MIRAGE , number five

i.

chapter one ;
' masquerading through july '

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The art exhibition happened once a year.

Every July, the city held an art exhibit for anyone who wanted to showcase their works. Paintings, drawings, sculptures, whatever they poured their time and creativity into, they could display it— as long as they were willing for it to be bet on. It was fairly prestigious to have your work displayed, even in a hall were the starting prices were lower than the amount effort put into to such carefully crafted pieces.

Y/N roamed the halls to admire all the art, seeing the sheer amount of detail and raw meaning behind each piece and short descriptions artists had wrote out— She quickly realized she was not an artist. She had spent the past year going from each antique store, thrift shops, and furniture stores to recover any of her mom's paintings they had sold a few years ago for some money. The bare minimum amount of artworks to have on display was 3, depending on the size and what it was.

She was lucky enough to recover 4 paintings, fairly sized and framed well. They weren't too expensive after she had spent so much time bargaining back and forth for something that was technically hers— but nonetheless, she earned them back in away her mother approved of, just to pawn them off for double the money. Y/N spent more time writing gut wrenching explanations for each painting than what she did actually searching for them to begin with. Even so, she had some high bids early on. As long as they surpassed a certain price, they'd follow onto the auction which was just as meaningful as the exhibition.

Y/N turned a corner down another hall, one a bit out of the way from the rest of the gallery, but the art works were still fascinating nonetheless. She felt her stomach drop with a nausea-inducing feeling as she continued down the hall. It was just her and a 20-something year old man who wore a hoodie that covered most of his face and a long coat as well. He seemed a little odd as he simply stood in front of the same painting. But by the time Y/N made it towards the other end of the hall, she figured he was just guessing a bidding price to jot down.

"Excuse me," He stopped Y/N before she could leave. "There should be an artist here, Yesi Vy, the one who made that painting over there, have you seen her?"

Y/N thought for a moment. "I'm not sure... I'm much younger than all the other artists here, but she should be wearing a badge like mine." She pointed to the pin she was required to wear with her name on it, which was most likely why he stopped her anyways.

"Well... I'm on a bit of a time crunch and I really just wanted to ask her some questions about her art work." He insisted. "You do know what she looks like, right?"

"I think she's wearing a light pink dress tonight, but if she's not down here... she might be in the busier parts of the exhibit." Y/N shrugged and gave him a light smile. "I hope you find her."

He nodded. "Thank you... Have a great night." The man walked past her with a twinge of guilt on his face.

Y/N sighed and checked her watch to see that the exhibit wasn't really close to being done yet, as there was still two more hours left before people had to leave. She'd still have to pack her mother's art pieces up and wait for personal to collect them. Honestly, Y/N wishes she didn't have to be there or at least didn't have to let everyone know she had art work on display.

There was a dress code given to the artists based on the theme of their pieces, since the organizers thought it would at least be fun that way. Y/N wore a white dress to match one of her mother's paintings on display, it stopped a little bit past her knees and had the whimsical look she was aiming for. She had a thin black cardigan on as well since winter was nearing, but she had a thicker coat in the back room of the exhibit. She never really dressed up since she never had the need too, but her mother insisted on doing her hair and makeup. She liked the way she looked even if she was also cold and was starting to get uncomfortable, but she was pushing the dress code with wearing her sneakers, which were her only pair of shoes. Her excuse was that the painting didn't show what shoes the girl had been wearing, and she imagined that's what she would've painted the girl in, so the organizers allowed it.