Kiss me alright

 

Chapter 4 ? A Room With A View

 

Justin lay on his back, the blanket drawn up to the tip of his nose and his hands lay meticulously to the left and right beside his body.? His blue alarm clock ticked along quietly on the shelf and sometimes white beams of light pulled over the dark walls when a car drove past.

 

Justin blinked. He couldn?t sleep and it already was 9:07pm.? It was definitely bedtime, but his eyes wouldn?t shut.

 

Plake had left the window open and now noises came through from the outside while the dark gray curtain moved a little. Justin didn?t like it. It made him nervous and he already had called for Plake.? Nobody came.

 

Again the shine of headlights pulled over the walls and stopped above Justin?s bed before disappearing completely.? Shortly after a car door was thrown shut a second later.? Right after that a loud ?Beep-Beep? clanked over the otherwise calm road.

 

Justin grew stiff. He didn?t recognize that noise. Maybe it was a big?

 

??bird??

 

He moved his head in the direction of the window. Dull steps could be heard before they softened and stopped completely.

 

Oh oh. Of course big birds could also fly.

 

Justin made a worried face and wailed quietly as he stared at the open window. He really would have preferred if Plake would come to close it.

 

Anxiously, he pulled the blanket higher and alternated his look from the closed door to the window and back.? Plake didn?t come and he couldn?t very well get up because it was bedtime, but the gap in the window was really big. ?A spiky birds beak could easily fit through it.

 

?Hh!? His eyes widened in terror at that vision and he hastily crawled out from under his blanket.

 

The floor was cold under his naked feet and he looked guilty at the alarm clock because he wasn?t supposed to walk around at this time.

 

The way towards the window wasn?t far but Justin?s heart was pounding like mad when he reached it.? A cool gust of wind caused the curtain to drift again and Justin squeaked and quickly shut his eyes.

 

Blind he stretched his hands out to feel for the pane and fumbled a small step closer as he felt the handle under his fingers. With held breath he pushed against it, then pulled and wailed helplessly in the end as nothing happened. In panic he opened his eyes, rattled at the window handle and a moment later froze completely, as he could hear footsteps again from outside.

 

Without really moving his eyes he pried down to the dark road and recognized a tall figure walking out there. Not a bird. It was a man. The man went to a car, stretched an arm out and the ?Beep-Beep? noise came again.

 

Justin jerked frightened, but stared with wide eyes down the window. It wasn?t a bird?s sound. The car had made the noise and now it had lights on.? The man opened a door, got in and some loud drone came.

 

Justin moved his head a little as he watched the car drive away. It was black and fast and sounded totally exciting. He wondered if one could drove with it to Harrisburg.

 

Cool air made Justin?s blonde hair flutter gently and he touched his cheek where the wind tickled, his gaze went straight ahead only to be caught in shock a moment later by the big building that stood softly illuminated but incredibly huge on the other side of the road.

 

The boy nervously rubbed his right ear, rocked a little and finally grew closer to the pane until he almost touched it with his nose.? It was the?

 

??castle.?

 

Exactly in front of the tower.

 

?The castle, of course.? He nodded and laid his fingers at the cool window glass.

 

It looked exactly like the one in his book with pointy round roofs and small towers in which a princess never could fit in.

 

Justin hummed quietly and twisted a blonde strand around his finger. He was nervous and his belly became all hot and tight. He hadn?t known that the prince was living here with Plake and Justin in Pittsburgh. Maybe that was the reason why he had to move to another tower. So that the prince could finally come to rescue him?

 

Hmm. He thought about it a little, scratched his ear again and then smiled wide and happy. No wonder Plake left the window open. How else should the prince be able to enter the room?

?

?Ha!? Justin bounced a little and felt as if it would tickle everywhere. The castle was so big and beautiful! He wanted to go there right now. He wanted to see the prince and his horse and the frog. Hmm?

?

He frowned, clicked his tongue and then knocked his hand flat against his forehead like the man on TV did.? Of course the frog wasn?t living in the castle, he had to sit at the well and catch the gold ball.

 

?Hh?? Justin sighed and shook his head. Sometimes he really was stupid.

