Gone and Come Home Ch.5
#6 of Gone and Come Home
The next day I arose early, even before dawn. I tried getting up, but then was reminded of my injuries by a stiffness in my three places from the braces attached to me. I laid back down, taking this time to take in the drawings plastering the walls of the room. Of course the first one I saw was the one of me, being right next to the bed where we both left it the night before, but also attracted to certain places around the wall more than others.
One picture really caught me eye, it was a full color ink drawing, painted in pastels of a tree, a single tree upon a grassy hill in a sunset. The tree cast such a long shadow, it trailed off into the horizon. It was so detailed and emotional... The single tree, along with nothing else to comfort it. Then, every day was the warmth and love of the bright sunset to warm it and comfort it until the grips and coldness of night embraced it in it's dark, but loving sanctuary. But wait, what is this... There is a small protrusion from the tree, right at ground level, almost completely engulfed in shadow, barley noticeable.
I slowly got out of bed, being careful not to put any pressure on my knee, and then noticed a pair of crutches laying by the foot of the bed. Obviously Jim cared for me every moment of the day... Brining me these things in the middle of the night, even without waking me up.
I scooted over and picked them, up, using them to move over to the pictures hung up on the wall. I looked as close as I could and made out some precise details only the most skilled artist could have achieved...
There was a small foot with little thorn things coming off of it, hardly noticeable again. There was also a sudden edge coming out of the tree, and what looked like the tip of a nose... Oh, one more thing. A small tube sort of thing carefully wrapped around the tree, and the tip was barely in the sunlight, it was colored... Black with a little orange---
It was Jim! With a drawing pad! He was there in this place, at this time... drawing it, and capturing every moment and every emotion of the scene, even without looking upon it other than his view. Amazing... so, beautiful...
Interrupting my thoughts the door opened slowly and I turned to see Jim's cute fuzzy face poke it, and was surprised to find me out of bed. I looked out the window, and while I was up it had tuned a slight gray blue outside, and the clock read 6:30am.
Jim slipped inside the room and silently closed the door, and walked up to me, wrapping his arm around my neck and his teal around my ankles.
"You like it? This is my special picture... My special place. It's where I go when I feel so lonely and sad, like nothing in the world is worth living. When nothing seems to love or be loved, or cared for. The tree is lonely like me, and makes me feel like I have someone or something that shares my feelings. Then, the sunset comes and warms out spirits, making us happy and loving again. When I go there I am lonely, sad and crushed. When I leave, I know that I have shared my feelings, and shown something in the world that there is still care left in the creatures of the land. That there are those that share your feelings, no matter what you feel..."
"Have you every been there for the beginning of the day? Sunrise?"
"No, I don't think I ever have..." Jim said, sounding a little down-struck at this.
"Well, why don't we go together? Show that one place that houses all of the bad feelings of the world and gives away all of it own happy, warm ones. Why don't we give it something that can be happy instead of sad? How far away is it?"
"Oh, only about 15 minutes by walking. If we go now, I bet we can make it before the sunrise."
"Let's go then, but you'll have to carry me, hun." I said, smiling at him, and lightly licking his nose, making him jump back, but smile and laugh at the same time."
"Ha, come ere' you..." He said, picking em up in his arms and quietly opening the door with only one arm. We quietly slipped down the stairs, and out the front door, and started walking down the sidewalk going away from the main street.
"Alright now you little sneak wolf, this is my special, uber-secret spot, and now it's ours. Nobody else can know about this, nobody, gotcha? This is ours, and only us two know about this special place. It'll be like out little relaxing spot..."
"Mmm, okay you little fuzzy tiger..." I said, licking his face again, making him laugh. A few more minutes of walking, and we cam upon an open clearing, sloping down towards a shallow valley on both sides, with a big oak tree right smack dab in the middle of it. Jim walked through the tall grass, and it eventually thinned out and became short around the tree. It was almost sunrise, and the sky was already lighting up as he set me down, and took a seat right next to me, wrapping his arm around me again and putting his tail across both of our laps.
A dew seconds passed and I leaned into his shoulder, resting my head on his frame as he rested his on the top of mine, sort of interlocking us together as I popped my tail in between us and started brushing his chest with it.
Right before the sun came up, I whispered in his ear,
"I love you, so much..." And I nuzzled closer to him, seeping in his warmth along his fur.
