So Close

Chapter 11

Hey guys, I know I've been gone for a bit but my computer broke. I have big plans for this story so if you bear with me, it will get better, i promise.

this chapter is some more about Alice and her art, one of the major plot points. It is also introducing Miss Haliday, I imagined her as a young woman, based on my photography teacher, but do what you will with her character.

Thanks for reading.

I love you.

GiGi

xxxx

“Well, you are’nt quite what I expected. You are quite young.” The neat woman smiled at me, before scanning through my black portfolio once again. “But these photo’s are beautiful.”

She stood up from her place behind the oak desk and walked me through the wedding shop, stopping at a large bulletin board covered with previous shoots.

“I want you to make your mark on these, make it different.” She said smiling softly as she touched my arm.

“So, I got the job?” I asked hopefully. I really needed to buy some new paint brushes and Nell’s room needed a new duvet.

“Of course. We can plan the shoot for, lets say two months, paying up front. We can meet here the Saturday after next to discuss the details and do the casting.” She announced smiling again as I shook her hand.

“Looking forward to it.” I replied, stepping out of a shop with a ding.

** ** **

“Alice?” Miss Halliday, my art teacher called me over, I dropped the clay I was working with and walked to her desk, wiping my hands on my apron.

“Yes Miss?”

“I was wondering something…” She trailed off and looked into my eyes as if she was searching for something.

“Shoot.” I replied smiling softly.

“Why do you take photos, and paint and sculpt? Most people do it for credit or because they are good but you do it for something more.” I took a deep breath in. I didn’t feel as if I knew the answer to that question so I just let myself talk.

“I take photos and do art because I love memories that live within the past.” She nodded thoughtfully and I considered this for a moment. Did I really want to bare my soul to her? Her smile pushed me over the edge. Once I started speaking about this I knew I wouldn’t stop.

“It all started one day when I was about nine or ten. My parents were posing for a photo under the cherry blossom tree that and just started to bloom, because the tree that they planted so many years ago was finally flowering.

I said, “File for the camera.” Because I never heard the right way, I never knew it was meant to be smile.  My parents couldn’t stop laughing, neither could I. I took that picture and told my mother I could cherish that moment forever.

She said, “You cant use a machine to capture life Alice.”

I proved her wrong.

When the photo was printed, I found out that it was way out of focus and the sunny glare was covering half of my Dad’s blurry face. But I still did it. The image oozed the unadulterated happiness and the raw and pure laughter.

It taught me that I could capture life, capture emotions and then sell the idea for people. It’s amazing. I take how they felt in that moment and I translate it, through my camera, into my life now.

Dad told me that image was the final one shown at my mother’s funeral. That was the last time she would see the world, the last time people would see her, all because I captured a happy moment and it was seen by those who won’t feel that again.

That memory, that moment, that image, combined with millions of others, motivates me to live.

That’s why I take photos and paint and sculpt. Because in doing that, I capture an emotion. I capture life so that people can translate it, fix it into ourselves so that MY image, MY memory can become part of someone else’s millions of images and my happiness, can be another reason for a stranger to live.”

I stopped, realising that Miss Halliday was staring at me in awe. I never knew I felt that way but somehow, I knew it was all true.

“You are amazing Alice.” She said softly and handed me a card with a number on it. “I want you to call me if you ever need my images to add to your millions, ok?”

I smiled and nodded as she pondered something for a moment, opening her desk draw and handing me a flyer.

“This is an art scholarship to one of the leading institutions in London. After you get your GSCEs, I want you to apply, let them see the side of you that I just saw. That passion at such a young age just blows me away. I know you can do great things Alice.” She said as I wiped a tear off my cheek and walked around the small cluttered desk, pulling her into a hug.

“Thank you.” I whispered.