by Jessica Hung
Sazzie stared at the piece of art she had finished through inspiration. It looked amazing, a beautiful swirl of white, orange and blue. For a moment, she felt as though she were back to her old self again, painting for enjoyment and competition. She wanted to beat the others, but she thought she probably couldn’t. As she observed with doubt, she felt the painting come alive as the colors adjusted their places and formed into a familiar dress, and Sazzie realized it was the dress her mother wore when she was burnt to death in the fire while trying to save Sazzie a few months ago.
The fire. The incident flashed through her mind as she winced. Her mother’s image filled the canvas and she stepped out. The dress shimmered like it did no longer. “Sazzie, you can do it.”
“Mom, I can’t . . .” Sazzie stammered as tears streamed out from her eyes.
“Baby, I have confidence in you. Do it for me.” Her mother reached over to brush a tear away with her finger and slowly faded into nothing. The dress floated back to the canvas and adjusted itself into their original positions.
For a while, Sazzie thought it was just her imagination, but her mother’s words echoed in her mind. Do it for me . . . An idea suddenly popped into her head. With a smile, some brushes and paint, she started to do the finishing touches to the art piece that would be first place.
2 comments:
i like that it captures the moment and the reason for changing her decision to participate, to a decision to dominate. while the dead-loved-one theme seems to be a bit overused in this competition, i think your take on this trope is still unique. good story.
Thanks for the advice ;)
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