 

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As Blake entered room 411 the next morning with a breakfast tray and a medicine cup, he almost couldn?t believe his eyes.? Patient Justin Taylor slept peacefully, but not in his bed.

No, he was sitting oblique on the small ledge in front of the window, both of his hands pressed flat on the pane and his cheek leaning tight against the glass.

It looked horrible uncomfortable, however the boy seemed absolutely relaxed. His breathing was calm and even.

 

Blake smiled. What the hell was the boy doing in the middle of the night at the window? Watching the moon? Counting stars? Looking for aliens?! Whatever it was, it had to be exhausting if he fell asleep right there.

 

?Hh.? The male nurse shook his head, placed the meal and medicine, and decided to let his young patient rest for a few more minutes. He seemed to need it.

 

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Justin woke up a while later and was a little confused. At first he didn?t know where he was and felt a pang at his back. But before he could worry about that, his sleepy gaze fell on the most beautiful thing he had ever seen right here in front of his tower window. It was made of heavy stone, with dark red round roofs,? big arch windows and tiny towers proudly gleaming in the morning sun.

 

Dazed Justin smiled through the pane. He never would?ve thought a castle could be so beautiful.

 

?Ah, you?re up.? Blake entered Justin?s room again, after taking care of the rest of the patients in ward 4. ?You didn?t sleep in your bed, hmm? Wasn?t it terribly uncomfortable there at the window??

 

The boy ignored the male nurse completely.

 

Instead he tried to stick his head out of window, through the narrow slit. He really wanted to know what the castle smelt like. Certainly after silver swords and thick red velvet pillows and horse hay.

 

?Hey!? Woohoho!? Blake made three quick steps to Justin?s side and held him from his head and shoulders. ?What are you doing??

 

Justin squeaked as he felt strong hands on his neck, but then he saw Plake beside him and smiled. He liked Plake.

 

?Listen,? the male nurse stroked through Justin?s hair and then played with the window handle to secure the pane was closed completely. ?If you wanna get some fresh air, you could simply go for a walk. We have a pretty garden behind the house.?

 

??behind the house.? echoed Justin in Plake?s voice, but again looked totally spellbound out the window. He didn?t like that it was closed now and pressed his nose and palms flat against it until the glass fogged from his near breath. There was a meadow with stubby grass in front of the castle and four small trees. A low stonewall went all around it and in every window were pretty curtains.

 

?Ooh.? Justin marveled and breathed a little harder against the glass pane. It got soggy and warm under his mouth and nose.? The tip of his tongue came out to feel the glass.

 

Blake smiled amused and followed Justin?s mesmerized gaze. ?That is a pretty house, isn?t it? It?s quite old.?

 

Justin blinked and his eyelashes streaked the pane. He wasn?t sure if a castle could be old, but he wondered if behind it maybe stood a carriage. Had the prince a carriage? Certainly. What else should he use to?

 

??drive to Harrisburg.?

 

?You want to drive to Harrisburg??

 

Justin pushed his lips against the soggy glass and then giggled. Plake made jokes with him. Of course he didn?t want to drive to Harrisburg. Because of the prince he has only just?

 

??moved.?

 

Smiling, the male nurse watched the boy and tousled his blonde hair a moment.? ?Well then, what about a great breakfast here in Pittsburgh. Eggs, bacon and baked beans.?

 

?Ha!? The patient took his face away from the window and beamed at Blake. ?Bacon!?

 

Blake was a little overtaken by all this enthusiasm about the new food arrangement. ?You like bacon??

 

?Bacon!? Justin said the word loud with a smile and gripped Plake?s face. It was warm and soft and he rubbed over Plake?s cheeks.

 

?Okay then.? The male nurse caught Justin?s fingers, took them in his and guided the boy to the sink. ?Go ahead, before everything gets cold.?

 

?Go ahead.? Echoed Justin and squeezed way to much soap on his palms. He really liked bacon.

 

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At 3 pm Justin had already spent five hours at the window to admire the house at the other side of the road. Even for that one hour in which he was forced to attend Miss Etersons creative therapy, he hadn?t thought of anything else and drew the castle big and colorful over a whole paper.

