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Chapter 22 - Untitled

\SATURDAY - MORNING/

-@Ember-

*Early in the morning, Ember goes to her Mom's place.

-@Ember's Mom's Place-

*Ember's room.

[Ember] (Cyan's planning a surprise, huh?)

[Ember] (What should I give him as a surprise though?)

[Ember] (Should I sing?)

[Ember] \thinks and shakes head\ Yeah, no. (I don't think Cyan can be surprised by my voice anymore.)

[Ember] \thinks\ (Maybe a selfie?)

[Ember] \takes a pic\

[Ember] (It's too small.) \thinks\ Should it be a life-size one?

[Ember] \thinks\ \imagines and giggles\ (A life-size image of me, huh?)

[Ember] ...Am I making a body pillow? \sighs\

[Ember] (But a body pillow is just a printed image.)

[Ember] \stares at her selfie\ It's lacking something.

[Ember] (Maybe a painting?) \thinks a life-size painting?\

[Ember] \ugh\ (That is so much pain.) \T_T\

[Ember] \thinks again\ (A life-size painting of me?) \stares at the mirror\

[Ember] \ponders\ (Or.) A life-size painting of Cyan.

[Ember] \thinks\ (Wait isn't it weird to give Cyan a picture of himself?)

[Ember] \sighs\ \stares at the mirror again\

[Ember] Maybe a picture of me? \remembers Cyan's portrait drawings\ (Yeah, Cyan draws standard eyes. It's not my eyes.) \decided\

[Ember] Yes. (I'll give Cyan a painting of me!) \rises\

[Ember] (Now what's a good pose? Should I do full body?)

[Ember] \poses, snaps a pic\

[Ember] \stares at the pic\

*A random thought.

[Ember] What if I just send Cyan a nude? Don't they paint that?

[Ember] \realizes the absurdity and shakes head\ (No! no! no!, Not yet.) \blushes\

*Ember goes back to taking selfies, portrait photos and tripod pictures.

[Ember] ...(Cyan saw me with glasses, right?) \thinks\ (I should try that.)

*Poses forward, poses back and looking back.

*...Ember adjusts the camera timer once more, turning her back to the lens before glancing back over her shoulder.

*The way she looks over her shoulder; is it a greeting? Is it a gaze that says-Don't look anywhere else? Is it attention? Is it looking back?

*Only Ember knows.

[Ember] \stares at the photo\ Hmmm, Isn't this great? (Me, in Cyan's view.)

[Ember] \blushes\ Yeah. I think I can do this one.

*This one is a portrait of a girl, that stood out. With the memory of Cyan's comment on the glasses. And the lips colored red.

*Ember changes from her photoshoot outfit into her painting clothes.

[Ember] \sketches and paints\

*The painting feels like it was alive. The stare holds some sort of meaning. The background was removed and turned to waves of green.

*Ember puts it aside and lets it dry.

*The painting drops.

*It was just a simple fall, but the way it fell. It landed on something uneven.

*The pristine crimson she had mixed for her lips dragged across her cheeks in a slight hazy spray.

[Ember] Ah. \looks closer\ My lips are smudged... now there are red streaks all over.

[Ember] \sighs\

*Ember lets it dry again, still keeping the painting.

*It wasn't the final decided gift for Cyan.

*But somehow, this accident creates something that became, a true image of them.

*Ember sits down and brainstorms again.

[Ember] \remembers and looks at her only painting on the wall, Awarded champion, a painting of oneself, titled, me, myself and I\

*This top-placed, painting. Is a simple painting of how Ember looks right now.

*Except it was made by her way different and younger self. It's an obsession that reaches the future.

*A unique way and art that overwhelmed the judges.

[Ember] (A painting of us, in the future, where a camera cannot take.) \imagines\

[Ember] \ponders\ \remembers Cyan's genuine smile\

[Ember] \stalks Cyan's photos\ \notices\ Does Cyan know his smile?

[Ember] \imagines\ (A life size painting of Cyan happy, huh.) (With me.) \imagines\

[Ember] (It's perfect.) \giggles\

*Ember was really obsessed while creating that awarded painting, about herself and the future.

[Ember] Obsession. \sighs\ (Can I do it? Will I make it? In time?)

[Ember] Maybe, I can just let Cyan make it. He just needs to be obsessed, right?

[Ember] Never mind, I want to do it. \smiles\

[Ember] \Ugh\ But if I do it, that will take a while. (I need to compile all of Cyan's pictures.)

*Ember will use these to view his different sides and expressions.

*Ember rises, goes to the office and takes the printer.

[Ember] Mom! I'll be borrowing the printer!

[Ember's Mom] \confused\ Okay?

*Ember printed all of Cyan's pictures.

*The sound of the printer echoes and hums inside the room.

*Finishes printing.

*Ember then made an entire canvas out of him. Connected by tape and will.

*She lays the canvas on the floor.

[Ember] \smiles\ Yeah, this should be enough.

*Ember makes a rough sketch, plotting the points for a life-size painting.

*Ember starts painting Cyan's face over the canvas. Using her old paint and brush, she coats the canvas.

[Ember] \notices an annoyance\ This paintbrush won't do. \throws away the brush\

*The wooden brush tossed aside, it clattered against the floor.

*The bristles were too stiff, too distant. They didn't understand the softness of the color Cyan.

*Ember then decided to paint Cyan's smile with her nails mixing the paint.

*Her fingers, wet with paint, stroke the canvas as if Ember is touching Cyan's face directly.

*Ember's hand and fingers move delicately, steadily, sliding slowly within the sketched boundaries.

*Ember even uses her hair dipped in paint, to brush the finest of lines.

*Ember's focus and herself were laid over the canvas.

*She's a mess, a blur of iridescence. Light hits her as she lies one with the floor...

*And at the end of this rainbow is a treasure map of canvas, a paint that marks the spot, and Ember

*Painting the future.

*...Ringgg.

*But reality brings her back to the present.

[Ember] \surprised and sits up\ Ah. It's time. 

*Ember, covered in paint, stands and looks back at her painting.

*The light from the window hits the wet surface.

*The clean, arranged room didn't look like it did before.

*It looks like the creation of a shrine.

*The printed Cyans seem to be staring at the center, watching that one version of himself that was smiling.

*Ember captures a glimpse of, a tomorrow.

*A masterpiece of obsession.

[Ember] \looks at the canvas and smiles\ (Found you.) Yeah, next time. \she says goodbye to the drafted canvas\

*Spread over the floor, an unfinished painting that somehow showcases...

*Cyan's future smile.

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