#15 The Artist Part 1 - Cuid An Ealaiontoir 1

"I will absolutely not be quiet. What the fuck is going on."

Lyle didn't answer, tuning me out as she took stock of the room. It was the East corner room with mostly windows covering the two back walls. A few sconces lit the walls enough to make out that it was empty. I breathed a silent thank you that the guests had vacated it a few hours early leaving the door open for housekeeping.

I took a step toward the door. "There has to be a misunderstanding."

There was absolutely no way in hell a man with a gun had threatened me in the kitchen of the B&B. It simply wasn't plausible, things like this didn't happen without explanation or build up or -. I struggled to think of what could justify anyone's action to point a lethal weapon at another individual.

Lyle grabbed my arm pulling me away from the door, her movement wasn't harsh but it was earnest and in a way annoyed. Annoyed that I would have the gall - or maybe stupidity - to near the locked bedroom door.

The yells of the men graduated from the first floor as they traveled up the staircase. Their exchanges were quiet as they edged closer to our door, I looked helplessly to Lyle. She held a finger to her lips and I mouthed a 'fuck you' in return.

Always so poised under pressure.

We held our breath as their heavy footsteps charted toward the door. The shadow of their boots clouded the light from the hall. Only a three inch piece of wood separated us and the two men. Two men that were dangerously interested in Lyle - and now me as well.

I held my breath as my eyes fixated on the locked door knob. Waiting any minute for it to jiggle and force open. Did they know we were in here? There were several rooms in the hallway and since they had been too occupied by the flour cloud there was no way they knew which one we entered.

Lyle took my hand gently, her finger still to her lips. I shot her a bewildered look but she ignored it and tilted her head toward the window on the back wall.

'What' I mouthed continuing our muted conversation.

'Trust me' she reassured silently.

I narrowed my eyes in an 'as if' expression, but after looking back at the door I figured I didn't have much of a choice.

The men were eerily silent as one pair of feet stood on the other end of the door.

We shuffled toward the back window careful not to give away our place by admission of a creaky floorboard or a flour induced cough.

Lyle reached the window first and rested her hip on the sill leveraging her body to push it open. I caught on and did the same. After silently counting to three, we pushed up revealing a loud screeching noise as the warm night air rushed in.

I sucked in a breath and fixed my gaze on the door.

They had to have heard that. As far as I was concerned it was louder than a sonic boom.

We were quiet for a only a second and then the steps returned. My breath stalled in my lungs as I watched the door knob turn then stop as the lock caught.

"Fuck! They've locked the door." This time I recognized Jones's agitated voice as he tried the doorknob more vigorously.

Their grumbling continued from the other side but Lyle paid no attention, grabbing my arm she tugged me toward the edge of the window.

"Are you insane?" My voice faltered as my vision held onto Lyle before swiveling back to the door. There was no point in lowering my voice anymore. A body knocked against it causing the frame the quiver, the force making my heart to leap into my throat.

"What? Do you think they want to have a nice chat over tea?" Lyle mocked extending her arm to the door as another impact jarred the framed pressed flower to fall to the floor. The glass shattered around the entryway.

I sucked in a breath but stayed immobile.

"I will explain everything, I just need you to move May." Lyle squeezed my forearm her intent eyes concentrating on my mine, but my own were out of focus. Her figure was fuzzy as I tried to make sense of what was happening.

I hesitated. I felt as if I was suffocating. It was hard to tell if I was breathing anymore and I tried in futility to concentrate on the air that was leaving and entering my mouth in rapid puffs. I was lost, lost in the reality around me and in my own mind. Or perhaps it is better to say I was in disbelief, disbelief that there was a man with a gun on the other side of the trembling door.

Maybe I could open it and we could go down for tea and talk. Maybe then I would get some answers. There was no way something this insane was happening. Not to me.

The door shook again this time more forcefully as Smith and Jones cursed together.

"May," Lyle repeated her voice low. "We need to go now." She stressed pulling me further onto the window ledge.

Our eyes met and I willed them to clear away the fog that clouded my vision. Sweat reflected off Lyle's cheekbones in the dim fluorescent lighting. She was doing her best to appear calm but I could see her chest rise and fall rapidly and the adrenaline infect her system. It was then that I caught it, what I had been missing in my sketches. Only for a moment, indescribable, something that flashed in her eyes and was gone again in an instant.

