Mind Garden

8

Daniel opens a tab on his laptop, traveling to social medias. He searches for Ash's accounts relentlessly, scrolling through every last picture and post available. He has to create her flower perfectly.

He slides the laptop away and starts at the paper. His hand has started to ache in the past days, and it takes all his concentration to continue sketching and coloring.

Within fifteen minutes, he has added seven more pieces to his overflowing walls. As he sits down to start sketching his other friends, he finds a flaw: he has no more wall space.

Deciding against stopping, Daniel begins pinning the papers to his ceiling and door.

He falls asleep with the lights still on.

~*~

Daniel finds himself staring around his room, fully awake, around midnight. Three pieces of paper have fallen to the ground.

He jumps out of bed in a fit of rage and runs downstairs to the family office. He flicks the light on and rummages noisily through the drawers, looking for a certain sticky substance. He emerges from his search with two bottles of glue and three containers of mod-podge. Daniel dashes back to his room, shutting the door and getting to work.

In an hour, every inch of his wall is dripping in a transparent white goo, sticky to the touch. He's surrounded by a horror movie come to life, but he's created it.

He crawls back under his sheets. This time, though, he stays awake, staring at the dripping mess of his room.