Part 1-Before
"What makes something beautiful?" This is what Nina Vargas had playing over and over again in her head, chiming in her mind like a bell. Splat. Red is for all the anger welled up inside. Splat. Yellow is for all the happiness that can't be found. Splat. Blue is for all the sad days. Splat. Pink is for all the broken hearts. Splat. And black is for all the emptiness inside. Nina vigorously attacked the white wall with colors from paint buckets dripping with the thick, gooey substance.
If she could've, Nina would've take the entire world, turned it into a blank page, and colored it the way she thought it should be. But of course those are silly children's dreams, so until then Nina stuck to a blank wall. Nina flung another piece of physical matter at the wall. Nina tucked her stringy, brown hair behind her right ear. She glared at her hands.
Nina Vargas was the average girl. She did not like dirt, she despised it actually. She washed her hands a minimum twenty-three times a day and liked to keep everything perfectly parallel. Her nails were crisply painted at the tips with a cool white, and her hair was always in a ponytail when working. When she ate her bites were three point one centimeters in length. Her television set always had to be directly opposite her bed, but not too close nor too far. Her clothes were always perfectly symmetrical with one another, including her accessories. Her strides were of perfect "o" proportion, and her skin was always layered with a deep coating of cocoa butter lotion and Covergirl TruBlend Powder.
Doctors liked to call it OCD. She liked to call it perfection.
Nina blinked three times, studying her rainbow hands. That is exactly the thing that marks something as beautiful: perfection. If everything is always perfectly aligned, balanced, and clean then it is considered perfect, and perfection is beautiful. This is why Nina Vargas' work always had to be perfect, because it needed to be beautiful. Why? Because she was an artist, and artistry must never lag, otherwise no one notices it, and if no one notices it, it does not matter, and if it does not matter, then it is just a miniscule piece of acne marking the world unsanitary.
Nina's expression went from disdain to utter aggravation in a matter of moments. After mulling over her hands angrily, Nina sprinted her eyes back towards the wall. No, no, no, no! This is not what Nina Vargas wanted at all! The yellow splatter was supposed to be on the left hand corner of the red splatter, not the blue. Now she must start over again, and this is not something Nina wants to be doing over her weekend. Nina dug her nails animatedly into her hands, hoping to secrete some type of substance that might cleanse her hands forever.
Tisk, tisk. There went those silly ideas again. Nina's mind had been running ramped for the past several days, because that is what always happened. She rereads the Harry Potter series, easily devouring the wizards and magical creatures in a matter of days, and then her head begins to mound up. She begins to believe in it all again. The fairies, dragons, wizards, witches, and everything else that relates to magic. As I've stated before, Nina Vargas was not the average girl. She did not want to go to college, get a degree, get a career, find the love of her life, start a family, retire, and then die. Well at least not traditionally. She wanted to do it her way.
That's not to say she wanted to rearrange the order in which these events occured, of course not. She just wanted to do something different. Live a different life, see a different world! She wanted to experience something that she could not on planet Earth. By now you are wondering why such ideals came into her head. I mean, she must've grown up with hippies or something, right? Well you, my dear reader, are precisely wrong.
Nina Vargas grew up a normal girl. She had a mother and a father, one sister, and a dog named Louie. She was taught proper etiquette and went to an average Catholic school. Her father was a lawyer and mother a nurse. She had two best friends, one a boy and the other a girl. Naturally Nina fell in love with the boy, and naturally it did not work out. She was pushed from the very beginning to do all the traditional things a child should. Go to college, get a career, start a family, retire, and die while sleeping in her favorite room. But Nina wanted none of this. Her family pretended to be perfectly normal, smiling, hugging, going on tedious car rides, but in reality Nina could see through the cracks of her family.
They were not happy. None of them were, not even the dog. They wanted to be platonic, but their imperfections seeped through like a virus corrupting a computer. Nina knew perfectly well that her family was far from that. She knew it was but a dream up in the clouds of forgery. How did she know such things? Well, Nina Vargas happened to be a private girl. For this, she needed to be clever. She was good at picking up hints and clues, breaking down people's evident weaknesses for her own gain. This skill proved to be useful for her, and a primary point in finding her family's fraud.
When her parents argued she was told to cover her ears and eyes. When her dog died they said he ran away, but Nina found Veterinarian papers mere hours later. When she went on impromptu "vacations" with her mother and sister she inhaled deeply when bidding ado to her father, smelling relevant traces of alcohol that smoldered the insides of her nose. Whenever she went to her "special friend" she observed her surroundings, thus unveiling a therapists' office. Nina knew it all, and all it took was some relentless searching.
