Chapter 16: White Canvas

"Your life is a canvas.
The colors are you."

Eyes on the ground, the boy kept walking aimlessly, to wherever his feet were taking him.

That day was another day of his supposedly appointment with the counsellor, which his aunt had set up for him but unlike any other days, he didn’t want to go that particular day. Not that he ever wanted to go before. Just that luckily for him, his aunt had something important going on at the office that day, and she quickly dropped him off before hastily drove away.

He only watched as his aunt’s car sped away, and after a brief look at the building he was supposed to enter, he turned the other way instead. The counsellor, or KangJun, would be telling his aunt that he didn’t attend the treatment, and he was sure that he was going to get it from her.

But the young boy was tired of the pointless therapy sessions. It did nothing to help him, other than wasting his time. KangJun kept telling him to talk, but he didn’t want to. No matter what KangJun said, the boy wouldn’t want to tell him anything; irrespective of how much KangJun convinced him that he would keep the boy’s secrets.

And so here he was, walking without a specific direction, while waiting for his aunt to start calling. He’d thought of turning his phone off, but that would be a trouble if his aunt can’t contact him at all. For all he knew, she could be calling the police.

The young boy passed by a school and couldn’t help but remember his own school. The kids there weren’t any less mean to him as much as he tried to avoid them. It seemed that word about his father leaving him with his aunt had spread, and he had to bear the endless tongue-in-cheek and mocking from the other kids.

Even though it’d been a few years since his father dropped him off at his aunt’s house, the speculations about why he was left behind never seemed to find an end. He’d even heard some of the teachers blathering amongst themselves about the possible reasons for the matter in the staff room, failing to notice that he was just right outside.

He’d heard of so many things being said about him, none of which were true, or anywhere close. The most popular one he’d heard all around the school was that his parents couldn’t take it anymore, he was too much of a bother that they had to send him to his aunt for a respite. Giving his usual blank facial expression, and a dark aura circling around him, no wonder they took him as some sort of a rebelling child.

The young boy couldn’t be bothered to correct them, or tell them the truth. No matter what he said, it wouldn’t change the fact that his father left him, and he doubted that explaining would actually make things better.

Brushing the thoughts of his school off, he came across a lake garden, the tranquil ambience seemed to call for him. The boy looked around his vicinity, and noticing that there were not many people around, he entered the garden.

He found a bench nearby the open lake, where the water was still and the tall trees cast their reflection on the calm water, with an occasional ripple. The lake while calm had so many different hues of blue, reflecting the bright blue sky, near the shore it was pale blue, nearly translucent, as it got deeper it changed from pale blue to deep dark blue.

He inhaled, and slowly releasing his breath at the count of tree. He took in the sight of the little sunlight sparkles dancing on the water, and it almost astounded him by how beautiful it looked. Little bees, butterflies and other insects fly among the flowers in search of food. The flowers themselves are brightly colored with every possible combination of colors and hues.

The boy feasted his eyes on the scene of immense activity and again witnessed the beauty of nature’s immeasurable wonders. This was much better than going to the therapy session, where he had to sit in front of KangJun for two hours, doing nothing but simply stared at the boring white walls, feeling like the room would slowly close in and trap him.

Out here, he felt ... alive. He was alone but he felt alive. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this tranquil before. Anger seemed to slowly seep away from him, and all he could think about was how gorgeous the scenery in front of him was.

He didn’t think about all the things that had happened to him, all the sorrow, ire, frustrations, and disappointment. He felt fine.

He’d hoped that his peace would last a little bit longer, and didn’t expect it to be ephemeral.

His ears caught the sound of people laughing, and his eyes trailed to the source of the laughter. Once he laid his eyes on them, his breath caught. In a heartbeat, all of the serenity he felt earlier was completely gone, replaced by the initial loathing his heart bore.

He only watched as the strangers his eyes were looking at were laughing, goofing around with one another without a care in the world. He knew one of them, a young boy, about his age, busy teasing a girl who was shorter than he was but probably the same age.

He didn’t know the girl, but he definitely recognized that boy. He’d seen enough pictures to have the boy’s face etched inside his mind, and even though years may have passed, the resemblance of his father was very evident on the stranger.

In fact, the stranger looked more like his father than he himself did.

He tried to control his anger while tearing his eyes away from them. How can they be happy when he was suffering at this very moment? How can that stranger boy smile after everything that had happened, as if nothing ever took place? The stranger took everything from him, and now he was laughing care freely with some girl without a look of regrets whatsoever on his face.

The young boy smirked from where he was. Well, on the bright side, he’d finally found the people responsible for his mother’s