"I love you too, honey..." He turned his head to me, and I looked up to him, and we kissed, right as the top of the sun came over the horizon, warming us and causing his fur to gleam and glow in the sunlight, creating a beautiful shine and glow over his entire body, the orange light of the sun cascading into him, and glowing against his orange fur as we kissed. We shared our love to each other as the sun warmed our bodies as we rubbed each other. We also shared out love to the scene, one that had only absorbed hate and depression and sadness in it's life, was now lit on fire by the passion of love and romance. The whole scene was different now, the tree became like a reassuring post to lean on, to support our weight as we drove through the consequences of life together, as one.
We continued sharing our love with each other until the sun was high in the sky, marking that it was time to leave. We parted, and we both drove into each other as we looked into those pools of blue and green, swirling into love, caring, and partnership. Without a word needed to be said, Jim got up, and scooped me in his glowing orange, warm arms, and we locked together once more as we left the warmth of the place, although we both knew that it was now a happier secret to bare, our secret. One that we could share as lovers, not individuals or friends, but lovers. It was ours, and it was a secret. As we left, I looked over Jim's shoulder to see the tree shining in golden light as the sun rose higher in the sky, the area having a lighter, more romantic feel and air to it now that we had shared a good moment, given the land something to live for...
As we walked back, not a word was said, as actions explained more than words. I laid my head in his chest as we walked back to his house, his warm fur comforting me and making a soft cushion for my to rest on against his muscular body. I rubbed against his chest and back with my hands, running my fingers through his fur. He leaned down and kissed my forehead and murred into my ear, and I whimpered back at him and we both smiled at each other. It was then that getting up so early had it's effect and my eyelids fluttered and the last thing I saw before I fell to sleep in his arms were his soft green eyes looking down at me and the gentle smile of his showing brightly on his face, and I fell to sleep as he cradled me closer into his chest.
I woke up again in my-or his-bed, neatly tucked in and comfortable... I looked at the clock.
It was 12:30pm. Man had I slept a long time... I slowly rolled off the warm sheets and painfully swung my legs over the bed, and looked for my crutches... Of course, they were right by the bed, but there was a paper on them... I took it off and studied it. It looked just like the picture of the special place... but something was off...
Whoa... wait a minute...
INstead of the original picture of Jim with the notepad, there was something else there... There were four legs coming our of the base of the tree. One going straight out in front, and the other to the side like it's owner was leaning on something... Then it dawned on me, this was us this morning! He drew us together at the tree, me leaning on his shoulder and sharing our love for one another!
But he couldn't have had enough time before school to draw this and color it, could he?
Curious, I gathered the picture, got my crutches, and slowly made my way out into the hall and down the stairs. I tried to be a quiet as I could but that is sort of hard when you have crutches, and I heard footfall coming towards the stairs from the other direction. I reached the bottom and looked around, and there was Jim!
"Jim! What are you doing here? I though there was school??" I asked, bewildered...
"I got the week off, I called in and told them that you were hurt and needed looking after. It took some convincing and some talk from my mother but we got it through. It's only this week though, then I need to go back. But, that should be long enough, don't you think?" He said, smiling, and I smiled back with my lopsided mouth.
He helped me towards the living room and plopped me down on the long sofa, letting my lie down while he walked across the room and grabbed a small chair from the kitchen and brought it next to me.
"Man, your mouth looks so funny without your other tooth..." He said coming back to the living room with the chair.
"I wish they hadn't done it... Why me, anyways? I mean, couldn't they just pick on somebody else??" I said pleadingly.
"Oh, I didn't mean it like that. I think it looks cute," He said smiling. " It's unique... Well, as for why they did it I have no idea, those kids are just douche-bags waiting to explode. But I'm going to make sure that nobody does anything to you ever again. When I get back I'm going to announce our relationship, and I'm going to make sure your story is spread around the entire school, Hell, the entire world if I need to! Anything to keep people from hurting you..." He said to me, nearly tearing up as he did so.
"Are you sure that's the best idea? I mean, what if-" He silenced me in mid sentence, not letting me finish.
"No "what if's" "buts" "or's" or anything of that sort, okay? We'll go with what comes out way, live life by the second. If they don't like it, too bad for them, but I'm not letting anybody hurt you ever again... I'm going to make sure of it..." He said, still looking deep into my eyes.
"Thank you Jim...." I whispered into his ear, and I leaned up and hugged him close, intertwining our fur and running my hands through the fur on his back, both of us murring into each other ears as we pressed our muzzles into each others necks.
"I love you... so much Jim..." I whispered into his ear.
"Me too... me too Greg..." He whispered back.
We embraced for minutes, just our bodies comforting each other as we rubbed on each other and nuzzled each other and murred over our touches.
Well, until the door opened and we both fell to the floor under a mass of orange fur...