THE MASTERPIECE

THE MASTERPIECE(Cerulean Mekantis) The day was in between death and rebirth wearing the black velvet cloak. Two female voices were heard. “Look at this girl...what’s her name? Yeah, Amalia Sync. Let us see what the great lord...hehehe...INTERNET has to say of her...second daughter of Mr. Sync who is one of the richest persons in the world. Amlia is very fond of painting ...Oh my God! Look at her paintings. It is not even abstract or modern art. It is simply worth nothing.” “Yeah, you are right. I think you must leave now, have a sound sleep and let me concentrate on my masterpiece. Good night Suzy.” “Good night.“ The silence was made to be silent by the banging of the door and the roaring of the engine of a car.

.....

It was a birth of the new day announced with great pleasure by the chirping of the birds. She sat down on the chair near the window and resumed to paint on her canvas. It was a beautiful picture of a little child looking at some bubbles. Her brush swayed and slid on the canvas. The stroke made painting look perfect but came another stroke and made the painting look more charismatic than the previous one. The process repeated several times. It was like each stroke spoke of her energy and love towards art. Her enthusiasm on the highest level, she made the last stroke and with the setting of Sun, her painting was complete after passing many stages, which were perfect. Beyond perfection was the right adjective for the painting. She closed her eyes and thanked God.

