"Shh, shh. No need to panic. I promise it will barely hurt."
"HHHMHHHM!"
"Come on. Are you a man, or what? Out of all my ingredients you are really one of the most cowardly. Let me tell you, once I had this incredible beauty. Looked frail, delicate. But made not a single noise while we worked together. I almost wanted to keep her, but life never goes the way one wishes. My indulgence was my downfall. I never expected such a beauty would have the strength to free herself and… oh, haha! Almost talked too much. But you see, thanks to my story you actually calmed down. Well done! Should we start then?"
Emmanuel didn't expect an answer. With an almost gentle smile he approached the bound man and sat down on his roped legs. When Emmanuel unbuttoned the man's shirt, the latter began to struggle again.
"Just stop it already. You are ruining our intimate moment!"
The man's movement indeed calmed down, perhaps due to exhaustion or fear. Emmanuel appeared satisfied. He pulled the shirt away and looked at the man's muscular chest.
"Wow, you are well trained. I wished I could have such a healthy body. Perhaps after my masterwork is done…"
Emmanuel calmly talked to the bound man as he grabbed his knife. He brought it closer to the man's chest, causing him to struggle with renewed vigour.
"Damn it, I said stop! Well, I don't care! You are the one getting hurt unnecessarily if you move!"
Emmanuel warned the man for one last time before finally moving his knife to the man's body. The blade touched the side of the man's chest and a pained groan instantly sounded out. A cut had appeared, and blood began to flow. Emmanuel's eyes instantly lit up as he held the glass in his other hand below the wound.
"Beautiful! Brimming with life! Haha!"
The man was pale and shivering but at this point he did his best to stop himself from moving. He was deathly afraid. His only hope was that Emmanuel would quickly commence with whatever painting he was talking about.
"Good, good! See, it wasn't that bad right? We are already done. Do you see this?"
Emmanuel focused his enthusiastic eyes on the man as he lifted the glass in front of the man's face. He used his knife to mix the blood and the red colour.
"Do you see how gorgeous this is? The red is so much more vibrant! It is brimming with life! Haa, you must think I am a genius. But sadly… I will let you in on a little secret. This wasn't my idea. Instead, it was…
OHHH almost said too much! Haha, I made this mistake before. You know, they will sense it when you talk about them. I should be careful. Perhaps even this was already too much. Noo, no… I might be in for a punishment. Maybe it's not that bad yet. We better stop talking about that. Let's finally start painting!"
The bound man was hit by a wave of relief as Emmanuel finally let go of him. He watched as the artist approached the canvas. After a few seconds of silence Emmanuel began to move his brush. At first the bound man even felt a hint of curiosity below all the horror, but that soon faded as he watched Emmanuel's crooked technique and random strokes.
Emmanuel appeared to be completely enthralled. Abstruse patterns slowly filled the canvas. Some resembled distorted human faces with expressions showing extreme emotions, others were entirely abstract. The canvas was dominated by a dark green mist while the figures came mostly in black and white. Only certain highlights were painted in red. They indeed stood out on the canvas, like little, vibrant stars full of life.
The longer the bound man watched, the more he seemed to be drawn into the painting. The painting came to life, turning and twisting. Soon it was all the bound man could see. Suddenly one of the faces jumped out of the painting shooting at the man with a nightmarish grimace.
"AHHHH!"
With a terrified shout the bound man woke up again. His entire body was sweating profusely. His shaking eyes looked around the room and found no trace of Emmanuel. Yet the terrifying painting was still there. The man tightly closed his eyes and averted his head. Tears ran down his cheek and the wound on his chest kept burning. The man's only wish was to get out of the hell he had ended up in.
Meanwhile Emmanuel didn't care for his ingredient's thoughts. He had downed another cup of coffee and entered the mysterious world again. His flying soul felt nothing but bliss.
After a while Emmanuel returned to reality. His body hurt even more than before but the adrenaline filling every fibre of his being helped him ignore it. He dragged himself back to the other room where he continued his painting.
This entire process repeated four more times. He needed to replenish his red paint once during the process, causing his ingredient to almost die from fear. But in the end, it was all worth it. Physically and mentally exhausted Emmanuel stood in front of his creation with a content smile.
"So, what do you think? It's great, isn't it? Are you feeling honoured?"
