The Soul Painter [completed]

-Chapter One-

Year: 2016

Location: Olympia, Washington, US

The scent of beef ramen permeates everything in Charlotte Lang's dark, crowded cubicle. She doesn't notice how bad it smells as she labors away on her computer.

This is why she needs that promotion: to get past the tiny workspace and the cheap, instant dinners. Not that she has anything against ramen. It's her favorite food-but principle is everything.

The screen of her computer is bright, and her thoughts come fast as she designs the characters again. Last time she attempted this, it didn't work. The Software glitched, and all of her progress was lost.

It's something that she has been working on since her first class of computer animation in college. It's a story-building software, where you create the characters, place the setting of the story, write the first two lines, and then you're done. The computer is supposed to do the rest for you. Unfortunately, for the past seven years, it hasn't worked. It has rejected every story idea that she's come up with.

She clicks onto the computer-animated picture of a boy.

Too young.

She types in "17 years old."

Much better.

Her mind twists in circles around this character, trying not to fall in love with his soulful, golden-brown eyes as she creates him. He'll just be lost like all of her other characters. This test won't be any different.

The grainy voice of her friend Renee interrupts her flow of thought.

"What are you doing? This doesn't look like Game of Aces 2."

Lottie shrugs. "It's not." She continues clicking around, adjusting things. Things like the exact shade of brown in his eyes and whether his teeth should be straight or not.

"Then what are you doing?" Renee rolls her chair into her friend's space, being as nosy as always. She doesn't seem to ever mind her own business.

"I'm giving it another shot," she replies, clicking on several settings for the boy's hair. Dark and curly for sure-it goes beautifully with his coppery-brown skin-but above the ears? Or below?

"The shorter one looks better, Lottie."

She clicks on the longer one.

Renee sighs, rolling her eyes when Lottie doesn't take her advice. "Do you think it will work this time?" she asks, tipping her chair further into Lottie's cubicle.

"I don't know. I've got a different feeling about it."

She gives him life in those next few minutes, while her friend Renee watches.

Full name: Paris Meno Verloren

Occupation: Mechanic

Fatal flaw: The inability to love.

- - -

Year: Unknown

Location: Central

I walk hurriedly down the gray street, my grease-stained jacket pulled around my shoulders. The air around me is cold and dry, unwarmed by the perpetually-overcast sky. The same air plays with my hair, blowing it into my eyes and plastering it to my clammy forehead.