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- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPlFmoLZBDw
- >Your heart is slamming against your ribcage.
- >Your legs burn, but not unpleasantly so.
- >Your arms feel heavy, and your head feels heavier.
- >None of these are unfamiliar feelings.
- >As a matter of fact, you love them.
- >In another life you’d probably be a runner.
- >You look back to see if they’re catching up.
- >Of course not.
- >You can’t help but laugh as you continue running, your breath visible in the frigid air.
- >Expertly dipping and weaving your way through the crowd, you dive over the hood of a car, rolling to keep your momentum on the other side.
- >You run until you finally make it to your car, throwing the door open and tossing your bag in the back.
- >You jam your key into the ignition and listen to the engine roar to life.
- >You take half a second to adjust your mirrors before slamming it into reverse and pulling out onto the street.
- >You huff and puff, glancing in the rearview mirror every now and then in case they catch up to you.
- >They never have before.
- >You get a call.
- >You reach to the back seat to try and locate your phone, but give up as it finally stops ringing.
- >If it was important, they’ll leave a message.
- >The car comes to a halt in your usual spot, just outside the apartment complex.
- >You grab your shit and hop out of the car, rushing upstairs to your apartment.
- >When you enter, you flip on the tv and change it to the local news.
- >There it is. Your latest work.
- >It’s a landscape, a snowy mountain pass in the sunset; the foreground dotted with snowy trees, stripped of all life. You spray painted it on the side of an old brick building. It took all night.
- >You smile, reading the headline.
- “Anonymous Painter Strikes Again.”
- >If only they knew how apt that headline is.
- >You are Anonymous, and you crave attention.
- >Any kind, really. Good, bad, doesn’t matter to you.
- >You’re an artist. The more attention you get, the more people see your art.
- >The more people who see your art, the more happy you are.
- >Is it pretentious? Yeah.
- >Do you care? No.
- >This is the 4th time you’ve done a public painting. Or as the police call it, ‘Vandalism.’
- >You hear a pounding on the door.
- >Your smile dies with the television.
- >You toss the remote on the couch and speed walk to the door, looking through the peephole.
- >It’s your neighbor, Sunset Shimmer.
- >You pop the door open and lean against the doorframe.
- “To what do I owe the pleasure?” You ask, eyebrow raised.
- >”Oh cut the shit, Anon. I know it was you. Again,” she says, pushing past you and into the apartment.
- “Woah, Sunny, relax. What’s the problem?” You ask, closing the door behind her.
- >”Don’t ‘Sunny’ me Anon, you know what the problem is. Not only did you almost get caught this time, but when I called you didn’t answer!”
- >Oh, so it was Sunset who called you. That actually was important.
- >You sigh, grabbing her shoulders, pulling the leather of her jacket taught.
- “Sunset, I’m sorry. Okay? I was already driving when you called me. You know I would’ve answered it if I could.”
- >Her eyes dart around your face, full of an untraceable emotion.
- >You take a mental snapshot, saving this moment for later.
- >She sighs, hugging you.
- >”I would say don’t do that again, but I know you will. Just…” she pulls back, looking into your eyes. “Be careful.”
- >You smile.
- “Of course, Sunny.”
- >She suddenly breaks the embrace, blushing profusely.
- >Internally, you sigh. Externally, you keep your cool.
- “So, did you like it?”
- >She looks at you with a surprised smirk.
- >”Of course I did. The color pallete was phenomenal. You’re so fucking talented that it blows me away sometimes.”
- “Oh yes, please keep stroking my ego!” you grin, opening the fridge and taking out the OJ.
- >She rolls her eyes. “Oh shut up,” she says, taking a seat on the couch and turning the TV back on.
- >She looks to you, pensive. “What did you think?”
- >You tilt your head.
- “Like, while I was painting it?”
- >She nods.
- >You lean against the counter and think.
- >Should you tell her?
- >Of course it’s her.
