Eyes of the Painting

By Arianna Fottis

It is February 14, 2015, the 2-year anniversary of Jane and her boyfriend, Bruce. Bruce and Jane were like the 21st Century Cory and Topanga; they were inseparable lovers, that is until today.

For their anniversary, Bruce took Jane where they first met, The Museum of the Past. This museum included many different things. It had real paintings from famous artists, such as Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, and many others. It also had dinosaur bones, statues, and sculptures. Jane and Bruce are both history and artist fans, so this is the place where they bond the best.

“Oh Brucie, you shouldn’t have!” Jane exclaimed as she gave Bruce a big hug.

“Anything for my girl!” Bruce replied to Jane as they started walking into the museum. 

The walls were towering over them, each covered in photos, paintings, and signs pointing to their respective rooms throughout the museum. There was a museum gift shop and a restaurant inside. Bruce pulled Jane along to the gift shop.

“Brucie, what are we getting in here that you’re so excited about?” Jane asked as she was being pulled towards the shop.

“Something I know you’ll love,” Bruce said as they reached the door of the shop. Bruce led the way with Jane in the shop to a single beautiful necklace hanging on a hook.

“I wanted to get you this,” Bruce said to Jane.

“Oh Brucie…this is gorgeous!” Jane exclaims.

Bruce purchased the necklace for her and put it around her neck. It looked beautiful with her outfit. 

They then started walking through the museum. They saw dinosaur bones, fossils, statues, and sculptures. Everything was going perfect. The final corridor was the painting exhibit. This was the exhibit where they met for the first time. The walls were covered on both sides with famous paintings. There was one new painting, however, that Jane had never heard of or seen before. Out of all the others, it had caught her eye. She led Bruce over towards it.

“Hey babe, I gotta go to the bathroom, be right back!” Bruce exclaimed as he saw the painting.

“Didn’t you just use the restroom ten minutes ago?” Jane asked. However, Bruce was already nowhere to be seen.

While waiting for Bruce to come back, Jane kept looking at the painting. It was a painting titled “The Lonely Girl.” It was of a youngish girl sitting alone in a field. She was wearing a bonnet and a white, flowy dress. She was holding one single rose. The girl’s eyes were looking directly at the viewer.

Jane felt like the eyes of the painting were staring her down. Jane didn’t want to examine too much about the painting without Bruce, so she sat down at a bench that was near the exit door of the corridor. Nearly 15 minutes passed and Bruce still has not come back. Jane was really starting to wonder where he was. Jane tried to text him; however, he never responded. She decided to play a video game on her phone until he got back. One by one, people in the corridor started to exit, until she was the only one there, and the museum was about to close. Finally, Bruce came back into the room.

“Bruce, you had me worried sick! Where the hell were you?! I texted you like ten times!” Jane exclaimed angrily.

“I’m sorry babe, work called, and they suddenly needed me in. I was on the phone the whole time with my boss trying to convince him to let me stay since it’s our anniversary,” Bruce replied.

Jane sighed. “Fine Bruce, but please don’t leave me again here! It got really lonely without you.” Jane moved closer to Bruce to give him a hug. Bruce started walking towards the painting, disregarding her.

“Babe, come look at this painting,” Bruce said to Jane as he walked over to the painting. Jane followed him. “Babe, look closer to it. I see something wrong with the girl in the painting,” Bruce exclaimed.

Jane leaned closer near the painting until her face was only less than two feet away from it. Suddenly, she felt a push, and the room started spinning until it went dark.

Jane woke up a outside. It was very bright and breezy. She was holding a single rose. She looked up and saw her boyfriend, as if he were on a TV screen. Suddenly, a girl about her size appeared next to him.

“Babe, you’re finally back!” Bruce exclaimed to the mystery girl. He gave her a hug and a kiss. “I got this for you babe!” he said as he took a necklace out of his pocket and put it around the girl’s neck.

“Sorry that you ended up in this situation, Jane,” Bruce said toward the paining, “But, I had to take this risk; it is very hard for me to see you go,” he exclaimed as the other girl gave him another hug.

“You’ll get used to it,” the girl said to Jane.

“Let’s go babe”, the girl said turning toward Bruce. Bruce and the girl walked away laughing.

Jane started crying and leaned her head into her knees. Slowly, she became stiff, until she couldn’t move. Her fate was sealed; her life was over. She had become the lonely girl in the painting.