She went through her family's cycle, tricking them masterfully into believing she would do the cultural things Americans did when becoming adults, and she persevered. Then when the time came, Nina ran. She left her family without a single trace, because she was just that good. Nina not only observed her family through her childhood, but she learned from them. Taking her life lessons, Nina chose one thing she wanted out of life: happiness.
And from that she also learned that if she were to be stuck on planet Earth for life she could never be happy. There was nothing for her to do on Earth that could make her happy, well at least not for a lifetime. Sure there was the adrenaline rush of a rollercoaster, and the tingly adoration gained from food, but nothing could ever make Nina Vargas permanently happy.
If there was such a thing she would love to know, but for her there wasn't, so she had to make it up, and Harry Potter books were the segue into Nina's imaginary world. This is why Nina Vargas' head was running ramped. Last time the ideals lasted three days, four hours, thirty-eight minutes, and sixty-two seconds. A new record for Nina. Now the ideals were churning in her head for an unusual amount of time. Five days, six hours, forty-three minutes, and six seconds. Another new record. Maybe it was due to the pure boredom that caught her, or maybe it was her lunch, but Nina Vargas' mind was still turning with ideals.
After realizing the amount of time she had spent on thinking of these ideals Nina Vargas instantly stopped digging into her nails. She sped to the bathroom in thirty-six seconds, making sure to avoid the blotches of paint on the floor. She flicked the tap water on, making sure to let it run a bit before attacking her hands with the sure-fire cure of soap mixed with H2O.
"Crap. Why the hell does it have to be a damn paint job? It's never a paint job, and I could do just fine with any other materials! But nooooo! It just 'has' to be made with paint! Just 'has' to be on a white wall! Just 'has' to be so f'ing annoying!" Nina hadn't realized she was talking to herself incessantly until she heard a shady whisper in the air. "I can keep your hands clean." Nina immediately shot up and asked, "Who's there?!" Nina could barely make out the figure of some awkward, blue hue. She eased her eyes into a squint, as to not startle the creature. "You know I can see you, right?" There was no answer. "Come on, blue thing! I know you're there." Nina began to talk fiercely towards the blue hue, "Answer me! What do you want anyway?!" The blue hint of air wisped away as the wind blew, leaving a trail of varied colored sparkles.
Nina seemed to be trapped in the essence of the whole thing, because she could distinctly hear a "whoosh" sound as the blue hint of air drifted away. Nina entered a trance, following the air like a lost puppy. The sound was ringing in her body, making her hairs stand up like soldiers armed for battle. Nina danced through the patches of multi-colored people. She knew there was no point in it, but she continued to stalk the sound of the blue hue. She followed and followed, feeling like she was on a treasure hunt.
The tint of air led the way to a musky alleyway. It was dark and dirty, but it could easily have been used as a backdrop for the photo shoot of some anorexic models. Nina tiptoed her way towards a door against a wall, rolling up her sleeves questioningly. The sound was inside the area past the door. Nina stopped in her tracks at this thought, realizing that it would be idiotic to enter the place. I mean, what if someone lived there? What if someone was sleeping, eating, or even killing in there?! Then what?
But what if no one was in there? What if it was just a blank room with blank walls and blank floors? The Room was a new world now, and the door was the gateway. Nina pondered all the possibilities of entering. Either she could go in, following her instincts and letting go of her insipid fears, or she could turn around, walk back to her home (of course at her usual pace), and just move on with her uneventful life.
That time, Nina chose to follow her instincts as the world behind her disappeared, and the new world took shape.
Part 2-M.A.G.I.C
Back to square one. That's exactly where Nina Vargas ended up when she happened to chance upon a shady, unkempt, and graffitied door. You, my dear reader, may now be wondering what I mean when I tell you she went back to square one.
What I mean by this is that Nina Vargas found herself in a blank, white room befitting of a psychopath in an insane asylum. There was nothing inside but four blank walls and white floorboards with cracks in between. Inside the room there were no windows, and the blue hue was prancing around in the air, almost taunting Nina.
Nina's eyes were wide, akin' to the size of acorns actually. Nina and the blue air were face to face, and it seemed that the hue was staring at Nina, although it was obvious it had no eyes. Nina was then toying with an idea, but was it too foolish? There were no windows or openings, and it was just the two of them, so why not?
Nina then proceeded to enter the room, cautiously mind you, and lock the door. It was like a chess game. Nina moved right, and the hue did the same. She moved left and the hue the same. This game went on until Nina masterfully caught the hue in checkmate. Nina had trapped the hue. She made sure that there was nothing the hue could do to escape. Nina then began walking towards the hue, almost falling through the weak floorboards, and then Nina began speaking to the hue.
