The Artist's Lament

The Beginning

"Done... And done." They sighed softly as they hit the publish button on the job posting website. Slumping back in their chair, they loosened the navy blue tie carefully placed around their neck. "I can't believe that took all day..." They looked around the internet cafe, noting some of the patrons. There was one in particular that hadn't bought anything in the time that he was there.

He was barely put together. His hair was horribly knotted and visibly dirty. His clothes were filthy and shredded in a few places. They could tell that the tears weren't intentional because they were too far apart and in common places. The young man was working meticulously to finish something. Like them, he had been working all day on the same thing, even asking others for feedback on it. After some time, they put together the courage to speak to him.

"Hey, man... Everything okay?" They sat down next to him, smiling warmly.

The young man looked up at him before quickly returning to his work. He was working hard on an artwork. It was a near-perfect depiction of the cafe, complete with the other sitting at the same computer they had been working at.

"Hey, I won't bite you. You can talk to me." They glanced at his work, blinking in awe at it. "You... You even got that weird dark spot in my hair... That's amazing." They noticed that a smile had grown on his face. "I'm Francis, by the way."

He gave Francis a quick glance before immediately returning to his work. "Alex." Francis smiled at him and sat next to him. "Saw you were looking for someone to work for." He didn't turn away from his work. He somehow knew exactly what Francis was looking for. "You're an editor hoping for a boss that can provide somewhat steady work?"

"How did you... I only saw you look over once!" Francis glanced at the computer they were working at.

"Four times and a glance. Your features took a bit longer to take down. Every little wrinkle has to be right..." Alex had his artwork super zoomed in, almost working with each pixel.

"How did you pull that off?" Francis tilted their head at him. Alex tapped the side of his head a couple times. "Damn... Well, I have to go... Maybe I'll see you again sometime." They tapped Alex's shoulder as they got up. They left the cafe with a final glance at Alex.

Francis walked back home to their apartment, laying in bed with a sigh. They grabbed their laptop and loaded the listing, waiting up for a response until they fell asleep.

Alex ended up getting kicked out of the cafe. He saved everything onto a drive before leaving. With a sigh of defeat, he made his way to a nearby alleyway, looking around. He slipped into a dumpster and pulled out a half-empty container of potato salad. He ate it as he made his way to a park. He slipped off his sweatshirt and laid down on a bench after finishing the most likely rotten food and drifted off to a light sleep.