Chapter 14


    The depiction was made in ck ink, a detailed illustration of his house at some point in time. It


    appeared abandoned then, with tall weeds growing at the side of the house. The windows were


    boarded up with wood, and the shabbiness of the house was felt profusely the longer I stared at it.


    “Not so long ago,” he revealed. “That it looked that way.”


    “I don’t believe you.”


    “No?” He questioned me with a yfulness to his voice. “Then I shall take credit for it.” Teddy


    straightened his back to bring himself to his full height. “This was a little more than five years ago.”


    “I thought it was over fifty years at least.”


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    “No, at that time it was quite livable.” He looked over his shoulder at the closed doorway. “Thriving.” He


    averted his attention back to the hand-drawn sketch in front of him. “When my mother was still young


    and happy. When her father and the rest of her family were still alive.”


    “Do you have any images of them?”


    “I would have to go looking for them.” He left my side, intent on seeking out the images that would


    quench my curiosity. When he was gone I turned the page, too curious for my own good. It was a small


    depiction of Teddy as a child, probably between the ages of six or eight. He was a tall, wiry sort of boy


    with an unusual growth spurt. His clothes were shabby though, disorderly and worn out to the point that


    it looked too small for his frame. The strangest image of all was that he was holding a raggedy old


    teddy bear; it was pressed hard against his chest in a protective manner that matched the haunting


    sadness to his eyes.


    “I couldn’t…” Teddy paused, realizing the image that I had discovered. His jaw clenched tightly and


    then he tore his eyes away from me to look out the open window.


    “Sorry.” I shut the sketchbook closed and took arge step back.


    “There is stuff in there that is private,” he growled. A hand reached downwards to snatch it off the table.


    “And I can’t locate the photo album. I think it’s in the cer.”


    “Should we go looking for it?”


    His eyebrows arched upwards. “Look for it?” he echoed with a voice that was full of mockery. “No,


    S.” The sketchbook was tossed into the open drawer at the side of the table. “I think it’s time for you


    to go outside.”


    “Teddy, I…”


    He stepped away from me, burying his hands inside of his trouser pockets. The door was soon pushed


    further back, a tell-tale sign that it was time for me to leave the art room.


    “I’m sorry,” I finished off. “I went too far.”


    He never made a word when I bypassed him, he simply watched me ce on my rubber boots with an


    overwhelming sense of guilt.


    “Teddy!” I called out, for I hated the distance that stretched between us. “I really am sorry for snooping.”


    “It was a mistake leaving it there with you.”


    I pursed my lips tightly, wishing there was something I could do to make the situation better.


    “You trusted me,” I pointed out. “And I ruined that trust.”


    The man was silent as he stood in front of the art room. It was the first time he had ever allowed that


    door to be open, and I because of my own curiosity I may have stopped him from taking the chance to


    open up to me more. My curiosity had gotten the better of me. Luna padded down the hallway, heading


    towards the music room where Teddy and I had first sat down to have a proper conversation. How long


    ago it felt, but it had been just days since we first met. I forced my gaze to shift to the right, noticing that


    he had trouble looking at me. There was pain coursing through him, and I realized then that his anger


    had turned to another direction.


    “Teddy!” I called out yet again. “Please, can we talk some more outside?”


    He stepped forward and slipped on his shoes. Grey slippers were lined up neatly against the wall; he


    decided to not take a proper spring coat and stepped outside into the bright sunlight first. Teddy waited


    for me to join him before he mmed the door behind us, though he frequently looked back as though


    we were being followed. We steadily walked towards the small wooden shed, and to my surprise he


    pointed out a shady area where we could have a private conversation with one another.


    “What do you have to say?” he asked with impatience.


    “What is that sketchbook for?”


    “It’s for my memories,” he sighed out. “I like to suppress them, but sometimes they force themselves


    out. So that book is my coping mechanism. Some people write diaries.” Teddy stretched out a long arm


    to rest his hand over the sturdy tree bark. “I draw.”


    The leaves of the willow tree blew softly, it was arge one that must have been nted when the


    house was first developed. I was too busy looking up at the treetops to focus on Teddy, it was as


    though my lucid mind was slipping away from me.


    “Do you keep a diary?” he inquired with a sharpness to his voice.


    “No.”


    “Some people do.”


    “I am not much of a writer,” I told him with some reluctance.


    “Are you ever haunted by some things?”


    I took a step backwards so I could see the expanse of his garden. The grey bricks glowed in the bright


    midday sunlight, letting me know that time was slipping away faster than I could have ever imagined.


    “Like memories?” I questioned him. “Or something more than that?”


    “Memories,” he rified.


    “I’ve made mistakes,” I assured him. “Sometimes we do things in life to please other people. At other


    times, it felt like the right thing to do at the time.”


    “Or the wrong,” heughed out sadly.


    “It’s what makes us human.”


    “Human,” he repeated with an air of mncholy.


    “You did not have a happy childhood,” I stated as fact, which immediately caught him off-guard. “Did


    you?”


    “I had the worst,” he huffed out aggressively, to the point that I could sense the burning anger inside of


    him. “And I live everyday…” He stopped himself short. “I’ll only be free of it if I die, maybe.” He looked


    downwards at the ground. “No, that doesn’t sound right. How…”


    “Yes?”


    “How can I move on?” he stammered out. “How can I live when….” He stared hard at the house, as if it


    was his own prison. “When everything around me forces me to live in the past.”


    “You move away,” I suggested.


    “Sometimes I wish I could.”


    “You are troubled, Teddy.” I reached out to touch the sleeve of his dress shirt. “I only wish I could help.”


    “Then stay away from me,” he murmured, so soft I could barely hear it. He stepped backwards after


    that, intent on creating an evenrger distance between us, which made me feel the full weight of his


    words.