Through the Dark | ✓

Two

Fours years have passed since Ethan tragically lost his left leg. He hated how many people stared at him, like if he were some kind of strange creature. And he also hated the sympathy people gave him.

His father has promised to get revenge, but Ethan doesn't care about revenge, because nothing could ever bring back his leg. He hated his father and knew that one day he will leave and never hear of him again. He was able to go through senior year of high school and 3 years of college without his leg. College was different from high school though. Kids in high school were cruel and would make constant jokes about his leg, and in college no one seemed to mind, he'd fit right in, but that's what he thought. People did look at him, especially when he would wear shorts before, that's why he began wearing pants. The only thing that distracted him from his messed up life was art. He began drawing when he was only four years old, even before he learned his alphabet. That's why he decided to become an animation artist.

Getting out of his car, Ethan makes his way to his favorite class, drawing. Ethan doesn't like looking up while he walks, because he knows a lot of eyes were on him. Since his eyes aren't focused on where he's headed, he accidentally bumps into someone.

"Hey," he heard someone yell, right after some things fell to the floor, "watch where you're going!"

But he just ignores them and continues walking away.

The professor walks into the classroom right on time, "alright everyone, studio time. I want you guys to draw the theme, crazy. However you interpret it, draw it." He looks over at the clock, "you have the entire class. As soon as you're done, you may go"

"Professor?" A guy from the back row asks.

"Yes"

"Will it be on newsprint, Bristol or sketchbook?"

"Newsprint, I want this to be big. And charcoal, please." The professor claps his hands and heads to his office, which was in the back of the class.

Ethan opens his art bag and takes out all his supplies; drawing board, newsprint pad, charcoal, and tortillions.

So many ideas came to him as he thought of the word "crazy." He began by drawing a skeleton head with an evil smile. And surrounding the head, he drew different scenarios, from explosions to guns being fired. When defining crazy, he thinks of his dad, because everything he does is crazy.

—

Danielle was the kind of girl that always sat in the back corner of the classroom, because she was insecure and self conscious. It was her family's fault she was like that. Being constantly bugged by her family, she found one thing she deeply loved, art. She was able to demonstrate her feelings through a drawing, and people would not know what it means because it could always be interpreted differently depending on the person. She was studying graphic design because she wanted to work for a big company one day and finally have an excuse to leave home. As she was heading to her favorite class with a smile, some stupid kid from her class, bumped into her and didn't turn around to apologize.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" She screamed to him, but he continued his path. A girl walking by helped her pick up her art bag. "Thank you" she told her.

Danielle was now focused on her drawing. Crazy. Her family was crazy, so that's what she drew. She drew 3 different people, each containing their own personality, resembling her father, mother and sister.

Some time after, she saw the professor come out of his office and walk to the front of the classroom. "You can all take a break" he says, catching all of their attention. "So, in the syllabus it is mentioned that we will have a group drawing, meaning yourself and one of your classmates will work on a drawing outside of class. Since you're all seniors, I expect the best. You will be required to draw in a canvas size of your choice, but it must be bigger than 2ftx2ft. It will be in graphite and it must tell your story. A complete list of requirements will be sent to you through email and the list of partners as well. That's all, you may go out and take a break and come back in 10 minutes"

Danielle decides to just stay in and finish her drawing, seems that the jerk that pushed her earlier decided to do the same. She added a few more touches to the background and was done 23 minutes later.

She hands her drawing to the professor and decides to go to the library to distract herself from her problems at home.