Revealed (Unbound, Book 5)

Chapter Forty-One

Sometime during the night, I woke. Already feeling the morning after headache beginning, I went down to the kitchen. Thankfully, the homemade medicine hadn't been moved—or had been put back if it had—and I easily found something to make me feel better while I slept the side effects of Smirnoff off. I grabbed a water and an ice pack to put on my forehead, and quietly went back to my bedroom, finally changing before snuggling under the covers while Onyx slept on top on the other side.

From that point on, my sleep was restless. By the time the light began streaming though my window, I was completely awake, and the medication had taken effect. Though I didn't hear anyone else stirring, I got up and had a shower, washing away the toxins of alcohol—and the grime from the party—off my skin.

Not wanting to invite a headache, I got dressed, brushed out my hair, and wore my glasses so the glare of my computer wouldn't trigger me. I sat on my bed and dedicated an hour to a couple of assignments on my computer. When the homework no longer held my attention enough to comprehend what the teacher was asking, I put it away.

Grabbing my phone from the nightstand, I got up and went into my mother's office, grateful it hadn't been packed away. I sat at the desk and logged onto the computer, plugging my phone in. I accessed my photos with ease and started manipulating what I'd taken of the cemetery to fit the idea I'd had for my alternative art project.

When I finished, I printed them all on normal paper to avoid glare from glossy photographs. Some were gray scale, others in color, the vision at my grandparents' house inspiring me to attempt showcasing what was unique in an otherwise dull setting.

At first, I had intended to make a circle with the photos to resemble the layout of the cemetery and piece together the pyramid mausoleum to rise from the center. It was near impossible to cut the pictures how I wanted without skewing the alignment, though, and I'd have to go back to rub the pictures on the mausoleum if I wanted it to look halfway decent. That meant a return trip, which I didn't want to do. Scrapping that, I picked my favorite four and laid them in quadrants. It was easier, but I didn't care for the outcome. It was too common to represent my thoughts of death.

Going back to the computer, I printed more panoramic images landscape style so it would take three pieces of paper to showcase it all with a margin on top and bottom and the image running off the edges on the side. Choosing six more photos, I reduced their size and reprinted them as well. Taking everything, I grabbed tape from the desk drawer and moved to sit on the floor so I could spread out.

I lined up the main image, flipping the paper so I could tape it together on its backside. I cut out the smaller photos and did the same, connecting them to the main image with three on top and three below. When I flipped it, the panoramic image was longer than the smaller photos. Liking it, I ran to the closet and found two of the poster boards my mother kept for displays at her shop or in case I had need for one for school. One black, one gray.

Finding a glue stick, I pasted my project, then cut it so only a half inch border of the black backing could be seen.

Next, I found all the inscriptions from gravestones and cut them out. Then I rolled the rest of the photos into scrolls, taping them so they wouldn't unravel. From the plastic craft trolley in the closet, I grabbed the glue gun from the top drawer and arranged the scrolls around each image as borders. On top of the scrolls, I arranged the cut-out inscriptions so that they were raised.

With metallic markers, I outlined everything unique in the photos and then cut tracing paper to place on top so that the images appeared to be under fog. Lastly, I pasted the entire piece on top of the gray poster board. Four squares were left in the corners, and I was glad I had measured it all correctly so I could fasten rubbings onto each using tracing paper instead of butcher paper.