"So what now, thing? Where do we go from here?" The hue remained silent, and Nina began to question her method. She continued on however, hoping to get a reaction out of this "thing" as she called it. "Oh come on, you lure me here, making me go on this big, epic journey, and now you're quiet? And you made me ruin my hands, damn it! Look!" Nina hurriedly raised her hands up to the entrancing hue. The hue ignored this, however, flying through and around Nina's head.
Nina, angered, swatted at the blue hue, and each time she did so something unexpected happened. The hue made a sound, a "sloosh" sound to be quite precise. At this Nina stopped. She seemed to believe the hue was in pain, but "how can air hurt" she wondered. Either way Nina had stopped and decided to apologize. "You know what, I'm sorry, thing. That was uncalled for." The "thing" remained the same, glimmering in the air somewhat condescendingly.
"What is it that you frikkin want?" asked Nina. As Nina chattered the hue flew in a downward motion that worried Nina. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where the hell do you think you're going? Where in the hell are you going?! Don't leave me!" begged Nina desperately. "Down" replied the hue. Nina felt it again. She felt her whole soul and body, all the way to her core ringing with calmness, because every time the hue spoke, or whispered, Nina felt a great feeling of peace within herself.
A side effect most likely.
Nina saw the hue disperse in between the cracks of the floorboards. Now Nina found herself slowly creeping towards the blue, broken down floor. "Down....Down....Down" kept repeating the blue hue. Nina brushed her hands upon the chipped floorboards, slowly making her way to the cracks. Nina finally found herself glaring at her hands. They were hideously grimy. Her nails were filled with dried paint, and her creased hands were dirty from the long path she'd taken earlier in the day.
Nina was nearly at the point of crying, I mean where was her perfection? Without it, what was she? Nothing but another normal human being walking amongst unfulfilled, worn out bodies. But she decided to move on and peek through the cracks, searching for the hint of blue air. She looked and looked, but by then Nina felt like a silly pirate following a trail for some magical treasure. "Hand" teased the blank, black area under the floorboards. "Hand" again teased the area. Nina thought over what this area, a new "thing" she was meeting, could be talking about. Hand? What could that mean?
She stared at her dirty hands angrily, and slid it through the cracks in the floorboards with ease. It felt like she was sticking her hand in a trap, but as soon as she felt a strange, slimy slither across her hand she pulled it out like jack pops out of jack-in-a-box. Nina held her hand protectively, but as she examined the damage that might've been done she found her hand to be perfectly fine. Better than fine actually, it was spotless. Nina was now confused. How could it have happened?
Nina was flustered greatly at this point, and she jumped up as though she'd been electrocuted when she heard "Hand" yet again. Nina might have been scared, but that didn't mean she liked to be dirty. So, Nina took another chance, her fourth of the day actually. Nina stuck her other hand into the cracks. This time she slowly tucked her hand in and out, and when she found her second hand to be clean she studied it.
How this was possible Nina knew not, but she was definitely happy her hands were now clean. A smile happened to slither upon Nina's face for multiple reasons, but the biggest being that this proved she was not a mad woman. You, dear reader, now may be wondering how this proves Nina Vargas is not a crazy person. Well, Nina's head had always been filled with ridiculous ideals of magic, romance, and everything else she could muster up into her mind from books, so of course everyone denounced her from the beginning.
Magic might as well stand for M.elancholy A.ddicts G.et I.nto C.razy for everyone in the world. Nina was one of those addicts, and always would be. But you see, what else could explain the sudden cleanliness that came from sticking her hand in the cracks of the floor? It was unbeknownst to her, so what else could Nina find to be the solution to this equation but one thing-magic.
Magic was always a figment of imagination that cluttered in everyone's heads, but for Nina it was real. For you see, Nina had experienced many happenings in her time, and for each happening she took a memory that stuck to her heart and head, super-glued together to form her beliefs. Although many of these happenings took place during her childhood, the most telling occurred during her older, more prominent years.
The first of these occurrences took place when Nina was five years old. Short as it may've been it was very telling. Nina was chewing the head off of Malibu Barbie as usual, making sure to scratch in her name on the doll's back, when she put the toy down for a few moments. When Nina went back to get the toy it was gone and had appeared in her toy box. No one was in the room and no one had entered. That had been tale number one.
