Chapter 19: The Artist' New Friend

I raise my hand too the door giving it a couple knocks. I looked down at Anna who trembled a little bit. "You ok there Anna?", I asked in concern.

"I'm ok. I just get really nervous when meeting new people.", She admitted. Yeah I could tell when she met me, but Anna seemed to have gotten used to me in a short amount of time. I guess it's cause I seemed friendly on our first encounter.

The door creaked open and Dolly smiled upon seeing me. "Sup Aaron.", She greeted hugging me and then giving me a peck on the cheek.

She then noticed Anna, "Who's this?", Dolly asked.

"Dolly meet my sister, this is Anna.", I introduced. "Anna this is my best friend/girlfriend Dolly Dalmatian."

Dolly had a bewildered expression her left eye twitching profusely. "You have a sister and you didn't even tell me?", She questioned.

I flailed my arms in defense, "Hey hold on, I didn't know I had a sister either. I'm just now founding this out today.", I defensively added.

Dolly waved at my sister. Anna shyly waved cowering behind me. "Don't worry she's just a little shy. She did the same thing to me on our first encounter.", I reassuringly told Dolly.

Dolly allowed us to come inside and I quickly noticed Anna cautiously observing the household.

"Hey Aaron.", Dylan greeted before noticing Anna.

"Hey Dylan and before you ask. This is my sister Anna she's a little shy. Anna this is Dylan, Dolly's brother." Just wait until Anna meets the pups.

The floor beneath us began to shake and I already knew what was coming. Guess she won't be waiting to meet them for much longer.

"PUPNAMI!!!", I shouted seeing a tidal wave of puppies running towards me. I was tackled to floor by all the pups being brought into a puppy pile. "Aw! You guys."

Anna hid behind Dolly out of fear. The puppies let me up from off the ground and waved Anna to come over to me. "Everyone this is my sister Anna.", I introduced. "Anna say Hi."

She nervously waved at the puppies. All them bombarded her with all kinds of questions and compliments.

Me, Dolly, and Dylan saw how visibly uncomfortable Anna was. This must've been the largest amount of people she's been around before.

"Alright everyone give the guest of honor her space.", Dolly said getting in between the pups and Anna. Anna looked relieved finally getting some space.

"Say who wants to go outside and play a game.", I asked. All the pups excitedly answered some of them raising their hand. "Alrighty Then, Follow me!"

-3rd Person(For Once)-

Anna sat in the grass admiring how brave her older brother was for being able to be around this many people. He made it look so easy. Even though it was out of her comfort zone she'd have to pull through.

The thing that caught her attention the most was the dalmatian household. She wanted to keep exploring the place. Mainly because she wanted to know how it was even possible for this many dalmatians to live in one apartment.

She looked over at her brother and back at the inside of the house. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to explore around a bit.", She thought getting to her feet.

She flicked the grass off of her dress and snuck back inside. She shut the door behind her now finding herself in the living room.

It was kinda like the one at home. A blue couch sat at the far right side of the room. A black skinny flatscreen was planted on the wall on the opposite direction of the couch. Anna observed portraits that the alligned along the walls. Most of them were family portraits and some just seemed flat out random.

BANG!

"Ouch!", a younger female voice groaned in pain. Anna heard it come from the hallway next to the stairs. She peered from behind the doorway to see a younger dalmatian about her size.

She had white fur and not only black spots, but also orange, red, pink, purple, and blue ones. A pink stain covered her entire left hand while her right hand was encased in a darkish purple. A large black spot was over her left eye.

She wore a pink scarf, dark blue jeans, and a white t-shirt under a dark blue apron.

Anna noticed her picking up a bucket of paint that looked extremely heavy. The dalmatian opened up the basement door and went down the stairs quietly closing the door behind her.

"I wonder what she's doing?", Anna asked herself. Even though it sounded like a bad idea the curious side of her wanted to see what that dalmatian was doing.

She quietly took a deep breath and tip toed to the basement door. Reaching for the knob she quietly opened the door seeing a flight of stairs going further into the basement.

Anna was never much of a big fan of basements. Mostly since they always had an ominous feeling to them. The scariest places to be in horror movies were always the basement.

The only thing that give her courage was knowing she wasn't going to be the only one in the basement. She carefully made her way down the stairs to avoiding drawing any attention to herself.

The basement was a lot bigger than she originally anticipated. She couldn't see that dalmatian anywhwere. Instead along the walls were paintings of all sorts.

Curiosity soon took a toll on the young girl and immediatly found herself examining the artwork. She didn't want to touch or do anything that could potientially get her caught or in deep trouble.

Upon inspection some of these paintings in particular seemed hand made in design. Anna could easily tell that whoever made these doesn't use paint brushes.

She could see paw/hand prints that were a darker shade on the canvas'. She was starting to get the feeling that the individual who made these was the Dalmatian that she saw head down into the basement. After all she was carrying a bucket of paint.

The only thing that unnerved Anna was where the Dalmatian even was down here in the basement. She literally watched her head down into the basement, but she's nowhere to be found.

"Um...excuse me?", a voice hesitantly asked. This sounded like the same voice that came from the dalmatian when she cried out in pain.

