Story [Issue 18] The Paint Safari

[Vikingsrallentando 3,058]

 

To continue exploring how paints were made from this story.

 

                Late in the evening, Carl’s flight had touched down at the airport. He slept most of the flight but was still restless from the day. He just wanted to get home to his girlfriend, Mary, and spend time with her. Prior to Carl’s arrival to the airport, Mary notified him that she would be late picking him up. Very unusual for Mary as she was the most reliable person Carl knew. “Could she being delayed on purpose?” Carl thought, “Maybe getting something for me?” Carl and Mary hadn’t seen each other for the past two weeks. He was hoping for the best. In the lobby he sat, watching planes take off; the hours of the day, going by.

 

                He pulled out his work from his camouflage satchel and set it on the seat next to him.  He opened the file and picked up pictures of the zebras he’d be studying and tracking for the past few weeks.  Carl is a zoologist working with the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) in tracking the Grevy’s zebra, an endangered species.  Hunting and habitat loss are reasons why the species is on the decline. He sat the pictures down and looked at a population chart. In 1970, there were nearly 15,000 of the Grevy’s zebra that inhabited Africa. Now less than 2,500 live only in the eastern side of the continent in the countries of Kenya and Ethiopia.  Carl, along with the AWF, is working with locals to help conserve areas for the species of zebra.

 

                It has been an hour since Carl touched down and half an hour past when Mary was supposed to have arrived.  He is now getting worried. “Did she get caught in traffic?” he thought, “did she get in an accident?” He sent her a text message asking where she was. He sat there for another half an hour, eventually dozing off. He slept relatively peacefully for about two hours, occasionally being woken up by someone sitting down near him. He awoke and stretched before leaving his seat to call for a cab. Before he left, he called the house land line. No one picked up, but he left a message. The ride west was a humid, lonely one. Multiple situations were going through Carl’s head the whole way home, none of which are good.

 

~~~

                Carl arrived at the house around dawn. Fresh dew on the grass; and of course, birds singing their morning song. He got out with his luggage, kindly paid the driver, and thanked him.  The yellow car drove off as Carl walked down the driveway, which seemed to drag on forever. The air was becoming humid, signaling a spring shower is coming. The sky to the west was dark, as dark as Mary’s car, which seems to be missing. “She made it out of the driveway, but not to the airport?” Carl questioned. He peeked into the garage. Dark and dingy, it felt.  Carless and garbage filled. Useless car parts, old newspapers, and gasoline cans.  She never parked her car in it, and Carl saw why. He then went to the house door.

 

                The door, now on the floor; nearly broken in half. The glass of it in a million pieces scattered all over the entryway.  Carl tried his best to steer clear of it as he entered. He tried not to breathe as he crept into the living room. His heart sank. The room was in shambles; coffee table was flipped, couch torn apart, lamps broken, and paintings scattered and punctured.  Carl dropped his luggage in the middle of the floor, walked over to the counter and felt the coffee in a mug, which was now cold. Although the batch coffee was nearly full. Only one cup had been poured. He then saw her cellphone, from which the message stating she was going to be late came from. On the screen it displayed “New message from Carl”.  At this point Carl is speechless. His mouth is open, trying desperately not to cry.

 

He picks up the land line phone and calls her parents. It rings twice and then Mr. Hamilton greets with a “Hello?”

 

“Where is she?!” said Carl, with a slight bit of panic in his voice.

 

“We don’t know…She’s not at home?” Mr. Hamilton replied.

 

“No! Everything is a mess! Her car is gone. I don’t know what to do!” Carl stated frantically.

 

“Just hold on, I’m on my way. Everything is going to be fine.” He assured.

 

Carl pressed end on the phone and sat down, looking at the files, waiting impatiently.

 

              His mind raced faster than a horse. He could not find a way to calm down. He tried to slow down his breathing, but to no avail. Not even a glass of ice water to cool his boiling body.  Nothing kept him from losing it. Nothing kept him from breaking. As he had done in the past, he got up and ran out. He left the house and its mess; his solution to alleviate the problem from his life, for the time being. He ran down the driveway, stumbling every so often on the occasional palm sized stone, crying profusely. While wiping his face with his sleeves, he was fumbling through his satchel for his phone.  In doing so, he tripped and fell onto the gravel drive, spilling the contents of his satchel. He was unable to break the fall and landed face first. He put a hand to his head; he was now bleeding. 

 

He sat up and yelled “Where are you?!?” birds few out of the trees in response to the call.

 

“Why”, he mumbled. He picked up his phone, sighed, and collected himself to make a call. He slowly dialed a phone number.

 

The paint “Safari” was added to the game in honor of Carl’s efforts to help the Grevy’s zebra, though now his focus will go to helping find Mary, or will it?

 

Thanks for reading, and hope you enjoyed.

[I3loodShot 3,119]

Awesome :D

[A_Jl_E_H_T.00 615]

One of the rare storys I can actually read till the end...

 

Nice job!

[michael20028 7]

Nice article.

[canadaigloos 11]

Lol the pain i use on my main

[r_NatsuDragneeI0 67]

Nice.

Edited December 1, 2013 by r_NatsuDragneeI0

[r_a.k.m0 67]

long but nice

[0strich 1]

Everytime i run through the plains, i stumble over Zebras, those pesky pony's are very hard to see. From now on i just do this

[r_maarten0 4]

Very nice

[icerugby 1,886]

Great story :) But to be honest, the 1st one of these series was better :O