The Art World

"Have you heard of the Art World?" One said.

"No," the other said, "what is it?"

"They say to get in, you have to spill your blood on something you've created," the girl said, "and you don't go to Heaven or Hell."

They did not invite me into the conversation, but their voices did. Although I took no part in speaking, I listened as actively as the second girl, like her friend was talking to me.

"As long as your blood is in your art before you die, you go to this world where you can create everything. You can make your creations come to life. You have your own world to yourself and you can make it anything you want."

"What else do you know about it?" The second girl tilted her head.

"That's about it, really." The first girl said. "It's a legend. I'm not even sure if it's true, it could be some sorta fairy tale."

I decided to look into this legend later. Maybe I could find something on the Internet, or maybe...

I could enter the Art World myself.

If it was real, I would experience the surreal beauty that allegedly lived in this world. I would no longer live my insanely average life that bored me and never changed.

* * *

Between her above average older sister and her below average younger brother, Michaela Elliott finds herself disappointed in how average she is. Her dull life and her feelings of inadequacy are so maddening that she wishes for some escape or some end to it. She learns of the Art World, a place where people go when they die -- if they spilled blood on their artwork before dying. Michaela dives in, ready to discover what it truly holds. Not only does she discover the rules of the Art World and what's true and untrue, but she also finds people who wish to escape and move on. Can she save them? Can she save herself?