While speaking Emmanuel glanced over his shoulder. But his ingredient's head was slumped to the side, probably sleeping.
"Hmm. Must have been overwhelmed. Well, it's pretty late already. Better go to bed as well…"
Emmanuel couldn't suppress a big yawn coming from his mouth. He hastily stuffed a small snack into his mouth before falling onto his old mattress. He instantly stopped moving, seeming not much different from a corpse. His mind however was highly active, racing through dream after dream and world after world. Yet what might drive others insane barely affected Emmanuel. He was already used to the sensation, even missing it a little. He knew that there should be so much more out there which people couldn't even see.
Bang! Bang!
Emmanuel was abruptly disturbed in his journey. He woke up with a groan, his headache even worse than yesterday.
Bang! Bang!
"Emmanuel! Open the damn door!"
Emmanuel sighed inwardly as the hated voice of his landlord rang through the room. He knew the man was persistent.
Bang! Bang!
The landlord once again hammered the door. The soundwave reverberated in Emmanuel's head. It wasn't much worse than receiving a direct hit to the face.
"F*ck! I'm coming, I'm coming! Let me at least wake up! Do you know what time it is?!"
"Do YOU know what time it is?! It's eleven am. Now get your lazy a*s out here!"
"Yeah, yeah…"
Emmanuel slowly stood up. His body protested against every movement. Yesterday's enthusiasm had passed and only the pain remained. No, it has even gotten worse. Like an old man Emmanuel approached the door using whatever he could grab to support his body.
Finally, Emmanuel opened the door by a gap and found the annoyed face of his landlord Gavin staring at him.
"Damn, you look terrible! And what is that smell? Are you on drugs?! You know how that the one thing I don't tolerate are drugs, don't you?"
"Yeah, yeah. As if I'd believe you. But just so you know, I'm not on drugs, I've just drank too much coffee."
"Coffee? Tsk! Sure!"
"It's your choice whether to believe me or not. Whatever, what do you want? Or are you just here to annoy me?"
"You know exactly what I want. You haven't paid rent yet."
Emmanuel instantly fell silent. He drew his head back and looked around the room. Mouldy ceiling, an old mattress, a broken TV. What was he even paying rent for? Unfortunately, he couldn't tell this to his landlord. Emmanuel was forced to smile nicely, saying:
"Gavin. You see, right now… I'm not really swimming in money."
"Emmanuel…"
"Wait, wait, wait. Let me talk. I'm onto something, ok? Give me one more week."
"You're already late by a week! I'll wait at most three more days! Any longer and I'll throw you out!"
"But…"
Emmanuel was just about to negotiate some more when he froze. A sound reached his ears. Sirens echoed in the distance.
"Ok, ok, Gavin. You'll get your f*cking money. Now let me sleep some more!"
"Hmpf. You better keep your word."
With that Emmanuel didn't discuss any longer. He slammed the door shut. Gavin's footsteps could be heard from outside. Emmanuel turned around, his eyes frantic.
"The fucking dogs! What are they doing in this godforsaken place?! Are they coming for me? I… I can't risk it!"
Emmanuel's thoughts raced, pondering the situation. He rushed towards his closet and pulled out a few items. There was one black cloth, the only piece of fabric in his possession he always kept clean. The rest were some simple black clothes. Emmanuel grabbed it all and barged into the other room. Ignoring his ingredient, he used the clean cloth to wrap his precious painting.
The sirens grew louder and louder. Emmanuel felt increasingly certain that they were coming for him. He went back to his old room and opened the single window. A cold breeze ruffled his hair, trying to discourage Emmanuel. But the artist didn't care. He jumped out of the window, clinging to the parapet with one hand and holding his painting and clothes in the other. The floor below Emmanuel's feet seemed so far away. If Emmanuel were to fall, he would pass five floors before his body would hit the asphalt, probably dying on the spot.
Yet Emmanuel was not afraid. He opened his hand and endured a drop of two meters. Suddenly his hand snapped forward and held onto another parapet.
"Ouh!"
Emmanuel's arm and shoulder groaned under the strain. But contrary to what one might think the thin artist managed to hold on.
"I feel like this used to be easier…"
Despite his grumbling Emmanuel didn't stop. He repeated the move a few more times and finally felt the solid ground below his feet.
"I guess that's it for Emmanuel Verou… Time for a new life. A life of luxury and glamour awaits!"