- >She’s your biggest inspiration.
- >You love her, and it comes across in everything you paint.
- >Every single painting you do is lighted by the Sunset.
- >Often your paintings reflect your feelings.
- >This most recent painting is deliberately cold, isolating, and lonely.
- >Because you’re unsure if you’re ready, or if she feels the same.
- >So you pushed her away, into the distance of the painting, while your daily life, the foreground, became cold and barren.
- >No. You know now’s not the time.
- >But what do you say?
- “Honestly, I was thinking about home.”
- >She pauses the TV to take a closer look at the painting, thoughtful.
- >You take this opportunity to study her.
- >Every little thing she does makes you crazy.
- >You shake your head and drink your OJ.
- >She turns back to you. “Where’d you grow up?”
- “Montana,” you say in between sips.
- “My family had 300 acres of land, and I grew up playing in the snowy forest. I get nostalgic a lot,” you say, tossing out the carton.
- >She looks back to the TV. “So this was another ‘snapshot’?”
- >You nod.
- “Yeah. It was February, I think.”
- >You move back into the living room to look a the painting.
- >”What were you feeling during this ‘snapshot’?”
- >You fold your arms, deciding to tell a half truth.
- “Lonely,” you say, looking back to her.
- >She frowns, staring deeper into the painting.
- >Suddenly, she stands, crossing her arms. “When are you going to show me the studio?” she asks, nodding her head towards a pair of curtains.
- >You laugh.
- “When you finally show me those photos you have of me.”
- >She blushes. “You know I can’t do that! It’d be weird!”
- >The first time you talked to Sunset, you caught her taking photos of you checking your mail with a professional camera.
- >You nod.
- “Exactly. Now shush about the painting. If you want to you can just go see it. Not like it’s in an exhibit or anything.”
- >She mumbles something under her breath, glancing back to the TV one last time.
- “What was that?”
- >She shakes her head. “Nothing, don’t worry about it,” she says before heading out.
- >The sound of the door puts a period on her visit, and you look back to the TV.
- >Soon. You’ll tell her soon.
- >2 weeks later
- >You open your eyes to darkness.
- >You take out your phone and check the time.
- >11:38 PM
- >Perfect.
- >Tonight’s the night.
- >You’re gonna tell her.
- >You get off your couch and stretch.
- >You go to your closet, picking out a black pair of sweatpants, black hoodie, and black shoes.
- >Slapping them on, you search for your balaclava.
- >Where the fuck did you put it?
- >Whatever, it doesn’t matter.
- >You grab your bag and empty it.
- >Won't be needing too many colors for this one.
- >You move to your studio, grabbing your climbing gear and throwing it in the bag.
- >You also grab all of the paints you’ll need.
- >Time to go to work.
- >You open the door and lock it behind you.
- >When you turn to leave, you see a familiar face waiting there.
- “Oh, uh, hey Sunny.”
- >”Where you going, Anon?”
- >You scratch your shoulder.
- “Work.”
- >Sunset sighs.
- >”I’m going with you.”
- “What? Why?”
- >She looks you over. “I don’t want to have to worry about you. That’s why.”
- >You grin
- “Aww, you worry about me?” you tease, poking her in the side on the way past her.
- >She jumps and groans, following you.
- >You make it to your destination with Sunset after a silent ride.
- >”Big wall.”
- >You shake your finger at her.
- “Ah ah ah, big canvas,” you correct, looking to the side of the building.
- “Here’s the fire escape, cmon,” you say, waving for her to follow you.
- >She looks around before running over
- >You both make it to the fire escape, the ladder hanging just out of reach.
- >You look around the alley.
- >Nothing. Shit.
- “Alright Sunny, I need your help here.”
- >She nods. “What do you need?”
- >You crouch down.
- “Climb up on my shoulders and see if you can’t get to that ladder.”
- >She climbs up on your shoulders and you slowly stand.
- >”Please don’t drop me.”
