Reality 002

The beautiful girl lead me to the art gallery. We entered a large hall that had paintings left and right. Towards the opposite side, I could see some man-sized white sculptures. A faint, soothing new-age ambient music was creating a calm atmosphere. There were only two other people in the hall, one looking at the sculptures and another one closely examining one of the paintings on the right side.

"Incredible." I said. "Such a wonderful and relaxing gallery!"

"Shhh!" the girl said. "You will disturb them."

"Who?" I asked, and got no reply back. I assumed that she was talking about the people looking around the gallery, so I didn't ask twice.

We slowly walked towards the paintings in silence.

"By the way..." I whispered this time. "May I ask your name?"

I got no reply again.

"Ugh, I guess I can't-"

When I looked at my side, I noticed that the girl was no longer there. I looked around for a while, but she was nowhere to be seen. I couldn't just run around calling for her, so I decided to continue on my own for some time. Perhaps she had some business, so I could see her later.

I wanted to have a look at all the paintings in order, so I started from the ones on my right. The first picture was a landscape of empty plains and sun shining high up in the sky. A bright, cheerful piece with birds flying overhead. This piece was titled "Air Farm."

The second picture was showing something like a hospital or a school in the woods - I couldn't make it out by the amount of detail put into it. The sky was crimson, and crows were resting on the trees. The title was "Soul Archology."

The third picture was a painting of the night sky, very unlike Van Gogh's "The Starry Night". The stars were painted to be as realistic as possible. The striking part of this painting was the tail of a comet cutting across almost the entire picture. This one was named "Bad Omen."

While I was walking to the fourth picture, I saw that one of the men I've seen previously was there; standing still in the same spot I've seen him a couple minutes ago, examining the fourth picture. He was looking like a classy man; wearing a large hat, black gloves, a stylish coat and brown pants. I approached to his side trying not to disturb him.

The fourth picture was that of a red rose on a dark gray background. There was not much to this picture, it was just a rose. Yet, I kept looking at it for a longer time than I originally intended to... I was trying to understand what that man was trying to see in this picture, which was titled "Below." It took me quite some time to decide on doing something else.

Meanwhile, the music changed. The successor of the new-age ambience was a slow cello piece. The atmosphere turned into something slightly more romantic and 'classical'.

I eventually got tired of looking at the simple rose painting. I was going to ask the man what he was trying to see in this picture.

"Excuse me, mister." I said. The man didn't even notice.

"Uhm... mister?"

Just then, I had one big facepalm moment. The man was a sculpture! But because it had really good proportions and a realistic pose, but most importantly, because it was so well-dressed, I couldn't notice it until I tried to look at his face.

I started examining 'him'. In his chest pocket, the 'man' had a red rose similar to the one in the picture. It was looking very real, but it could also be a sculpture as well, so I wasn't sure. I wanted to touch it.

Just when I was reaching the rose with my finger, the man moved his right arm to reach for the rose before me. Incredibly scared, I quickly stepped away from the man; without looking where I was going. I had hit the rose painting while trying to run from him, sending the art piece down to the floor with myself. The wooden frame broke apart, and the thin glass protecting the painting shattered into a million pieces; it's sound roaring through the entire gallery.

The music stopped subsequently.

I had cut my arm, and my blood was pouring down, further messing everything up (if it was even possible at this point).

When I looked up to the man, I saw not one, but tens of people looking at me with mixed expressions of disgust, sadness and pity. I had no idea how so many people had come to the gallery just now, but one thing was certain; I was very, very embarrassed in front of everyone. I wanted to teleport onto a remote island in Pacific and never be contacted by humankind ever again.

I looked down again, with my face going red. But, just then, I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was the living statue artist I was inspecting just now. With his mimicks, he was offering me the red rose he had in his chest pocket.

I was clueless as to what the proper course of action was. I hesitantly reached out and took the rose. He then lent me a hand and lifted me back up. But interestingly, he didn't let go of my hand afterwards; instead, he wanted to take me somewhere. In confusion and the never-ending embarrassment, I followed him, trying to avoid staring at people or the painting I just ruined.

We entered a small room, or rather, a workshop. Inside, there were various art tools and equipments everywhere.

The man pointed at a chair for me to sit on, and so I did. He went somewhere I couldn't see, and came back with a white canvas. Putting the canvas and some painting tools in front of me, he pointed at the rose he had given me.

"Wh-what?" I said something for the first time in a long while. "You... want me to draw!?"

He confirmed it with his eyes.

"I-I-I can't draw, I am just-"

He didn't listen to me, and walked out of the studio.

"Mister, I know how important this is for you, and I am really sorry for-"

The man closed the room's door in my face... and LOCKED IT!