Tales number two and three happened twice when Nina was eight and nine. During those years Nina began walking home alone, no friends to be kept company with. Nina had always liked adventure, to a degree, as she didn't want to get dirty in her search for adventure. One of her favorite things to do was follow people. The first person she followed at age eight was the neighborhood hobo. He was searching for food whilst she wanted hilarity. The hobo happened to walk into an alley, and Nina, careful not to let him notice her, followed. When she arrived at the alleyway he was gone.
Afterwards Nina decided to stop following people, but the next year she just could not contain her enthusiasm for adventure and experience when Andy Littleburg, her bully at the time, happened to be walking home her way. Andy took notice of his being followed, so he decided to take a shortcut, very sure that Nina would be too afraid to follow. But he was wrong, and once Nina followed he was gone, just like the hobo. Andy was reported missing three days later, and he was never found again. The only person who knew what'd happened was Nina, but her parents made sure to keep her thoughts a secret as to not be seen as the neighborhood crazies.
Tale number four had happened nine years before when Nina was fifteen. It was on her first date with Eric Derese'. It was a normal first date. Dinner, a nice dress, and soft makeup. At the end of the night Eric walked Nina up to her front door. He went in to kiss her, hand heading for cheek and all, when his hand went through Nina's face. The boy was so shocked he ran away making up an excuse no one would be able to comprehend. That stayed Nina and Eric's secret from then on.
The last tale happened four years before and was the most telling of all tales. Nina was prepared for a date with yet another of the hundreds she'd dated. He stood her up. Beforehand Nina truthfully thought he would be the one. They were great friends prior to the date incident, and she knew him from the inside out. After he stood her up unceremoniously Nina went into deep depression. She had already alienated herself from her family, so what proceeded to happen was documented by no one.
Nina's hair had turned a deep shade of blue. Her pupils turned a fire red, and her lips turned black. Nina's skin turned a pale white and her nails grew out sharply. All of this had happened in two short days. Nina was dead inside and she had wished right then and there that her ex-friend was dead. A week later, he was. It was reported that he had a heart attack, and afterwards Nina's 'conditions' subsided.
There was no explanation as to why any of the things that happened to Nina occurred, so she searched for an answer that she could only find to be magic. Nina decided to shove her crazy ideas in the back of her head, and nothing had happened since then until what she was going through now.
Realizing that she had discovered something great, Nina kept the white room her secret. Then, over the next several days Nina had taken notice that no matter what she did her hands would not get dirty. At one point Nina even grabbed a pen and dug into the skin of her hands harshly, but nothing happened. She had dug in so hard that a sliver of blood was drawn. At this, Nina felt no pain. "Why?" she wondered.
Nina was now forever greatful to the blue hue. He had solved, somewhat, her problems with being dirty. Her hands would always be clean, and she would never have to deal with another piece of grime again. She thought her life was perfect. She thought nothing could bring her down, until the next morning.
Nina woke up as normally as any other person would. She got up, yawned, and fluttered her eyes open. What she found was terrifying. Her bed was covered in dirt, mud, and everything else that associates with being unclean. She ran her hands through her frilly, stringy, auburn hair afraid. She found her hair to be doused in greenish-brown soot. Her hands were seeping with a rainbow of filfth and she ran to the bathroom scared.
Everything she touched was slimed with the wretched, gooey substance. She began bathing in her clothes. She clamped her eyes shut, reciting "Please be gone! Please be gone! Please be gone! Please be gone!" When she opened her eyes she found her bathtub to be filled with nasty grunge. Nina ran to her room, slipping over her trails of droppings. She shoved on some clothes and ran outside. She looked like a homeless person. Nina ran in front of a taxi cab to stop it, jumped in without question and yelped "59th street, stat!"
The cab driver didn't hesitate to take her to her destination, although he took notice of the dirty secretions dripping on her. Nina tucked her hands under her arms as to hide the liquids, but it didn't matter. Once she reached her location Nina threw a crimpled twenty-five dollars at the driver who screamed "Hey!" Nina didn't listen, she just ran. She ran into the white room that had started it all just a week and a half ago. She ran to the cracks and shoved her hands in the cracks on the floor. Nina sighed, relieved, but when she tried to pull her hands out a mysterious force pulled her downward. Her arms were now submerged in the floor and she was yelling blasphemy. Nina's hair was flying everywhere and her whole upper body was sucked into the black area under the floor.
"Down" spoke a secret force. "Down" it said once again. The force kept saying "Down" softly, until Nina kept resisting. She kept fighting the force, scratching at the floor with her feet. "Down" said the spirit once more, this time more forcefully. Nina kept resisting and the force's anger kept rising until it sounded like satin screaming "Down!" Nina was not strong enough for the force, and she gave up fighting until her entire body was dragged beneath the floorboards.