Life Giver

“Charlie!” Amanda called out, skipping her way over to the little boy under a tree.

“Hi Amanda, did you sneak out again?” Charlie asked.

“No! My mom said I could go out!”

“Already? Weren’t you just grounded for sneaking out last time?”

“Shush!”

“Alright.”

“Anyway, what are you drawing?” Amanda peerd over Charlie’s shoulder.

“A butterfly. It’s almost done.”

“It’s almost done?! Wow, this is the first time I’ll see it!”

Amanda plopped down on the grass scattered with dandelions next to Charlie. Her eyes locked on to the delicate lines flowing out of his blue crayon like magic. The butterfly’s wings were already colored with purple spots with a blue base. Just the right wing was left to be colored in. And as he went over the last white spot in the wing, the whole drawing started to glow. From the black antennas to the blue and purple wings.

“Wow…” Amanda whispered.

Then, the butterfly slowly came to life. Like a sticker, it peeled off the page and started flapping its wings. As it flew away, Amanda watched in amazement, and Charlie watched in admiration. The scribbled-in wings became delicate and paper thin.

“You really are ‘The Life Giver!’” Amanda said.

“That’s what everyone calls me?” Charlie gave her a puzzled look.

“Yup! Everything you draw comes to life. Isn’t it a fitting title?”

“Sounds kind of…corny.”

“Ohhh! I want corn! Popcorn! Can you draw popcorn?”

“Amanda I don’t think you can eat what I draw.”

“Why not?”

“Well…I don’t even know how this power works. What I bring to life looks so realistic once it comes off the paper. But what are they made out of?”

“So…if you draw popcorn, it won’t be popcorn?”

“I…don’t know.”

Charlie was about 1 year old when his power was realized. Scribbles on his coloring book pages miraculously turned into small squiggling worms. His parents tried to keep the strange power a secret, but Charlie was too creative for his own good. Nothing to draw with meant drawing with food or mud. No paper to draw on meant drawing on the walls or floor. Realizing their efforts to keep him from drawing only made it worse, they got him a sketchbook and crayons.

As the years passed, worms turned into flowers. Flowers turned into small pieces of furniture. Tiny furniture turned into animals and bugs. Everyone knew about Charlie’s power. It was almost impossible not to know when a swarm of butterflies flew out of his sketchbook in the town bakery. Now, at only 11 years old, Charlie rivaled professional artists. He was a natural-more than a natural. The name, “Life Giver,” quickly caught up to his reputation. People came to him, even paid him, for a brand new pencil, a bouquet of flowers, a hat fit to match a dress, and much more. His parents grew concerned, but he didn’t mind. He found this power as a gift, and the girl he loved felt the same way.

“Charlie! Amanda is here!” Charlie’s mom called up the stairs.

“Okay! I’ll be right down!” He called back, not taking his eyes off of his paper.

“No need, you’re too slow for me to wait down there!” Amanda said, now right next to him.

Charlie’s hand flinched as he jumped, creating a dark line over the paper. 

“Oh, sorry,” Amanda looked down in shame.

“It’s okay, don’t look so sad.”

Amanda’s face lit up with a smile, and Charie’s heart skipped a beat or two.

“I-uhm, so what are you doing here?” He asked.

“To see you, of course,” Amanda said.

“You mean to watch me draw?”

“Well…that too!”

Charlie smiled and turned back to his paper. Amanda pulled over a chair and sat next to him. She put her head down in her arms as she watched his hand move. He turned the accidental dark line into part of the drawing, connecting it to line after line until it shaped a bookcase.

“Why a bookcase?” Amanda asked, knowing the furniture he drew only turned out small.

“Grace wanted a bookcase for her dollhouse.”

Charlie took a brown colored pencil from the rainbow of colors he had piled up and started lightly coloring. Every piece of white disappeared behind the light brown. He picked up a slightly darker brown and started coloring over the light brown to add the illusion of shadows. Amanda’s eyes fluttered, being weighed down by the comforting and calm environment she was in. The scritch scratch of the pencils against the paper acted as a lullaby. By the time she opened her eyes, there was a tiny bookcase and at least a dozen mini books piled up together.

“Sleep well?” Charlie asked.

Amanda sat back and stretched, “yup.”

Charlie took his pencil away from the paper and turned it upside down. He lifted the paper, allowing a miniature book to fall out.

“Hey, could you draw me?” Amanda asked.

“What? What do you mean?”

“I mean I want you to draw me!”

“But…what would happen?”

“Hmmm…” Amanda thought for a moment, then lit up, “a lifesized doll of me!”

Unsure but still wanting to please her, Charlie took out an easel and set it up with paints. Amanda pulled a chair up behind the easel so Charlie could see her clearly. Charlie carefully looked at her while sketching her out from the waist up. From her dress to her long, wavy hair, it was a perfect image of his admiration for her. Acrylic paints filled her figure. Sky blue adorned her dress, shined upon by her sunny hair. 

“Alright, all done-” Charlie was interrupted by a thud on the floor, “Amanda?”

He peered over to see Amanda, her black and white body lying lifeless on the floor. 

“Amanda?!” Charlie rushed over to her, only to find her eyes quiet and blank. Her mouth hung open and her arms swung as he picked her up and held her in his lap. Her hair was no longer bright and shining. Her dress no longer acted as the sky.

Another thud banged in Charlie’s ears, this time coming from the painting. His face turned a ghostly pale when he saw the source of the sound. A perfect copy of Amanda’s body, though only the waist up, laid on the floor as if it had fallen from the painting. It weakly raised its arm and used it to pull itself along the floor. Only when its eyes finally met Charlie’s, did he realize the true nature of his power.

Authors Note: I originally wrote this story for a creative writing class, but when I saw this prompt I knew this story would fit perfectly!