Aren't Meant To Be

six

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Anastasia Smith

   Art class was like every other day. Zachery sat next to me and we did our lesson for the day. Today felt kind of strange. It was just two days before Halloween and everyone seemed to only have that you talk about.

   "Miss Smith, would you like to tell us about your project? I gave each of you a month to work on it and come up with an answer as to what made you're drawing a monster. I expo you all to be done by now. That is more than enough time."

   The front of the room was intimidating but I can't look bad in front of Mr. Evergreen.

   I placed my piece of paper under the projector and went up to the whiteboard. "It's everything you see really. A young boy with hollow eyes, soulless, with a broken toy. We were supposed to answer the question 'what makes it a monster?' but I had a hard time finding an answer."

   My eyes traveled around the room. Everyone seemed to be tuned into the picture, Sher seemed to be tuning into my words.

   "The boy is just standing there. A blank white background no real story, no real statement. He is just there. You see, when I was drawing the photo, I tried to find the most useless piece of art I could build in my brain and incorporate it into a chilling sketch. But the question kept ringing in my head."

   Me. Smith smiled at me like he knew something I didn't. I looked at the picture, smiled, and began again.

"Right now you see a little boy, but not just any little boy. One with no eyes, no smile, no emotions, just him, and a broken toy. It's a monster, correct?" Students eagerly nodded their heads.

   "Well then here, " I replaced the drawing with a duplicate."Here is the same boy. Just now, he has eyes, a smile, and a fixed bear. Also, the background isn't blank, as you can see there is a flower field behind him. Is he still a monster?" Instead of nodding yes, they shook their heads no.

   "But the only difference is how they look. A monster does not always look like how they portray in the movies. A monster could be you and me. Demons in human skin. We look like what our society calls 'normal'. Monsters don't look a certain way to get a monster label guys. Sometimes it's the ones who look like angels. Sometimes it's the people who we think are saints. But the boy in the photo is most definitely not a monster." Proud of myself, I took a deep breath and people started clapping.

   "You cracked the code, Miss Smith. Impressive," said Mr. Evergreen. "Question," Asher spoke.

   I stared at him to wait for what he liked to ask.

   "Some people like being called monsters. They just cover it up. Not everyone is capable of being a Saint, Anastasia." He lent a brutal smirk but I gape at him with a gentle smile. He was not speaking about the project, he was pointing his fingers to himself with the words he uttered.

   "Off-topic but I don't believe anyone likes to be called monsters at all. If anything, perhaps the person behind the mask is hurting and in pain. Maybe they are struggling with their demons and it's hard to go through so they take it out on themselves. Some do get lost in the cycle. But everyone has room to rise Asher. Whether you trust it or not."