|| 𝑳𝑶𝑽𝑬, 𝑫𝑬𝑨𝑻𝑯 & 𝑮𝑹𝑨𝑭𝑭𝑰𝑻𝑰 ||

21. Rays Of Hope

RILEY

Valerie spends her first full day of suspension with me. She books a visiting time for us to go to Herper's college the following day, but in the meantime, she'd wanted to continue to research ghosts, while sitting outside on the grass.

However, about two hours in, she throws one of the books at a tree, causing me to immediately pause in graffitiing the front of the caravan. I glance over at her, and she is pacing up and down the grass, biting her thumb nail again. I walk over to her cautiously.

"That was a library book you just threw, right?"

She stops pacing midway.

"What's wrong?" I ask her. She spins around to look at me and gestures toward the pile of books near her.

"All these books. And I don't understand anything they're talking about. It feels like you already have to be experienced to read stuff like that. They're going on about apparitions and medium levels and the worst part? None of it seems to apply to you. To us."

"Okay. Well, let's just think for a moment-"

"You think that's not what I'm doing?"

"Well you don't have to get all worked up about it."

Valerie's jaw sets, and she folds her arms, glancing away from me. "I don't understand any of it. I hate not understanding things. I need a clear idea of this situation so that I know what to do..."

"Valerie, relax. We're in no hurry. I'm in no hurry to go, alright? In fact, if anything, I want us to take as much time as possible, so I can spend more time with you." I tell her, feeling relieved when her tense shoulders relax, and she exhales.

"Right." She unfolds her arms and stretches, before nodding over to the caravan. "What you doing over there?"

"Testing out the new colours from the cans in the box. I found some graffiti pens too." I take one of the cans out of my pocket and throw it to her. She just about catches it. "Why don't we do some of that practising now? It could do you some good."

Valerie glances down at the can and then nods, before following me to the front of the van, where random colours have been sprayed all over it. "Now," I shake the can in my hand, "before anything just know that you shouldn't underestimate graffiti. It may look pretty easy, but it takes practise like everything else."

Valerie nods again, and I can see her eyes are now sparked with curiosity. She shakes her own can, mimicking my actions, and then says, "Now what? I just spray it on?"

"You have to learn the basics. So can control. You create different strokes with different techniques and different caps. I've given you a standard cap on your can to make it easy to try out different ones. So hold it like this." I put my forefinger on the cap, and she copies me. Pointing it toward the van, I spray a long, blue stripe down the front. "Depending on how far you're aiming it, the stroke would be thick or dusty."

"I don't know what the hell that means." Valerie replies, baffled. She sprays a clumsy, messy line that causes me to wince. She looks at me and shrugs.

"Not like that. If you hold it far it ends up with that dusty look which you don't want unless you're deliberately trying to get a dusty look."

"You're not making sense." Valerie comments dryly, causing me to get irritated. She snickers when she notices my annoyance, and I turn back to the van, spraying another three strokes.

"This stroke is bolder, see? Because I'm holding it at the right length. This one is all drippy and liquidy because it was too close, and this one looks dried out because it's too far. Make sense now?"