Breene, K F - Growing Pains 01 Read Online Free PDF Page A

bursts of anger and anxious about her stuff. She
was also the master tenant, which made ignoring her impossible, since 90% of
the stuff in the house was hers and she could kick them out if she wanted.
    A great part of San
Francisco was rent-controlled, but even still, it
wasn’t what most young people—or any people, for that matter—called affordable
housing. Often one person would take on the contract, responsible for the rent
and the responsibility of dealing directly with the landlord, then take on roommates
to help pay the rent, ensuring rent control kept everything affordable. It was
how Krista found the place; she’d seen the ad for a third roommate on
Craigslist, interviewed, and been accepted.
    Ben had been a great addition to
her life. Abbey, on the other hand, she avoided at all costs.
    “This is important,” Ben said, not
to be deterred from his painting. “I know she’ll hound me about it, but I need
to do this. I need to put this on canvas.”
    “What on canvas?”
    “I had a dream last night that the
two of us—“
    “Oh my god, did you have a sex
dream about me, Ben?” Krista interrupted with an evil smirk.
    As expected, Ben turned a furious
shade of red. “Krista, gross. That’s—I don’t—“
    Krista laughed. “Okay, okay, go
on.”
    Ben, still flustered, cleared his
throat and continued, his hands finding his hips. “It was this really strange
dream. One of the strangest I’ve ever had actually. Potent. Extremely potent.
You were present, but not always corporeal. As if the whole episode was coated
in your aura. It was frightening in some places, knowing you needed my help,
but me not able to find you.”
    Ben gave her that anxious look
again, checking the edge of the tarp to make sure he couldn’t get a little
closer without dribbling paint on the floor to administer that hug.
    “Go on,” Krista prodded, a strange
unease in her stomach.
    Ben’s eyes unfocused as he thought
back. “Well, the whole dream landscape was saturated with your emotion. That’s
all it was, really. Strong, turbulent emotion. The emotion came across in
colors. The beginning was pastels mostly. Hope. Yellows and oranges later. It
was bright and flowing. But hope started to fade. Yellows and oranges became
reds and pinks. Hue changes.
Pastels became bold reds. Blood reds. Maroon. Burgundy .
The colors started to multiply, ‘round and ‘round, swirling.” His hands were
shaping an invisible swirling ball between facing palms. “The color turned
muddy brown. Mud made with red clay, though. Reddish tinged. That’s what
everything became. As if a red filter was placed over the landscaping.”
    Ben’s eyes sought her, checking to
make sure she was following. She wasn’t, since she didn’t speak art, but she
nodded anyway.
    “Next came pulses. A deep current
ran beneath us. This was when you became afraid. Apprehensive. When you needed
the most help, but were unreachable. A new color now. Blue. Soft blue at first.
Translucent. Then the color got deeper. The current stronger. The red filter
slashed with blues and purples. Anger now. Then sadness. This is when I start
losing the themes.”
    He turned back to his painting,
Krista forgotten for the moment, working things out. He scratched his head with
the hand that still held the paint brush. He’d have a job washing his hair.
    “This was when you were corporeal.
When you were warning me. It’s when the most enormous waves I have ever seen
emerged. Suddenly we were on a beach and waves were coming in as normal. But
you kept warning me. Telling me not to go too close, because a big one could
come in at any moment. I remember being confused at the warning. Wanting to
play, but you kept holding me back.”
    Ben turned to her, painting
forgotten. His eyes were huge and haunted. “Krista, those waves—the fear was
worse than any nightmare I can remember having. They blotted out the sky. We
could see them building. Coming after us. You nearly dragged me,