Work Space

A cold, ethereal glow completely encompassed the entirety of my small, messy room. Highlighting appearing along all of my possessions. My overflowing bookshelf, a desk with dozens of papers, classes ranging from psychology to art to criminal justice, a messed up bed with black covers were all brought to light from the moon. Papers littered the floor, pieces of homework forgotten, art incompleted. Books of plenty scattered haphazardly, some being textbooks that were meant to be studied yet, none of that mattered at the moment. My undivided attention focused on the artwork that was placed on the floor before me.

A snowy mountainscape covered in trees were highlighted by the midnight sky’s moon and stars. The Aurora Borealis shown across the blackened sky, bringing in the center of focus. While at the same time, that shining of the bright astronomical orb that was once enough to bring light to my canvas, now became too little. If I wanted this done by the turn in date, I would have to hurry. Standing from my place of the blanket covered hardwood floor, I could feel all of my bones cracking into place, sore from sitting in one spot for hours.

I meandered to my desk where a small, white, unlit candle laid in a stand of gold. I snatched up the wax piece in a rushed motion along with a red lighter that had sat in it’s shadow. Without a moment’s hesitation, I flicked the light on and lit the candle. The once cold, dark room was casted in a soft, orange haze. Setting the lighter back onto its place on my cluttered desk, I made a 180 back to my spot on my floor. Paint splotches dotted across the once white blanket, and right then and there I realized I would never once again own anything that would remain paint free. Sighing, I set the lit candle on a small stack of battered books, white allowed my artwork to once again, become visible.

Settling myself back onto the hardwood floor, I wrapped my blanket around my legs. I knew I could only last for so long so, I hunched back over and grabbed me paintbrush and et to work. Filling in all of the blank, white spaces, coloring the misty Northern Lights, create a shining pale moon in the company of the hundreds of stars. Time marked only by the growing pain in my back and wrist. My bloodshot eyes becoming more and more dry. Everything in my body was begging for a break. Of course I wouldn’t let myself but by this point, I was just desperately hoping that I could just collapse into a heap on the floor and sleep everything away. Continuing on stroke after stroke, the finale coming closer by the minute. Rushing it would only cause more problems so, I gingerly made the final star trail and with that, the piece was done. And it had only taken seven hours.

Finally getting the chance to sit up straight, I stretched out my back hearing the satisfying cracking. Collapsing down onto the hardwood, I considered just staying where I was and just sleeping there for the night. However, knowing better, I groggily forced myself up and stumbled over to my messed up bed, flopping down and rolling myself in the comforter like a cacoon. The slight wind from the movement blew out the almost non-existent candle out. I could only hope that the four hours of sleep I’m going to get will keep me functioning throughout the day.

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