of my name and found the guy from yesterday at the grocery store standing in front of me. He looked utterly exhausted and I assumed it was also because of DMV. The place had a way of doing that to people as soon as they walked through the door.

“Austin, right?” I asked and moved my purse from the seat next to me so he could sit down. He gave me a grateful look and plopped down beside me. “You look like shit,” I informed him.

“I feel like shit,” he chuckled. “My friend, Alan, decided he wanted to party all night and demanded he not do it alone. Since I was the only one around I got nominated.”

“You didn’t drink water after every drink, did you?” Although I asked, I already knew the answer. Most people made the mistake of not drinking a glass of water after every drink they have which in turn makes the hangover worse.

“You caught me,” he admitted and scratched the back of his neck. It seemed like he wanted to say more, but opted for staying quiet. I on the other hand had a question of my own.

“So, who did you think I was?”

“Huh?”

“Yesterday at the store. Who did you mistake me for?”

“Oh… I just thought you were someone from high school. I hadn’t seen her in forever and at a glance you looked like her.”

“Well, sorry to disappoint.” I felt like he was lying, but it wasn’t any of my business.

“C35,” the monotone voice announced over the speakers.

“Fucking finally!” I said a bit too loudly and threw my hands up. I heard Austin chuckle and I gave him a crooked grin. “See you around,” I told him as I grabbed my purse.

“You too,” he called. Little did he know, I didn’t plan to see him around. I had no interest in seeing him around.





“Do you need a ride?” Austin asked from behind.

“I’m waiting for a cab,” I replied tiredly. I was able to get my license renewed without having to retake the test since I was admitted to the hospital the entire time. They didn’t know what kind of hospital but it didn’t matter. But I had left my car at home so I was stuck until Jared arrived.

“Come on, let’s go get something to eat. I’ll pay and you don’t have to pay me for taking you home,” he insisted. As much as I wanted to decline I was tired and sitting on the curb was getting uncomfortable.

“How about you just take me home and if you really want to have lunch I can make us something,” I countered.

“Deal.” Austin offered his hand to me and I let him help me up. I followed him through the parking lot and got in the passenger side of his Range Rover. “Type your address in on the GPS and you can pick a CD from the glove box if you want.”

I did as he instructed then opened the glove box. I figured he’d only have a few CDs but I was greeted with three stacks of them. With mild interest, I picked up one of the stacks and rummaged through it. That stack didn’t have anything appealing so I went to the next; still nothing appealing. As I looked through the third stack I was prepared to give up but one of the cases caught my attention. Of Mice & Men: The Flood. Hm. I opened the case and put the CD into the player then turned the case over. I always listened to the songs whose title caught my eye first if I didn’t know the artist.

I saw Austin smile in my peripheral vision and I over at him curiously. He didn’t explain though he just shook his head and kept his eyes on the road. “I like this song,” I commented. It was called Let Live.

“I’ll let the guys know that you said that,” Austin replied.

“The guys?” I was confused and it showed.

“Yeah, the guys who wrote it. Oh, and I’m glad you like our song.”

“Your… song?” It took me a moment to realize that this was his CD, as in he was the one singing. “So you do you have the beautiful, melodic voice or the angry, raspy screaming?”

“Depends.”

“On?”

“Which one you like better.” Austin looked over at me with a playfully smirk. For a second I thought he was flirting with me but quickly shoved that idea aside.

“I’d say, judging from the intimidating height and the large array of tattoos, that you have the angry screaming.”

“You would be correct, but I wouldn’t say I’m intimidating.”

Every man is intimidating to me is some way.

“You live down the street from Alan.” I furrowed my eyebrows at his comment then realized we had pulled into my driveway. “The house at the end of the street on the other side is his.”

“That doesn’t mean you can stalk me or show up whenever you want to,” I informed him then got out of the car. I was only partially joking, it hadn’t really dawned on me until we got to my house that I didn’t have friends. I had lost all of them when I got admitted so having someone randomly show up at my house wanting to hang out wouldn't be too bad.

“Don’t worry, I’ll call first,” He replied with a smile. He was such an odd person. I opened the front door and moved so he could go inside. “Wow. This is a really cool place, a lot cooler than my place,” he marveled.

“Compliments of my mother and my aunt,” I admitted. “The kitchen is this way but if you want to look around while I make lunch you can. The closed-door upstairs is my bedroom and it’s off limits,”

“Got it boss,” Austin saluted then ventured upstairs like a kid in a candy store.

“Weirdo,” I muttered under my breath. I walked into the kitchen and stood there for a second. I had no idea what Austin liked or didn’t like so I went with what most people seemed to enjoy: mac n cheese.

By the time Austin came back down stairs lunch was just about done. “Your place is so interesting,” he complimented.

“What could possibly be that interesting up there?” I asked with amusement.

“Your art room,” he replied like it was obvious. I was grabbing two bowls from a cabinet above the island but stopped when he mentioned an art room.

“I don’t have an art room,” I mused. I grabbed the bowls again and set one in front of Austin and the other in front of me. I spooned mac n cheese into both and handed Austin a fork.

“Thanks. Anyway, yes you do. It’s in the attic.” I didn’t have an attic either. What the hell was he talking about?

“When we’re done eating you’re going to show me because I swear I don’t have an art room or an attic.”





“See. Art room in the attic,” Austin announced triumphantly. But I wasn’t listening. I wasn’t sure how I had overlooked it but he was right. There was an art room in the attic. It was filled with all the paintings I had done in the hospital. Most of them were landscapes and places I wanted to visit, but there were some that were dark and a metaphor for my demons. “I like this one the best personally.” The painting he handed me made my throat tighten.

“This was great and all but I think you should go. I have a lot of things I need to do, like job hunting,” I said as casually as I could, but my voice was thick.

“Saint are you okay?” Austin asked with worry filled eyes. I turned away from him and acted like I was setting the painting down so I could wipe the tears from my eyes.

“Yeah, I just have stuff to do. It was great hanging out with you and thank you for taking me home.” I heard Austin sigh heavily but he left. I looked at the painting again and let the tears fall. I hated that painting. I had finished it two days before I tried to kill myself for the last time, but of course I failed.

The longer I stared at the painting the less attached to my body I felt. Certain areas of my body started to itch and burn and my skin felt hot. Slowly but surely, my demons were crawling out of their hiding places.

Notes

Chapter three is up (obviously). I was going to update Seasons of Love but when I went to my stories it had been deleted. So, that story is going to have to wait I guess. It kind of works out through because I can make this one a priority. I hope you guys are enjoying it so far.

If anyone wants to help me write it let me know; I'd love to work with someone or multiple someones.

Thanks for reading,
perpetual

Side note: I got the picture for her painting from Google so credit to whoever's photo it is.