• FANTINE & LINUS

      Fantine watched closely, fixing her eyes over at a fair-haired male who sat on the patch of lustrous bottle green prairie, the sun's golden rays making it seem illusory. Fantine permitted breath to pass her lips; she couldn't help but frown as she admired the man's work of art. Linus was his name, she pointed this out by the fact she could faintly see a small mark in the corner of the art that had his name, Linus. She kept behind her, what to any child might be a treasure map, but was nothing of the sort, unless the map led to happiness. Her russet hair flickered with the wind as her hands rest behind her back, the ashen sleeves that were under her dress, which was a roseate tinge. The chalky undershirt had frills of sorts along the collar, and at the edge of the arm length sleeves.

      Deciding now was the point in time to draw near the fair-haired artist, she took an additional engaging breath, releasing the petite take in of air out into the ambiance, she calmly approached him, her scarlet shoes softly drumming into the grass, leaving tough to make out prints in the green patches. She leaned down with the rolled up piece of paper behind her back, gazing down at the canvas the man was creating works of art on, she just gave him and the canvas a stare for a moment, before straightening herself up when the man recognized her with his soft, emerald eyes. "What is it, little girl?" His composed tone showed his benevolence; however he was still looking questioningly at her, the newcomer. "Mister, can you teach me how to draw?" She responded, "You... You're really good," She added with a hint of anxiety attempted to be veiled in her voice as she watched the man sit there, looking down at his work. She stood up straight again, not having been given a answer back from him, she inaudibly sighed, looking away at the lawn, her brownish bullion eyes staring dimly at the ground, the upper lids of her eyes hovering, nearly closing fully.

      "Please teach me. I want to draw something..." She took a moment, her fingers clenching up on the piece of paper, a saddened sigh pushing through her lips. "Something special." She soon pulled out the rolled up paper from behind her back, sadness overflowing within her irises as she unrolled the artwork, where her parents stood either side of her, holding her hands. There were three flowers scattered on the drawn grass that the three humans were standing on, with four or five pointy pieces of grass also rest. The sun she had drew had resembled an orange dot with a yellow comic-style shocked speech bubble around it, like where you might have, 'ka-pow' written inside of it, instead of the orange dot. Besides the orange and yellow sun drawing, were two fluffy clouds resting flat on the scribbled blue background. "But the best I can draw..." He waited for the man to gaze at her, and then she finished speaking. "Is this." The man seemed almost pleased, he let a syrupy laugh escape his pale lips as he smiled over at her before speaking, "That's already very good, little girl." The girl didn't seem happy, her expression dropped to a sadder one, her eyes staring away, the lashes above them hiding her depressive stare.

      "But I want to be better, like you..." She gave a gentle sound if not a disappointed one, not happy with the drawing she had made of her small family. The man quickly noticed Fantine's sudden change of emotion, and felt his blond hair blow with the wind as he gave her a supportive smile, "Just practice every day," She looked up, staring, "And you will be great in a few years." The last line of words made her quickly startled, as she blurted out, "A few years!?" She quieted down to show she meant no anger, and sighed, looking away in a lonesome way, "It'll be too late by then..."

      "What do you mean, what will happen?" Linus asked sympathetically, showing his unease for the wee girl. Fantine said nothing, beads of tears staring to drip from her brown eyes, sliding off the edge of the sockets of her eyes, dripping down her cheekbones as she shut her eyes, her fingers grasping tight on either side of the drawing, tearing the picture smack in the middle, half of her torn, her father and mother on either of the two pieces of paper, separated.

      "Mommy and Daddy..." She breathed quietly, knees in the dirt, her hands clenching the torn, crumpled pieces of paper as her hair draped over her face like curtains. "... Have been hurting each other... After they separate, I won't be able to draw my family, no matter how good I am." Droplets of salty water escaped her shut eyes, sliding down small strands of grass as she crouched there. "That's why... So please, teach me..." She whispered as Linus stared up into the sky, his brush resting on the paper, he appeared to be in thought, his hand beside hers.

      He smiled down at her in a caring manner, his emerald eyes showing concern, and devotion to the girl, but forlornly, he had to confess, "I can't. It will take years to teach you, and I'm a traveler, I'll be gone by tomorrow." His hand pressed against the tailcoat of his jacket, but he just sat there, until he finally spoke up again, "And, besides.., would it not be better, to have your family, instead of just a drawing?" His hand reached into the ear, grasping a peppermint leave, bringing it down, he sniffed it softly, before letting it float into the lukewarm air, making a pattern of dancing leaves that swung across the lake, landing on the other side... He stared at the sky, the sun was almost center in his gaze, just standing there like a giant light bulb, an idea in his mind as his eyes slowly shut, a smile on his lips.

