100 Years to Live (Completed)

Chapter 20 : Love

After Jonah and I both successfully covered the other in paint, and stained our clothes in the process, I took a note of the time and decided to be responsible. I had a huge mural to paint in less than 6 hours.

The background was all done but that was the easy part. Now I had to paint all the trees, leaf by leaf, all the people, hand by hand, all the creatures, wolf by wolf. It was shoulder-cramping work, for every hair had to be meticulous. I'm not sure why it had to be so painstakingly perfect. Usually, I'm too lazy to bother. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that if I do a good job on the mural and the college likes it and I qualify for the scholarship, I could actually get out of here—right now—and just get my life started, the one in the big city…

Ever get so close to a dream, you could almost wrap your fingers around it?

So maybe I was wrong and Ms. Atria was right. Maybe I do want to go to college early. If art truly is my calling, and I have this golden opportunity, I should go for it. I want it. I need it.

And that was motivation enough for me to paint through the night.

But I'm not a vampire. I physically need sleep. It's now three in the morning and I'm yawning twice for every brush stroke. Jonah had already dozed off; he was lying off to the side against the wall. I tried to get him to go home, but he refused. I don't see the reasoning behind his staying, but if the wizard wants to stay, I'll let him stay.

Jonah actually was really handy when Garret called. Using his voice mimicking spell, Jonah pretended to by Kelly's mom and reassured Garret that I was indeed sleeping at my best friend's house. Which clearly I wasn't.

Fighting the growing urge to curl up next to Jonah and take a nap, I kept on painting. I'm literally ¾ of the way there, I just needed to finish one last corner. It was very difficult though, as my eyelids kept drooping and my tired fingers kept dropping the brush. I tired stretching and jumping and widening my eyes as far as they would go, but I still zoned out for long periods of time. Where was caffeine when you needed it?

I looked at my nearly done mural, then checked to see it was 3:55. Three hours before it was due. Procrastination at its finest.

Jonah snored in his sleep. I almost died laughing. Everything is just so much funnier when you're dog tired and high on paint fumes. Fortunately, the laughter woke me up a bit. I put the finishing touches on the last portion of the mural and walked backwards to view my work. I was quite impressed.

It was a semi-abstract portrait of my life. The left side was enveloped in night while the right side was bright as day. A giant circle was in the middle of the sky, split into moon and sun. On the ground in the darkness, giant pine trees filled the fields and meadows. Forests, like the one by my neighborhood. In light, skyscrapers and buildings shot up to the sky. And then, standing in front of the trees and skyscrapers, were the people. Clever illustrations of my friends and family.

Standing in the middle was a plain girl with straight brown hair: me. The painted 'me' was in the dead center so I was split into two halves of day and night. With one hand on both sides, I bore a confused look on my face, like I was contemplating which side to choose.

On the left, many nighttime creatures were present. A wolf was howling at the moon: Ethan. Two more wolves stood close behind me: Garret and Lindsey. Another two blonde wolves were lying off to the side with heads bent towards each other: Megan and Natalie. A human girl with dirty blonde hair and a genuine smile sat cross-legged on the grass: Kelly. A dark-furred wolf curled up next to the girl: Frankie. Three bats hung from a branch of a tree: Amy, Benjy, and Janice (I purposefully made her the ugliest bat.) A lone bat was flying over my head in the night sky: Clarence.