Chapter 14

***Chapter 14 ~ Art***

***Mosaic Palette***

***~***

***Johannesburg, South Africa***

I loved my city, like the lights of all the buildings glimmering in the night like stars. Some nights, when the moon was bright in the sky and the weather was just right, I would go out into the city and simply explore. With my tool box and assorted bottles of paint in the passenger seat, I would drive through the bustling streets, just trying to avoid the traffic as much as I could. Nighttime was my time; the real time to be awake. But the real thing I lived for was my art, both day and night; I devoted all my time to it. My explorations varied in destination; it all depended on where the road took me. This time, it planned to take me to the water tower at the edge of the city lines. When I came to a stop at a light, I pulled out my phone to dial up my partner in crime, Scarlett.

“‘Ey, you! Yah up??” I shouted into the speaker.
“Ay! Shut yah trap! I’m tryin’ to sleep here!” She groaned.
“Sleep is for the weak, now get your ass up out of bed. I’m in your driveway now.” I could hear fumbling on her end of the line and whole lot of mumbling and cursing.
Finally the front door opened quickly and she ran out. She looked stunned in my headlights, her blonde hair on end and her face clear full of anger and confusion.

“We’ll c’mon then!” I shouted out the window.
She rolled her eyes and jogged sleepily over to the passenger side of my car. Nonchalantly, she threw my paint to the back seat so she could have the chair. “I hate your midnight paint raids, I hope you realize that.”

“Oh shut it, yah love it with me. Where is your sense of adventure?”
“I would be more adventurous if you didn’t wake me up because your painting hand was getting a little twitchy.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at her retort as I pulled the car out of the driveway and for the highway. We headed up towards the water tower, away from prying eyes, and parked alongside the fence that ran along the perimeter. Scarlett looked up towards our destination before reaching back for the paint.

“Becca, what yah getting us into?” She yawned slowly.
“Like I said, adventure.” I repeated.
We climbed out, me a little quicker than her, and made our way for the fence. I landed a little more gracefully  against the ground where she nearly collapsed but regained her composure. Scarlett tossed me the paint and I hooked it to my waist for a good hold. I took a deep breath to settle any nerves and began the climb the metal ladder all the way to the top. The view was positively amazing: I could see everything from the top.

“Know what? I kinda like it up here.” I said to Scarlett who had reached the top with me, taking the view in.
“Yeah, it’s nice, now can we get started before the cops show up?” Scarlett was already done with the trip before it barely even began.
I laughed at her response and shook up a can of blue spray paint. I was thinking of doing a sort of landscape image, with a river and valley and such.

“Here! I thought you might want this!” Scarlett shouted, tossing me a can of orange paint, probably for highlights of the sky.
I fumbled to catch and took a series of surprised steps backwards until my back was flush up against a railing. The unfortunate thing was that the railing itself was already loose to begin, with so it didn’t take much force to knock it out of place. Because I was falling into it, I didn’t have the time to balance myself before I lost my footing through the gap and felt my body slide away from the safety of the scaffolding. I could feel my limbs flail al as I drew closer to the ground. I clenched my eyes closed  shut to prepare for the impact it; felt like I was going to to snap from fear alone. Then, just like that, it was over, done.

“Beautiful Mosaic, that was a pretty nasty fall now, wasn’t it?” A voice like gravel cooed at me.
My world was darkness, nothingness, except a man that stood before me with a smile that could cut skin and a wide brimmed hat that covered all other features. A simple lilac pendant hung from his neck. I just groaned a response. My whole body aching too much to even fathom speech.

“I’ll just cut to the chase then, save everyone the effort.” The man opened the upper part of his jacket to pull out a rolled up piece of beige paper and held it out to me. “Go on, take it, it doesn’t bite.”
I hesitantly took it and unrolled it further to examine the writing. I couldn't quite understand what it said, but it reminded me almost of a contract, with a large X at the bottom followed by a thick black line. “What is this?”

“Consider it a helping hand in your...predicament,” He offered with a slight wave of his hand. I looked down at the paper then back at him before returning my eyes downward.
Blood from all of my little cuts from the fall started down my body, creeping towards the line on the parchment until it made contact. The man smiled coldly and pulled the paper from my grip abruptly. The gem swirled from the lilac purple to a deep olive green like a ripple of water as he stuffed the paper away.