- “I won’t. I promise,” you say, looking up to see if she can reach.
- >Her fingers are juuuust out of reach.
- “Okay Sunny, I’m gonna do something crazy. You ready?”
- >Her eyes become saucers. “What’re you gonna do?!”
- >You jump.
- >She shrieks a little louder than you expected, but she latches onto the ladder out of instinct.
- >Her weight comes off of your shoulders as you come back down.
- “Hell yeah, Sunny. Climb up! Hurry! You were a little loud.”
- >She gives you a glare.
- >You can see it though. That little glint in her eye.
- >She loves this.
- >She climbs up the ladder, and you get a perfect view of her ass.
- >Boy, that’s a fucking feast for the eyes.
- >When she gets to the top she sends the ladder down, and you catch it.
- >Can’t make much more noise.
- >You climb the ladder and follow her all the way to the top.
- >When you get there, the roof of the building is a short, dangerous climb up.
- >You step onto the railing of the fire escape, making sure to hold the top rails tight, before turning and sliding your feet to the edge.
- >You turn the corner and look to your right.
- >There it is.
- >You take a deep breath and take the jump.
- >Sunset shrieks again, covering her mouth this time to muffle the noise.
- >Your fingers just barely manage to get enough traction on the edge.
- >From here it’s just a pull-up.
- >You make it to the roof and look around.
- >Empty. Awesome.
- >You turn around and lean over the edge.
- “Your turn Sunny.”
- >She takes a deep breath and nods.
- >She mimics your motions perfectly.
- >Finally, she looks to you at the edge.
- >”I swear to god Anon, if this was some elaborate plot to kill me I’ll…”
- >She looks down.
- >”I’ll haunt you forever.”
- >You give her a wink.
- “I’ll catch you, Sunny.”
- >She nods, taking the leap.
- >Her arms meet yours and you latch on, tugging her up with you.
- >She ends up on top of you, both of you nearly hyperventilating.
- >She looks down to you, grinning before laughing and rolling off of you.
- >She looks at you from beside you.
- >”You know you’re nuts for doing this stuff, right?”
- >You laugh, looking back at her.
- “What does that make you?”
- >She smiles and stands, pulling you up.
- “Alright, now we gotta find something to hook this stuff to,” you explain, pulling out the climbing gear.
- >”Why didn’t we use that for getting up here?”
- >You grin at her.
- “It’s more fun without it.”
- >She rolls her eyes, looking around the roof.
- >She points to an air conditioning unit right above where you’re going to paint.
- “Perfect.”
- >After getting the equipment hooked up and yourself strapped in, you nod to her.
- “Now’s the fun part.”
- >You slowly begin scaling down the side of the building, paint cans rattling in your bag.
- >The next 4 hours are an emotional rollercoaster of painting and humming to yourself.
- >Sunset waits on the roof, keeping watch and letting you do your thing.
- >Soon enough, you’re finished.
- >You scale back up to the top of the building and take your stuff off.
- >”How’d it turn out?”
- >You glance at her.
- “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever painted.”
- >She laughs. “Well now I’ve gotta see it.”
- >You laugh and pack your gear, motioning for her to follow you.
- >You both descend the fire escape and climb the down the ladder.
- >You look at the sky, tinted pink by the sunrise.
- “What time is it?”
- >”6:13.”
- “Alright, time for the big reveal.”
- >You and Sunset walk across the empty street.
- >When you turn back around, you both see it.
- >It really is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever painted.
- >”A-anon…”
- >She covers her mouth with her hands, looking back and forth between you and the painting with tear filled eyes.
- >It’s a snapshot of her from two weeks ago, looking concerned over your antics.
- >You turn to her.
- “Whatcha think? I’m gonna call it, ‘Sunny.’”
- >She jumps at you, pulling you into a long, passion filled kiss.
- >When you break it, she holds your back, staring into your eyes.
- >”I love it.”
- “I love you.”
- THE END
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