The brush left a scarlet stroke on the canvas. Leo was a young artist who lived in a small flat in Lebanon, New Hampshire. Every day he would pass by the flower shop across the street and catch a glimpse of her. Kyra. Leo had feelings for her for a year now, but he couldn't, not after his last relationship, he couldn't. Leo had watched her from afar until one day, while Leo was painting he heard a soft knock on the front door. He arose, wondering who it could be. Leo opened the door to see Kyra’s blue grey eyes. Kyra smiled at the tall dark haired man standing in the doorway.
He looked away and muttered, “What do you want?”
“I was just wondering if you had any sugar?”she replied hesitantly.
Leo thought it over in his head before slowly opening the door and walking to his small kitchen. Kyra nervously followed him but abruptly stopped in a room, wide eyed as she stared at the hundreds of paintings covering the walls, they were beautiful. Her thoughts were interrupted when Leo returned, carrying a bag of sugar. He lead her to the door and let her out with the sugar. After the door closed, Leo let out a breath feeling his heart pounding. That night he dreamed about her.
    Kyra walked across the street holding the bag of sugar to her chest. Why was she feeling like this did she… did she have feeling for him?
     The next day Kyra knocked at Leo's door once again, this time she brought a small brown bag. Leo looked at her with a questioning look. She gave a small smile and said “I brought cookies, since I used your sugar I thought you might want some.”
Leo accepted with a small “thank you” and closed the door. They continued like that for weeks.  Kyra would find any reason to talk to Leo but every time Leo would turn her down and shut the door, until one day. Kyra knocked on Leo's door offering some tea she had made, she expected to be turned down like every other time but this time he seemed different. Leo's eyes looked red and puffy, he didn't say anything he just walked back into the flat leaving the door open. Kyra slowly followed after him into the room covered with paintings. In the middle was a single painting of a woman standing in a field of flowers holding a weeping child with a knife raised above the child's head. Kyra stopped for a moment staring at the painting before looking back at Leo who was now on the sofa. His hands tearing at his short black hair, tears pouring from his dark eyes making a wet patch on the grey sofa. Leo felt a soft hand on his head. He looked up to see Kyra sitting next to him. That night they talked they talked about anything they could think of until the early hours of the morning. After that Kyra and Leo started getting closer they would talk almost every day, then eventually they started going out. One day Kyra was at her house when she heard a knock on the door, she opened the door to find her neighbor, Marcy.
“Oh thank god you're home I have something very important to tell you, you know that man Leo.  I've seen you hanging around him and I thought you should know, he's a bad person. I've heard him at night smashing things and yelling. I also heard his last girlfriend left him, he's not stable.” Marcy exclaimed.
Kyra politely said goodbye and shut the door. ¨What is she talking about, Leo would never do something bad. Right? No!¨
        Life continued as usual until a week later, Kyra went over to Leo’s but he wasn't there. So Kyra let herself in, she took one look at the clutter and started to clean. While putting away some clothes Kyra saw a piece of folded paper at the bottom of the draw.  She picked it up and looked at it. It was a photo of Leo and a woman. At that moment Leo walked in, he looked at Kyra sitting on the floor with the picture in her hand, and he turned away.
¨ Get out,¨ Leo whispered
¨Leo please just tell me what happened¨
¨Get out¨
¨Please Leo you need to trust...¨
¨Get out!¨Leo screamed.
Kyra looked at Leo she slowly got up, dropping the photo, she walked to the door.
“Leo if you're ever going to be happy you need to trust people.”
Kyra closed the door and the tears began to fall she quickly ran out of the building sobbing.
     Leo sat on the floor the photo of him and Annie in his hand he remembered how they had fought and eventually she left. Then Leo remembered what Kyra had said “you need to trust people.” How could he trust, he had trusted Annie and she had abandoned him. He sat there for hours outside the window Leo could hear rain falling then he realized “No, Kyra isn't like her!” Leo got up he ran out the door and ran until he got to Kyra’s house he desperately slammed his hand against the door. Kyra opened the door just a crack and looked and Leo her lovely face was tear stained and her eyes were red from crying.
“Why are you here?” She half sobbed.
“Please i figured it out i trust you”
“Why should i believe you?”
Leo stepped forward pushing the door open, engulfing Kyra in a warm embrace.
“Trust me.”

the end