Chapter 1: Blank Canvas

I get out of my car, careful not to step in the slush from yesterday's snow, and head in the doors of the Cafe Conclusion to order a large caramel frappe. I scope out a nice, secluded window seat and set my bag down. Under the sound of the ceiling fan and faint radio music, I take out my journal and draw a picture of the green succulents next to me. I inhale the nice aroma of cookies and coffee whilst listening to the bells ring with every new visitor. Lost in a daze with the ambient sounds, I hear a man call out my name. "Asia-Marie?". I look up fully attentive now and my eyes immediately direct to his nametag: Jordan. I then just look at him holding my drink and reading the receipt out loud to verify my order. I nod and he hands me the frappe, smiles, and walks off. "He must be new", I think to myself as I've never seen him before. Thirty minutes later of sipping and doodling, I leave the cafe.

"Baby, I'm home", I call out to my boyfriend who doesn't call out to me back, like always. Instead, I just get a muffled sound of him taking another sip of beer. I set my bag on the kitchen counter and open up a can of tuna for our cat Sapphire. The television is loud as hell and honestly gets under my skin, I'm surprised the neighbors haven't complained about it yet. I try to ignore it and head to my office to begin at a painting for my big project, but the walls in our apartment might as well be paper thin because I can still hear the football channel clear as day. I try to drown it out and to help me concentrate I turn on my radio and listen to some smooth jazz, just loud enough for me to get my mind back to work. The next think I know, I hear the television get louder. At this point, I'm boiled up and don't want to fight against the sound, so I head out to the living room and ask him to turn it down. "No, I'm watching my show", he says as he takes another sip of beer. "Please, Ricky. I'm trying to work on my project for the Art Galla". "I said I'm watching my show", Ricky then chugs the rest of his beer and turns the television up some more. I fumble with my fingers a bit while contemplating if I should speak again for I don't want to upset him. "B-baby please. I need to concentrate. Th-this is really important to-". I stop in fright as Ricky quickly jumps out of his chair and stomps towards me. My eyes are wide and my mind is going down the list of all his next possible moves. He raises a fist and yells. "Does it look like I care about your stupid Art Galla shit, Asia? No. Now dont bother me again". His face is red and without giving me a second to speak, he grabs another beer and sits back down. So, just like yesterday and the day before that, I go back to my office and sit there..still trying to figure out what to put on the blank canvas.