paint and literature ♡ [spencer reid]

part 1- sun

The mornings were not greeted with joy from Larissa Taylor, the ray of sun that awoke her before she had time to repeatedly snooze her alarm was her main issue. No chance to say 'five more minutes', just a blinding ray of light.

However, the day was different because when that ray blessed her face, highlighting her golden hair and creating a morning smile, she was ready for it. Larissa, who preferred Lacy, had been waiting for this day forever and now, it was time.

Her apartment was falling apart, it was like that when she started renting it and had never amounted to much. The neighbourhood was dreadful and walking anywhere during the day or night was dangerous. Next door smelled of pot and the couple upstairs did enough screaming that it was a lottery in whether you would get a good night's sleep when they began to argue. The people weren't her only issue, the walls peeling due to being so damp and getting hot water was rare.

She needed change.

Lacy would look for anything relatively cheap in her area of Washington, not an easy feat. After months of scouring the internet, visiting new spaces and trying to choose as an indecisive person, a bigger and centrally located space opened up on the fourth floor of an apartment building. It was perfect. She knew in her gut that this was a home for her, a place she could finally settle in.

So she decided to move in

The damp and dull apartment was filled with boxes that she would one by one load into a U-Haul. She took apart her easel and boxed it up, taking the move as an opportunity to clear out some old paint and have a reason to buy new items. Her cake equipment was boxed as well, a side business she ran when money was low, which was often. She liked old books, rare editions that nobody else had. Although Lacy wouldn't trust any mover with a box like this, even if the word 'delicate' was written in red all over it.

Part of her was sad to leave the place behind, the extremely low rent helped her survive college, and she set her roots here, even if it was falling apart. Now that she was doing well and breaking into a community of artists, she could expand and grow, leaving behind the first place she lived alone in. 

It was bland to look at without any furniture or bright paint, and murals Jaz created that had to be covered up. She thought it was like she had never lived here. Lacy never stood cooking dinner or sat watching television. It was empty.

She closed the rusted old door that had a broken lock over it, closing this part of her life off. Walking down the stairs that had to be taken due to a broken elevator, she felt a bit better about the choice. It was almost refreshing as she hit the street to make her way to new surroundings.

She took the bus to the closest stop and then walked the rest of the way. Her new area was a lot more vibrant, the sun still ever-present brought out the glimmer of her surroundings. A new park, a new set of paths, new restaurants. The area seemed to be filled with more young life, there were people everywhere hanging out with friends and being joyful about life. It was amazing.

With a map loaded up on her phone, she found herself in front of a new building, orange bricks dressed in ivy made up the exterior. The building didn't stand at an enormous height, probably only a few floors. Fire escapes connected to windows and were decorated by the people who lived there. This new building already felt better.

She had bet the moving company here, somehow, and decided to open her place up before they got there. As a force of habit, Lacy took the stairs immediately, eventually noticing that there was a working elevator available. Her floor, a level known as D, housed four apartments. She followed the numbers to see her new home, number two. Taking her key out of her bag, she unlocked her door for the first time and immediately fell in love all over again.

The high ceilings and white walls which she saw as a blank canvas pulled her in, the windows brought in so much light that she adored. The kitchen, although slightly smaller than her last home, worked one hundred per cent of the time and her bathroom produced constant hot water. Finally not damp walls and dangerous sockets, this place was comfortable.

The moving company eventually arrived and Lacy helped them haul boxes upstairs, targeting the ones that were labelled delicate. All her furniture was boxed up and she knew it would barely fill this space up, an insensitive to buy more.

As Lacy carried a box upstairs, she noticed someone standing in their doorway, looking over the operation with an eyebrow raised.

"Good morning.." She smiled at him and he smiled back.

"Good morning D2."