Anna turned around and saw the very same dalmatian from before.

-2 hours Later...Back to Aaron-

I'm tuckered out from all this exercise. At least if I keep this up I don't have to be worried about gaining a couple of pounds. I wonder how Anna is holding up.

I shift my gaze over to the patch of grass she was sitting at, but became suddenly shocked upon seeing she was no longer sitting there. I frantically looked around every nook and cranny, but couldn't seem to spot her.

"Whatcha looking for Aaron?", Dolly asked.

"Anna she isn't here.", I panicked feeling that I had messed up badly. This my first time ever watching over a younger sibling and I've already lost her.

"Chill man, She probably just got bored and went back inside.", Dolly calmy expressed.

Maybe she's right, even though I haven't known Anna for more than a day I can easily tell that as timid and fragile as she is she's smart enough to know that running away could get her into deep trouble.

"Yeah, Maybe.", I said taking a deep breath shaking away worrying thoughts. "We should probably find her. My Dad wants us back home before it get's dark." Me and Dolly went back inside to find Anna.

-10 minutes later-

"Where is Anna?", I asked myself pacing around the living room. "I don't understand where else could she be? We've checked upstairs, all the bedrooms, all the bathrooms, all the closets, the living room, and the kitchen. Where else could she be?"

Dolly was sitting on the couch thinking of what area of the house we didn't check yet. A couple of childish giggles came from under the floor that snapped me and Dolly out of our thoughts.

"The Basement!", Me and Dolly said together after suddenly realizing where the laughing came from.

Me and Dolly went to the basement door quietly opening it. We snuck down the stairs gently going down each step.

"Now you're getting it.", The voice of Da Vinci said excitedly.

"It's not as good as yours though.", The voice of Anna retorted in disappointment. Me and Dolly saw Anna and Da Vinci doing some sort of painting activity together, but judging by the conversation they were just having made it seem like Da Vinci was teaching Anna.

"It doesn't matter what it looks like. It's beautiful regardless because it describes who you are on the inside.", Da Vinci told Anna in an understanding manner.

My heart started to warm up from the scene. I could tell Dolly was feeling the exact same way. "What are you two doing?", I asked.

They both looked in me and Dolly's direction. "Oh Hello there Aaron.", Da Vinci gladly greeted.

"Hey Da Vinci.", I said back before looking at Anna. "You had me worried Anna. I'd thought you had ran away."

Regret was written all over her face. "I'm sorry, I was just curious and-"

"It's ok I'm not upset with you Anna. Just make sure to tell me next time. You almost gave me a heart attack.", I calmly told her.

"So what's going on down here?", Dolly asked the two.

"Oh Da Vinci was just teaching me the basics of painting and how to express my thoughts and feelings through art.", Anna answered. Anna came up to me showing a canvas with pink, purple, and red stripes forming an overlapping pattern. "Do you like it?"

"Sure. It's very defining.", I responded with a friendly smile. She handed me the paper causing me to get confused. "You're giving this to me?"

"Yeah.", She responded.

"But it's yours."

"I want you to keep it for being so nice to me.", She added.

"Thanks, I'll make sure to hang this up in my room once we get back home.", I thanked holding the picture close.

"Are we getting ready to go?", Anna asked sounding like she hoped the answer was no.

"Unfortunately yes, but we'll come back tommorow after school ok?"

"Ok.", Anna nodded sadly before looking back at her new friend. "Goodbye Da Vinci."

"It was a pleasure meeting you.", Da Vinci said waving as we left the basement.

-Back Home-

I took Anna's painting and hung it above my bedframe. Having a younger sibling doesn't seem so bad. "Hey Aaron, Could you tuck me in?", Anna asked in my doorway wearing a pink penguin onesie.

"Sure.", I replied following her too her room.

She got into bed and I tucked the blanket in on her sides. I pulled a pink wooden chair close to the side of her bed and sat down. "So did you enjoy today?", I asked her.

"Yeah, Da Vinci's nice. When I thought my painting was good enough she told me it was pretty anyways. She's the first real friend I've ever had.", Anna stated.

"What about me?", I asked.

"You don't count. You're old.", She answered.

I held back a chuckle, "What?! Get outta town, Am not.", I jokingly argued both of us giggling. After her laughing stopped she intenly stared at my face. Specifically the left side of my face.

"What happened to your eye?", She asked.

Oh crap. I took a deep breath. "She's a kid Aaron. She was bound to ask about it eventually.", I told myself. I can tell her, but I don't have to tell her everything.

"Aaron?"

"Umm...A really bad person did this too me a long time ago when I was about your age. They're gone know and they can't hurt anyone else anymore.", I answered trying to hide my emotions. She gave me a concerned look. "Goodnight, Sleep tight, and don't let the bedbugs bite."

I got up from the seat and turned off the lights in her room before gently closing the door behind me.

Once I was back in my bedroom I got undressed and put on some shorts and a t-shirt to sleep in. I lazily flopped onto my bed before reaching over to the lamp on the nightstand next to my bed and yanked on the switch bringing my room into complete darkness.

I turned onto my side and closed my eyes. "I hope she doesn't feel bad about what happened to me?", I thought before drifting off to sleep.