      'I don't want to feel so helpless' Fantine thought in despair, sitting there as the rays of sun hit her back, a shadow casting around her. Her petite, small hands resting on the front of her lap, the picture remaining torn in her fingers. However, soon enough, she tilted her head up when the blonde's hand rest in her field of brown hair, patting her softly. He was now standing, his black boots in the grass, the large clipboard held under his arm. "Don't despair." He whispered honestly, "Someone once told me, art is about content, not skills." He shut his eyes as he spoke, the collar of his white shirt peaking out, "And a picture is worth a thousand words..." The girl was seemingly taking interest in his string of words; she looked up, her tears slowly coming to a crawl, halting in their place. She looked up some more, nudging his hand up, giving her room to stare in inquiry at him. "I have an idea, why don't we make an art trade?" He stopped to smile, "Your drawing, for one thousand words." Fantine gave a dazed expression, desiring the idea. She nodded to some extent, her hair, her ribbon, both blowing in the wind, along with her dress. "But... It is ripped," She stated sadly, "And what can I do... With... One thousand words?" Linus took the drawing as she held it out, he lifted it and placed it into his pocket, "Maybe, just maybe, one thousand words will be enough to convince your parents... So, little girl, meet me here tomorrow. You'll see."

      When the next day came, Fantine was waiting as instructed at the place she and Linus had meet, next to an old, yet healthy oak tree by the lake. She sat there in a pair of jeans, a yellow shirt and the same red shoes. She could hear the man coming down the stone path, she still sat there, staring at the river, watching fish swim around in it, not wanting to look up and look lost if it wasn't him. It didn't take to much time for her to realize it was indeed the kind man who had promised her thousand words, as a hand was placed to her head, and she instantly knew it was the hand of the man who was there to help her. "Mister, you're here!" She exclaimed in a clearly excited tone, still crouching there on a beautiful bank of green grass and broken branches of the tree above her. "Of course!" He laughed happily with her, hand still resting kindly on her brunette locks of hair.

      He removed something from his jacket, a folder, tinged dark orangey brown. He held it one hand, where as the girl took it with both of her hands, the moving it away from Linus, who spoke, "As promised... One thousand words. But don't open it, give it to... Your parents" The girl agreed, she was curious to know what the man had written, but she promised Linus with all her heart that she would abide by his request, and not even take a peak at the contained paper inside of the envelope. She rushed home and spared no time in handing her parents the envelope given to her by Linus, not wanting to have her heart broken if they didn't like what Linus had put in there, she scampered away and hid beside the staircase, gazing over at them.

      Her parents carefully removed the object, her mothers brown hair covering her eyes, one hand holding the envelope, while the other rest slightly touching her husbands, removing the single piece of paper from the small folder, they stared at it, both silent, until two strings of tears fell from either of her mothers eyes, dripping of her chin and down her dark blue shirt, replacing the once clean thread of her attire with a darkened shade of wetness, her tears of sadness. Both of her parents were in deep silence, just staring at the content that they'd just removed from the object their daughter had handed them. Both of them were silent, and both of them were torn... In their hands was a taped up picture that their wonderful daughter had obviously torn while in distraught.

      No matter what, the sun will always shine, just look for a brighter tomorrow, and you will find...

      Sitting there in a coral tainted dress and small roseate flats, the now older Fantine sat beside the tree where she had met the artistic traveler, Linus, almost a year ago. A pencil was in her hand, a note book in the other, writing a series of words along the pages. There, coming towards her, was Linus, he looked fairly the same, the same blond hair, the same jacket, clipboard, shoes... It was almost like he hadn't grown, that he was still the same. He approached her with a sweet smile, doing the same thing he did when he knew she wasn't focused on him, he placed his warm hand on her head, a smile stung his expression as the now young lady looked up, her lips curved in a gentle expression as she carefully continued to write without focusing on the paper. Her brown pools went wide when she seen the traveler had returned, she bounced up, tackling herself against Linus, her head resting in his chest, arms around him. "Mister!" She cooed in thrill, beaming. "Aha..." Linus smiled down at her, stroking her long mop of brown hair. "You've grown," He pointed out in with a rather embarrassing laugh, directed at himself for having to point out the obvious. The girl still clung to him, her hands now holding the front of her shirt, looking cheerfully up into his eyes, "I want to thank you," She began, "For helping me..." She explained, she knew the man would remember what he did for her, so she didn't include what he did to help her, though she should've, when he said, "So, your family is still together, I'm glad..." She stood there a bit silent for a moment, and Linus almost instantly seen the reason why, watching her lips as she spoke, "They divorced the week after." She seemed a bit distraught, but still managed a smile.

      On the other hand, Linus didn't seem so happy, his eyes were wide, his pupils looking smaller than usual, he was a lot more hurt looking than the girl, but it made sense, after the year he'd been away from Fantine, he had thought her parent's were closer than ever, but he was wrong, and that hurt him, along with the fact he hadn't been able to maintain the parent's relationship with the 'one thousand words' he'd given them. "I'm sorry, I failed to make a difference," He hung his head in shame, feeling like the girl would hate him, or did. To his surprise, Fantine smiled, looking up at him, her notebook resting against her dress, "That's not true! You made a difference... In me." She lifted the notebook to her chest, the wind blowing her hair and her raiment of sorts off to the right. "I've decided to become an artist like you. I will make a difference, and I'll change the world for the better, one thousand words at a time..." She lifted the notebook into plain site, where the man took the bottom of it, taking it from her. "Here, one thousand words, of my gratitude." Frantine smiled, looking up into the man's eyes as he took it, confused. He opened the small black book, flicking through the pages, he laughed quietly, smiling. "One thousand words indeed..." He agreed quietly, looking down at the page, on many of the pages was the phrase, 'Thank you!' written several times, he stood there for over thirty minutes, counting all the words with a smile, soon enough he reached one thousand, and gave her a delighted look.

      The end!