 

He had shown it to Miss Eterson proudly but she only had patted his shoulder and said, ?Great Justin. Is this the White House in Washington??

 

Justin had growled at her and then pulled the picture out of her red finger claws. He didn?t like Miss Eterson.

 

?Hello Justin.? Ethan had the order from Professor Bruckner to go for a walk with the patient from 411. That wasn?t one of his favorite things to do here at the sanatorium, but it was much better than helping Misses Falkenheimer with the shower. ?Where is your jacket, we?re going out for a little while.?

 

Justin crouched at the window ledge in a kneeling position and watched mesmerized as a big man with an angularly bag on his back and a cozy feather handle in hand went happy whistling down the castle entrance before disappearing a moment later behind the entrance door.

 

Hmm. Of course this wasn?t the prince. He looked totally different. But maybe this was the chef or the servant. Prince?s needed a lot of servants.

 

Ethan sighed. He absolutely hated it if he was ignored. He rolled his eyes, gripped the hood of Justin?s jacket and held it out to him.

 

?Come on Goldilocks. You can spy the neighbors again later.?

 

Justin?s face darkened, but he didn?t move a millimeter. He wasn?t Goldilocks and he didn?t want anybody to touch his jacket.

 

?Not Plake.? He grumbled angrily and shifted away from the man with the hair in his face.

 

?Oh great?? Ethan was pissed. He wasn?t in the mood for playing games or getting rebuked by the Professor if he noticed that the ordered stroll got cancelled. So he grabbed for Justin?s arm and forced him impatiently into the jacket sleeve.

 

The boy squeaked confused, retracted his neck and stiffed. Nonetheless male nurse Gold won the fight and grasped Justin?s shoulder into an iron grip to guide him out of the room, away from the ward and towards the exit. After all he was the one who made the rules.

 

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Unwillingly Justin walked beside the male nurse. He was cold and nobody told him where he had to go. He didn?t know the way. The small stones underneath his shoes made funny noises and he really didn?t want to leave his room without his?

 

?? book.?

 

?You don?t need a book now. We?re going for a walk.? Ethan guided the young man to the left and shoved him forward over the pretty border of St. James Park.

 

?Definitely not under the pillow.? Justin stumbled a little and nervously began to twist his hair around his finger. ?Definitely not under the pillow.? Somebody could take it. Of course it must be under the pillow.?

 

?Yeah, yeah the pillow.? Ethan rummaged in his jacket pocket, as a quiet buzz was heard. He revealed his vibrating cell phone and pushed a button. ?Hey man. Nope, still at work. Tonight or what??

 

Justin rocked back and forth. The male nurse gripped him by the fabric of his sweat jacket, but he didn?t want to stand here. He also didn?t know with whom the man spoke and wanted it to be Plake.

 

?P.L.A.K.E.? he spelled loud. ?Plaaaake.?

 

?Ah shit.? Ethan let go of Justin and turned away a little from the burbling patient. ?Yeah, what?? No, only a patient. Yeah? but listen, if she doesn?t want to, we just go to Olsen?s and get it there.?

 

?Pppp. Plake.? Justin rocked slightly. Wind blew and he felt it in his hair. He tipped his head to the side at the feeling, not sure if he liked it. Then he blinked as the wind hardened and took a couple of steps away. The sound of the tiny stones really was terrible. He tried not to step on them very hard to make it quieter. He smiled when it seemed to work? then he smiled a little more and stretched his head up. Music.

 

Music was in the air. Very quietly.

 

Justin swayed and caressed his neck. He liked how his hair felt there.

 

The music got louder; Justin went a few steps ahead, always along the bright stone way.

A straight part, a crooked part, another crooked part, again straight and the music was still there. Then the way ended.

 

Justin rocked irresolutely. It didn?t go any further. There were rods and sticks and he looked up, rubbed his forehead and didn?t felt so good anymore. He got shaky on his legs and his stomach tickled. With huge eyes he stared straight forward. There was the road. Black road, white stripes and on the other side was the castle standing. So very, very big.

 

But it wasn?t the right side. It was from the back. Justin couldn?t look at the big entrance door and not at the small towers. But he did see red flower bushes and the largest well he could ever imagine. An angularly well with a ladder and blue water.

