A Blank Canvas

Blank. The word haunts me as I sit in front of my pure, white canvas, without an idea in the world of what to draw. I take a deep breath as my eyes scan the room, searching for nothing that will strike me as everything I need. After what seems like forever, something hits me- although, it's not an idea.

"Hey, stupid," my little sister, Jade, yells as she slaps me right in the back of the head. "Mom says dinner will be done soon. We're having green beans, so take it or leave it."

God, I hate her sometimes.

"Just-" I cut myself off before I said something I would regret. I thought for a second, then plastered on a fake smile and told her pleasantly, "Actually, Jade, I'm not very hungry tonight, so just let me be."

Jade was about to go upstairs before her eyes landed on the canvas. "Oh, it looks like we have a DaVinci in our home." 14 year-olds are just the worst. I thought I had escaped them when I graduated from the eight grade, but I guess I forgot I had an idiotic little sister.

"Just leave me alone." I shook my head and faced my empty canvas once again. Still, nothing.

She rolled her dark, brown eyes and stomped loudly up the stairs. Boy, if only murder were legal.

Wait, that's it! Not the murder part, obviously. I mean, that's not too far out there, Jade is the worst, but I should focus that energy into my art. I should paint from a place of emotion, not necessarily realism.

So I get to work on my masterpiece. I use a dark red for our hair colors, and I almost perfect recreate the depth to her eyes, although failed miserably on the green hue of my own. It came together beautifully. Then, I called her down to judge it.

"Come down here, you idiot!" I yelled at her from down the stairs. There was a little banter going back and forth between the two of us, but in the end I was victorious and she stomped back down the stairs.

"What was so-" She looked mesmerized by it. Her jaw gaped wide opened and there was a certain astonishment in her eyes that we saw very rarely these days.

"So, what do you think?" I smirked proudly.

She readjusted her gaze from the canvas to me. "I love it."