9) Hemlock Falls

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'Yes. Back to that. Someone in this very household.'

'Who could possibly be good at art in this house? All any of you are good at is football.'

'Take that back now!' Said Jax scarily as he was back on top of me with my arms pinned next to me on the bed.

'It's true though. You're not good at anything.' Jaxon's scary expression slowly transformed into a smirk. 'W-what?'

'Your diary says otherwise baby. Lying's rude, never lie to me.' He said, turning serious again.

'WHAT!?' I shrieked 'You have my diary!?'

'Yes. And I suggest, if you want it back, you take. It. Back.'

'Fine! You might, possibly, be slightly good at other things too.''

'Not amazing...but, good enough for now.' He finally got back off of me and kept talking about art. 'Olli is actually really good at drawing and painting.'

'No, no, no. That's not possible. He can't be good at art! That can't be true!' I ranted.

'Trust me, it is. Before you were born, Olli was always, and I mean always, drawing, colouring and painting. Mum loved it, and always helped him too. You know the bird picture that hangs in the dining room? The one Mum told you was done by an amazing artist?'

'Yeah,' I nodded.

'Olli painted that when you were about 6, he was 10.'

'Woah.' I sat there, starstruck. That picture had intricate details of each of the birds feathers and deep emotion in the eyes. How could my brother, my jokester, rude, teenage brother, have painted such a masterpiece? 'But, why didn't Mum tell me that it was by Ollie?'

'The year before he painted that, his art teacher at school asked him to paint a special picture. He painted a picture of a little girl standing on a rock. The picture was the back of her, and she was staring into the waterfall. The little girl had curly blonde ringlets and a pink bow in her hair.' I gasped. 'Yeah, Liv. It was you. He had been really obsessed with you when you were little, but you probably don't remember.' I did have faint memories of going to special nature places with one of the boys, but I always assumed it was Jax. I guess it was Ollie.

'But, why'd he stop?'

'After he painted the picture, it took him about a week if I remember correctly, he showed the art teacher. She was blown away that a 10-year-old was able to create such an amazing piece, so she asked Mum and Dad if she could showcase it at assembly and then frame it for the office. Of course, Mum and Dad said yes, and Olli was over the moon. The next week they showed Olli's entire school his picture. He got loads and loads of praise from parents and teachers and lots of kids too.'

'But?'

'But there is always one kid. Or a few kids, I should say. They laughed. Said boys don't paint. And that was the end of Olli's future art career. Mum tried and tried to get Olli back into painting, but it didn't work. That was the last time I remember him painting.'

'Oh.' I was speechless. 'Do we still have the picture?' I asked, curious to see how he thought I looked.

'Um, I don't know. Let's go look.' He got up and I followed him out of the room, downstairs to the basement. When we got to the door I froze. Not good memories. Jaxon didn't realise until he had unlocked the door and had headed in, but he came back up. I just stood there with a frown on my face, my feet stuck to the spot.

'Sorry Livi, come, I promise I won't leave you.' Jax looked at me sympathetically. I shook my head and stayed put. He sighed and walked the 2 more steps to where I was standing and picked my up. He was super strong from all the footy, and had Dad's height, so it was easy for him to lift me. He shifted me over to his hip from his front and continued down the stairs. Once the lights were on, I lifted my head from being snuggled into his neck. We had a lotttttt of stuff.

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