 

?Blueeee.? Justin rocked nervously and pulled a little at one long strand behind his ear.

He wanted to cross the road, visit the princes? castle and search for the frog in the well.

But the way didn?t go further.

 

Then suddenly the music stopped and as it began anew a few moments later it was a totally different song. Much faster and somehow funny.

 

Justin giggled and, ?Hh!?

 

He was petrified as a mirroring glass door at the castle opened and a man stepped out. Not the prince, but the one with the feather handle. He wore a shirt which was too tight and he sang and wiggled all the time. Justin laughed.

 

Did the servant make the music?

 

The servant-man moved in a circle, then pulled a pair of trousers out of a basket. He hung them on a long string, next he hung four socks and a sweater with many buttons. Then he wiggled again and sang even louder.

 

Justin squeaked and bounced.

 

The servant looked up, searching around and after a moment his eyes fell straight over to the other side of the road. To Justin.

 

Justin was totally excited, but he couldn?t move. He even didn?t rock. He only twisted one tiny hair strand around his finger and smiled a little. He couldn?t remember what stood in his book about the servant but he didn?t think that he was evil or could perform magic.

 

Emmett squeezed his eyes together and held his hand as sun protector to his forehead.

On the other side of the street stood a small boy behind a hip high fence with a smile.

He was cute, so Emmett smiled back and decided to greet.

 

?Well hello there, neighbor!? he shouted and waved.

 

Well, technically he more likely was Brian?s neighbor but Brian wasn?t there, and after all somebody had to represent the Kinney household properly. ?Everything alright, Babydoll??

 

He waved again, gave the foreign teenager his best heart-breaker-eye-wiggle and then laughed as the blonde looked a little shocked. ?Ah, the innocence of the youth.? He sighed, took his laundry basket and disappeared back in the house to quickly wash over Brian?s windows.

 

Justin blinked, stretched his hand out and began to wail. He tried to walk against the fence, pushed against it and then tried to lift his foot over it. He wanted to go to the servant and also in the castle. He wanted to see the prince and wanted to know why the water in the big well was so blue and not colorless like that in his sink.

 

?Hey!? Ethan grabbed the patient roughly from behind. ?What the hell are you doing you freak??

 

The boy fast retracted his neck, made himself small and tried to move the pang from his shoulder, but it didn?t work.

 

?Ahhau, au, au, au!?

 

?Oh, shut up! What do you think Miss Marcus will do to me if you just run off?? You little asshole!? Shit, damn it!? The male nurse clutched Justin in a firm grip by the arm and neck and tugged him away. ?Excursion finished Goldilocks.?

 

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In the evening, Justin turned the blue alarm clock backwards so it wouldn?t be bedtime and the good night greeting at Channel 4 wouldn?t begin.

 

Darkness came nevertheless, but that didn?t matter. The castle looked just as beautiful without light. Big and mighty and with secured walls.

 

?Hhh.? Justin leaned his forehead against the cold glass and wished the prince would come right now to rescue him with a fast running horse and a drawn silver sword.

 

He reached for his hair and twisted one of his longish strands around his index finger.

If only Christmas would come already.

 

?? merry? merry.?

 

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Sometime in the middle of the night the patient in room 411 was pulled out of his sleep from a door smacking and the ?Beep-Beep.?? Justin blinked heavily against his tiredness.

 

With a fogged gaze he looked out of his window and his heart almost stopped beating.

 

There he stood just like that, under a street lamp, next to a black car with big tires.

 

The prince.

 

His prince.

 

The prince from his book.? Like somebody had drawn him out of his book and into the darkness.

 

Justin?s eyes got a little damp and he whimpered and pressed his nose tight against the pane.

 

He was so beautiful! With chestnut hair and long legs, dressed all in black and white.

He didn?t had a crown and a horse also was nowhere to be seen, but he went with firm steps to his castle and had the proper key for the door. Then he disappeared through.

 

Justin wanted to laugh, even though thick tears ran down his cheeks. His heart raced, though his throat was too tight to breath. And even though he could hardly sit straight because of his tiredness, he didn?t allow himself to pull his eyes away from the other side of the road the whole rest of the night.

 

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