She relaxed her shoulders and kept her paintbrush and paints aside on the stool with utter respect and gratitude. She moved a bit away from the painting to examine it .It was her masterpiece on which she had been working since the past six months. The proud parent picked up her child and put it exactly in the centre of the mantelpiece. The innocent and curious expression on the face of the child when he looked at the glossy bubbles was simply attractive. There were two men in the picture .One was a man who was wearing a crown and blowing bubbles, adorning the forehead of a caped figure with wings made of swords. The other man was sulking and unsuccessfully trying to push the child away from the bubbles. The bubbles were weird and seemed to be made of an extremely strong substance .It was her allegory, which was irresistibly attractive. She searched frantically for her mobile phone in her handbag that lay on the bed.
Many charming paintings witnessed the anxious expression on her face as she put her thumb and fingers on the phone to create the pattern of numbers she wanted to. As soon as the phone was picked up ,her heart dropped. The walls claimed to hear the conversation-
“Suzy! I have completed my masterpiece. Come fast and take a look at it .You will be awestruck” the muffed voices on the phone spoke something like this-“Look, I am so sorry Mist but unfortunately I will not ...I mean i cannot come to your house.” Mist felt as if a cloud had just exploded on her head. “Why can’t you?” Suzy replied that she was with Amalia and that she had signed Amalia as her artist to represent the country in the International art exhibition instead of Mist. “But hadn’t you promised me that it will be me who will be going to do that? Why are you doing this?” “Look, please try to understand that I really wanted you to do so but all the other members want Amalia and after meeting her, I change my opinion .It is her who I want to see.” Mist could not take it anymore. She guessed that Suzy had told her about Amalia a month ago because she was planning to take her. Mist shouted, “You are such a big cheat. I had turned down the offer to work for QUIMPLE when they offered me a job with much higher salary because I wanted to stay with you as I thought we were friends. I know why did you choose Amalia. You chose her because she is the daughter of that person who baths in money. She is filth rich for sure and now I have a proof for it as I am the victim. Oh yeah, her dad would surely have thousand contacts that will help her win, won’t he? It will bring glory to your organization that is why you are taking her. Well she is buying her prize and is buying you people. Real artist need not do that. No, no, not at all. People respect them because of their capability. People love them; people do not look up to them as slaves do to their masters. An artist wins when the other person is able to connect to his painting but for people like Amalia winning merely means holding a trophy in their hands. You are compromising on my dreams just for some pieces of paper and newspaper front pages. You know that she does not have any talent; you had spoken that with your own voice box. Even a fourth grade child paints better than her .She does not even do abstract or modern art. She does nothing. You have broken my trust. No, dare you speak now.I have not begged for an explanation as I do not need one. Just do me one last favour-forget that Mist ever existed.”With these words, she threw her phone at the wall. It smashed into many pieces. She ran and picked up the painting from her mantelpiece and put it into her cupboard. She intended to burn it up in the fireplace tonight. She not only wanted to do that, she wanted to burn the whole house, all of her painting and herself into the fire.
She slammed the door of her house and ran away into the forest. She did not have to pass many tall towers and big buildings because she lived on the border of a jungle as it gave her inspiration. But now she thought that all the inspiration will become soil as her wooden house would burn to ashes. She ran and ran and ran until it was dark and twilight had left the party.She decided to return home and prepare her pyre. The last year she was given the assurance of representing her country in the art fair .it was the most prestigious art fair of all times. She was just nineteen years old. Their group had still not made an official public announcement of who would be going. She was among the top artists of her country, but her prize had been snatched by a girl who was in no means an artist. She just painted painting without meaning and beauty. She knew Amalia’s father would do anything to secure his daughter’s happiness even if it included ruining the life of a very capable artist. Mist had left her house when she was sixteen years old with the aspirations of becoming a painter. Her family had opposed her decision bitterly but her love of art was stronger than they believed. She informed them that she was leaving but had not got a response from them. They wanted her to become a doctor, but she had other plans. She was extraordinary at studies and easily outshone other children with a huge gap
The house, which she was going to burn today, was bought by her after from the money she had collected after working as a waitress for two years. That time had been a really harsh one. She used to sit on the streets in hope for a buyer for her paintings. One day , Suzy had come to that place and noticed her sitting there. She was fascinated by the paintings and got to know the story of Mists’s life. She took Mist to her home where she stayed until she was eighteen and had her new house. After her new house was done, she left the job of the server, as she had become a permanent member of Union of Art and earned twenty thousand per month. She also took up an art course that refined her coarse skill and turned her into her mature form. She could keep herself and her art alive. She loved Suzy like a mother and was totally shattered by her phone call this day. She had been looking forward to that exhibition because she knew she would be able to go back home but now it was all over. She loved art and could not see her field being adulterated with money as art was the purest thing on earth according to her.
She opened the door of her house and stepped in. She was surprised to find the members of Union of ART standing there. She regretted not having put a lock on the door. She never put a lock on the door because no one came to this part of the jungle except Union Of ART members and she trusted them all until this morning. She thought that they had come to apologise and so she turned to run away because she hated them tremendously at that moment but Adam caught her arm. She looked around the room at the very familiar faces who were her new family and much older to her. “Mist, we wanted to confess something to you.”Suzy said coming close to Mist. “What?” Mist asked her eyes all red. “I am so sorry but that phone call was a joke. Today is the first of April. I knew you were engrossed in your work but how could you have forgotten this special day?” “WHAT?” “Yes, it was a joke. You are our one and only representative. A true genius. Amalia ...she does not even know us and we have never met or talked. She herself admits that she is not even an average painter. Actually it is her dad that we talked to .He is a great art admirer and had come to our ofiice. He was very pleased at your paintings and insists that he looks after your finances so that you can continue to paint .I hope you haven’t done anything wrong to your paintings.” Mist nearly fainted from this good news and the relief that she had not yet burnt her paintings and the masterpiece. She started to cry and laugh at the same time and hugged Suzy. They all were really happy and laughed the night.

.....

Mist went back to her family and they were pleased to hear how well she was doing. She still stays in her house near the forest. The art exhibition went exceptionally well and Mr.Sync had become a really good friend of hers. Mist knows that Amalia’s pictures were art too and that Amaila was a really nice person now that she had got to know her. In an interview she said that the key to making a masterpiece is dreaming and never trying to burn your masterpiece in anger .She has many more masterpieces adorning her house. She thanked God for her beautiful life. When asked that what is her favourite masterpiece she gives a very pleasant reply. Her favourite masterpiece is her life as it is a perfect balance of everything and has been full of mistakes and imperfections.