My hands suddenly felt weak as if the weight of the world rested upon them. The door quivered again as the weight of the men rammed against it. I looked desperately to Lyle who blew out a shaky breath, obviously concurring with my thoughts.

We were not leaving through the front door.

Without another word she swung her legs over the edge of the window. I took her hand and did the same, the spring air rushed in allowing my tight chest to soak in the fresh air.

"When was the last time you climbed a tree?" She asked trying to feign a smile as we eyed the oak before us.

When I was young there were plenty of times that I'd wished to be in a different place. To be at the beach when Maine winters hit or asleep in my bed in the first hours of class. But now, sitting on the window sill in the middle of the night I'd never wished harder to be in a different place. To our right the bonfire was in full swing across the road, but it was only a tiny speck of orange in the distance. I opened my mouth in futility but stopped, my friends were far enough away were they wouldn't be able to hear me yell so I didn't bother.

I sat thirty feet above the ground with a girl whose eyes had become unrecognizable to me.

I returned back to the magnificent oak tree that flanked the East side of the home. The moon was our primary source of light. The pale skin of the oak shone in the moon's dim glow. It almost didn't seem real, like a mirage teasing us from our place inside the house.

I didn't bother addressing Lyle's concern as I watched her carefully straddle the branch closest to us a few feet below. I followed her movements, her hands guiding me keeping me steady as the door knocked against the frame. This time I swore I heard the wood splinter.

The surface of bark was rough and I was thankful for the extra traction as I held on tightly, moving slowly but surely until my body was safely balanced on the first branch.

My head sat just below the window sill.

"I got you." Lyle coaxed. She was trying her best to remain calm for me but I could sense the urgency laced in her voice. Her eyes cast downward as if she was avoiding looking me in the eye - or maybe she was just concentrating.

We kept the pattern, Lyle jumping to a branch then waiting for me until I made it safely. I resisted the urge to look below me, I could hardly see the window we had come from as we wove carefully through the limbs in the silence of the moonlight. My body moved in a dream like state with my mind completely blank, allowing it to focus acutely on each step.

It reminded me of a game I used to play with Martha when I was little. She had a computer in her office and when I visited she allowed me to use it while she was in meetings. Naturally I gravitated away from her excel sheets and business forms to the only game she'd downloaded on the ancient screen.

It's been so long that I can't recall the name, something cute that rhymed maybe. It was about a monkey who'd gone too far up in the tree and lost sight of their family below. It was my job to help the monkey reach his family in time for dinner by guiding them to the safest branches while avoiding pooping birds and angry squirrels.

Only tonight instead of controlling the monkey's movements, I was the monkey. Completely lost and far from my family scrambling down the tree.

We'd traveled half the distance and were less than ten feet from the ground when the crack of the solid wood door breaking the weaker frame ripped through the night. At the sound I stumbled and fell to the branch below me. Instinctively I grabbed onto it with my legs and arms for full support like a koala bear.

"Fuck." Lyle swore, pivoting her body to look above us and then to me. She jumped to the branch below me and reached up toward my cocooned body.

I shook my head. My body instantly tensing around the thick limb and even though it was a warm spring night I shivered.

I shut my eyes and shook my head fiercely. This had to be a dream.

"May, please." Lyle hissed.

I forced one eye open and shot her a look of fear that only intensified as the muffled shouts of our stalkers filled the air above us.

Lyle's face was level with mine as I angled my neck to meet her. Half of her body was concealed in the mighty oaks shadow leaving me with a view of her left profile. I could hardly recognize her as I strained my eyes and willed them to detect what was right in front of me.

Her nimble fingers took hold of mine gently unwrapping them from the branch until she'd undone my legs and I stood up. Unsure of how to work my body properly I didn't dare move.

Lyle motioned her hands impatiently, the men had yet to make it to the window where I was still in eyesight. My heart rate quickened to a pace that I'd never experienced as I willed my trembling limbs to operate. Finally I lowered myself to Lyle where we were both concealed in the shadows.

She swore again under her breath as she struggle to steady my body next to her. We stood five feet from the ground. The voices of Smith and Jones grew above us as they neared the open window. Although we were in the shadow there was still danger of being seen if they were to lean further over the window ledge.

"On three." Lyle urged her voice barely above a whisper as she pointed to the ground below us. She took my hand and interlaced her fingers with mine, holding it up so that it stood between our faces.

"Over here!" Smith ordered gruffly just as Lyle simultaneously whispered "Three."

-

May is trusting Lyle... I hope she's made the right decision.

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