“You’ll make a beautiful queen, Mosaic,” He sneered before slipping back into the shadows.
As soon as he was out of my sight, it was if splashes of colors began exploding in front of me, blinding me with the brightness and intensity. Along with the color bombs, it felt like my body was warring with itself from the inside. The colors became brighter and the pain grew worse until it all turned into a dull white ache.

When it all faded away, I found myself blinking up towards puffy white clouds and a baby blue sky. Deep green leaves reached out towards the blue above me. I blinked sleepily, trying to decide whether this was reality or a trick my mind as playing on me. Gentle dew fell on my forehead and cheeks from the lower hanging branches, adding to the idea that this was my reality. The water was cool to the touch and a light breeze swayed the branches back and forth; this world was too beautiful to be real but felt too real to be fake.

“Hello...Is anyone there?...Where am I?” I asked slowly into the emptiness of the forest. I didn’t really expect anyone to answer my call. The only sound I could here was the wind and the calls of wild birds in the treetops.
“We call this the Island.” A voice answered suddenly.
I went completely motionless at the voice, surprised that someone actually was out there.

“Who are you? Show yourself!” I yelped, but not regaining my courage quite yet.
“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you...I’m Skye-” The voice apologized and came closer through the leaves. She was about my age, much fairer and paler skin, bright blue eyes like the sky above us and long wavy blonde hair.
“The Island? Why am I here?”
“It’s...it's hard to explain...no one really knows. There’s twelve of us living together but we are still struggling to understand it all. She explained carefully for me but her kind smile never faltering.. “May I ask for your name, so I may give your a proper welcome.”
“Mosaic,” I muttered.
“That’s pretty. Welcome to the Island, Mosaic!” She announced with open arms flashed a full mouth smile that really helped make me feel welcome.
She offered me a hand to get off the ground and escorted me carefully down a woodland path. During our walk, she tried to fill me in on the world we now called home; about the people, our surrounding, and how no one was quite “normal”. All the while during our walk, the wind picked up and calmed with every of Skye’s movements, as if it was breathing with her. Our talk continued long until a small town came into our line of sight.

“Just a finer part of home. Everyone has a little house, they’re not much but like I said, it’s home...about that. This might sound a little strange, but may I see your wrist?” She asked.
“Hmm? Uh sure, I guess.” Her voice was a sudden wake up call from my own separate world inside my head at the sight of this little town. I turned over my wrists for her to find streams of color cascading down in rows from the palm of my hand.
“Oh, that shouldn’t be too hard! I can show you the way, might be a bit just to figure it out.”
I nodded again, my mind processing the newly image appeared upon my skin. Noticing my haze, she gently took of my forearm and led me further into the “town”. Each home was different from the rest in one way or another; personalized would be a way to describe it truly. I let myself be pulled along with some purpose as my attention was glued to the faces I passed and the little homes that lined my sight.

“Mosaic? Mosaic, we’re here. You zone off often, don’t you?” Skye said softly, pulling me back to reality.
“Yeah, I guess I do, sorry.” I shrugged and turned to look ahead of me. It was a small cabin, not much different than any of the others, with deep brown paneling but a different carving on the center of the door.
I took a deep breath to center myself where I was before stepping forward to the front stoop of the cabin to notice the door was slightly ajar,  bringing in so much anticipation and apprehension of what waited for me indoors. A beautifully calm interior awaited me.The lilac curtains left the front room in a pale purple glow upon the cream colored furniture and walls. There was a small table to the side of the wall by the window, piled with art supplies that were simply asking to be used. Everything was so simple and beautiful and it was home now, and I loved it. I came closer to the table to inspect what was given to me and found a plain sheet of paper waiting on the center of the tabletop. In honor of my discovery, I aimlessly traced the word “home” on the paper with my forefinger. To my surprise, the word appeared bright onto the paper in reds, blues, purples, and greens

There was a whole new world now: the color came straight from me with no other reality to trigger it. Within moments, I began to use this new found ability to bring color to the walls with swirls and swooping designs. I looked upon my work proudly, with the personal opinion that living here might not be so bad.