The Magic Touch

Drew Potter sighed and picked up his paintbrush. He had had a long, hard day, and he counted on his art to calm him down and take him away from his sister, parents, and friends.


He breathed in deeply, soaking in the atmosphere of the cool, dusty, attic. Slowly, he began to dip the brush into the different colors,
marveling at the simple beauty. When he'd finished mixing the gold (copper metallic paint mixed with a little yellow), he filled the bristles to the maximum and then gently placed the tip onto the smooth, blank canvas.


The minute the brush touched the blank surface, he felt a surge of joy, as if he was creating his own painting world-which, in a way, he was. He moved the brush up and down without even paying attention to what he was painting. He was in his own rainbow world, the colors swirling around him taking away the stress of the day.


He reveled in his pleasure for just minutes until he was plunged back into his own world with the last stroke of the brush.


Saddened a little by this sudden extraction, he gently put the brush down onto the pallet and stepped back to check his work.


He gasped at the clear vividness of the picture. The red he had used melded into orange, then black, strategically placed so they made a true work of art. The eyes were a lovely shade of green that took him into the heart and soul of the painting. There he saw a sudden whirl of green, red, orange, and black, and stepped back at the sudden scattering  of colors.


A rainbow mist surrounded him, literally lifting him off his feet, then placing him gently down again. The colors whirled and spun around him in a vortex of rainbow shards. Then, out of the blue, a sudden, blinding gold light, and he was left on the floor, motionless, shaking in amazement.


When his thoughts and vision cleared, Drew looked around him. From his place on the floor, he saw small rainbow clusters, little bright balls of color shuddering and shaking as they expanded and took form. Then they changed color, from pink to green to orange to black.


These black mists, now formed into humanoid shapes with full torsos and misty arms that trailed off into smoke, created a strange effect as they floated toward him.


As the mist creatures glided toward him, he noticed that they had no legs. Instead their lower torsos tapered off into a rounded shape that faded away much like their arms. He also noticed that the misty heads of the creatures were just black shadows, but with the piercing green eyes with their rainbow demeanor that he himself had painted.


Soon they were on him, the torsos drifting back into mist, enveloping him in a black shroud that carried him back towards the painting.


Through the blurry mist and groggy thoughts, he saw the painting. But now it was only an empty shell, with green, almond-shaped ovals and a charcoal black background.


He was almost passed out by the time the mist creatures stepped up to the picture. The last, bizarre thought he had was that he'd better take his paintbrush with him.

********

Tess came up to the attic to see what was taking him so long. Usually he finished a simple painting within an hour or so, but it had been over an hour and a half now, and she wanted to know what was up.


When she reached the attic, she didn't see Drew anywhere, but his painting was still on it's easel. Wondering what he could be up to this time, she walked over to the stand and looked at the canvas.


She gasped as she saw a swirling black vortex surrounding the outer edges of the painting, angled as if they were closing in on the rest of the picture. However, the bright green eyes floating at random places in the mist didn't bother her as much as the man in the picture. A man who was sitting at an easel painting fast, faster as the mist closed in. When he turned, she almost fell back in surprise. The man was extremely familiar, and he was painting with the same paintbrush her brother used. She knew this because she'd seen it so many times.


Then, the man finished his painting with a flourishing stroke of the brush and turned the easel to face her. On it, she saw an extremely detailed picture of their house, their yard, their neighbor's yards. The detail was incredible. He even got the exact shape of their car.


Suddenly, a starburst of color blasted out of the painting, sending her flying backward into the wall. She stood up, dazed, and became mesmerized as the colors danced and whirled all around her...