The canvas bare null of emotion rests patiently upon the easel. Staring
into the fabric she tries to discern fragments of history, future, love,
sorrow, pain, and torment. A sliver of inspiration could prove enough to
cause a spark fueling an artistic laced tantrum. Her ringing cell phone
breaks her steady gaze into the canvas wasteland. With a deep sigh of
resignation she reaches over and grabs the phone from the table.
Opening the phone she cradles it between her right ear and shoulder.
"Daryl. Where have you been? "
The barrage of yells and loud music is all she hears for a moment before
he starts talking. Another night a different bar and the same drunken
escapades.
Agitated she switches to the speaker phone and places the phone back on
the table.
"Are you at another bar? Don't expect me to bail you out like last time.
I'm done trying to help you."
Daryl stutters and tries to form coherent sentences.
"Babe, watch who you are talking to. You are not my .. hic .. fuckin'
momma .. hic.. . In fact I don't need a filthy cunt like yourself. ..
hic .. Still having trouble painting well here is some ..hic ..
inspiration for you . . . GO KILL YOURSELF!!"
Before Tiffany can respond he hangs up leaving her in shock. Anger,
sadness,and hopelessness swells inside her. Picking up the cell phone
she launches it and watches it hit the wall shattering into pieces.
Still in shock the anger urges her toward the kitchen. The sadness
compels he to open the kitchen drawer and the hopelessness demands she
take the sharpest knife.
The blade of the knife gleams as she walks back to the easel. She sits
and stares at the canvas once more as tears cloud her vision. She takes
the knife and slowly slices her index finger. As the blood begins to
surfaces she begins to wipe it on the barren canvas. Hours pass as she
continues to mutilate herself and cover the fabric with her own blood
and tears. Through out the night she continues on her greatest and last
painting before bleeding to death at dawn.
Tiffany Cassandro died in her study but not before finishing her
masterpiece. The painting title "D is for Daryl and Death" circulated
through out museums and the hands of art collectors. Everyone that has
come in contact with the painting has been murdered and now the painting
makes it home in a dusty museum storage.
Did Tiffany put more than her blood and tears into the painting ? In her
dying moments did her soul find a place in the once barren canvas.
