"Free huh?" I asked peering over the stuffed animal's head at the now visibly nervous man.
"Of course not, your friend here won it," The man says his voice dripping with warmth, I nearly gagged.
I turn my head to look back at Triston, nodding my hea...
I slowly lift the black sheet of the canvas, taking in deep breaths to calm myself. I'd woken up a couple of nights ago in a cold sweat at two in the morning, my fingers itching to paint and my mind hazy, I had stumbled out of my room into my studio in a daze. The memory of its conception were flashes of black, white, and red, and even without looking at it, I knew it was something I would not be showing my therapist unless I wanted to end up at Velmott.
Looking at it I felt dread envelop me, it was cold, the kind of cold that starts at your extremities, slowly creeping up your fingers, your toes, sinking into your bones. So painful that your body shuts down, numbing you from it, a preservation method much like when your body shakes to warm you up when your trapped under mountains of snow from an avalanche not knowing which way is up. I couldn't breathe.
It was an abstract silhouette of a person with a completely black background.
Jeez, what the hell did I dream of?
I guess I just have to add this painting with the rest of my 'no one must see these or I'm screwed' pile, I mused taking the painting off the easel and walking over the black tarp Leah had put down to save her from having to clean the wooden floor of constant paint splatters.
I walk over to the corner of the room and open my supply closet. I placed my hand on the back of the white wood and pushed hard causing the false wall to my left to quietly slide open. Getting a contractor to build this room without anyone knowing had been a chore.
I had had to convince the entire family to visit Granma Maryanne and then miraculously fall sick the night before the trip, then convince Leah to have a girl's night with her sisters and slightly poison Sebastian's granddaughter when I'd invited her over under the guise of wanting to hear more about her brother, who after multiple shy compliments and fluttered eyelashes had been convinced I had a crush on him. Although physically gifted Sebastian's grandkids were not the brightest bunch.
After Sebastian had rushed his choking grandkid to the emergency room leaving me to my own devices. The contractor and his men had done the job in under six hours, impressive considering I was hovering over the workers the entire time asking them to hurry up. Just a little bribing and they left quietly after they each signed an NDA I had printed from one of my mother's shadier business deals. I had even gotten it notarized.
I walked into the dark room not bothering to turn on the light, knowing it was like the back of my hand. I tossed the work of horror into the pile with the rest of my morbid display of everything wrong with humanity. After closing up my room of terror, I look over my studio.
I walk over to the bay window that provided me with natural light and look out towards the wide array of trees Dale and his team of master gardeners had raised from saplings. They ranged from Yucca to Rhododendron and made the perfect picture, I'd painted it more than I could count, mostly to make up for all the messed up shit I paint at night.
My more family-friendly paintings were hung up in my studio, some in my room and others scattered around the manor. I had painted portraits of all of my family, Grandma Maryanne and Grandpa Nomi included.
