Shuck! Shuck! Is the repetetive sound that bounced off the wall and vibrated back into Shauna ears as she glided her pencil back and forth on her canvas. Her structured masterpiece exuded to reflect the work of a confident lady with a bold presence that when she walked into a room she could bring an everlasting light that would shine even when she had left the room. As the world works of course Shauna was no where near the image that was created in her potential work.

Growing up Shauna was not necessarily your class a loser. She was the diamond in the rough that was surrounded by fully polished gems. This meaning her friends had blossomed into eye gazing Lillie's while Shauna was still a weed trying to reach beauty from the outside in. This doesn't mean she didn't have any friends. In fact she was in connect with the most popular girl in school Kelly. Kelly was a 5'7 beauty with golden stricken locks that seemed to perfectly flow down her back, skin as clear as pure ocean water and a figure that seemed to always have the boys mouths glued to the floor. While Shauna was exactly five foot with glasses braces and hair that let’s just say wouldn’t cascade like a waterfall like Kelly's did. I know what you are thinking how is possible that these two are compatible. Well it was not through the fact that Shauna was a fly that was at Kelly's disposal whenever she could chose to. They actually connected on a level that many overlook. A level of creativity. Kelly had always had a sense of creativity but not one that she could ever express through which is why she admired Shauna so much. Shauna was able to take anything that she admired or was feeling and was able to put it in writing or on a canvas. While Kelly admired newest trends and latest handbags Shauna admired new styles of art and new ways to make rhythmic patterns come to life through your pencil.

As Shauna shuts off the low shadowed lights and locks the door to her studio which others like Kelly would call her tomb because she rarely came out to experience New York which was the next chapter of her life after leaving her small town to experience a bigger pond. Even though the pond was big does not mean that Shauna's confidence would spread over her new shores. She gets into her Eco friendly car and looks at her rear view mirror which is something that she often did. Trying to find her true self while staring endlessly into her gateway in to her soul which was as blue as the daylight sky that has not been overshadowed by any clouds, but in Shauna’s life she had plenty of clouds to block the person trying to come out within. Recognizing that she was going to be late she quickly put her keys in the ignition and began to drive away from the lonely space she might as well call home. She drives down the crowded streets of New York where cars are smashed together but in the mist of all the scattered people along the street Shauna still feels as though she is alone. She pulls into the parking lot of Rizzoli’s where she will have dinner with Kelly. She pulls into the parking space with as much accuracy as she can given her anal behavior. She draws on lipstick as if it could depict a different person to the one who knows her best.

She walks into the elegant Italian eatery, where she is greeted by the host who directs her to a booth. A menu unfolds unveiling her idol and friend Kelley.

"Hey Shauna sit sissy time to eat"

"Hey Kelley how are you"

"Good the most important part is how are you?"

Shauna glowed with an everlasting glow that seemed to warm both of their hearts. After some appetizers, entrees and for Kelley a couple of drinks. And in this conversation the saying a drunken soul speaks a sober mind was proven to be a true state.

"Shauna can I tell you something that I wanted to tell you all of our lives" Kelley said slurring her words as they crashed into each other . " I want you to live your life" .

"Okay" Shauna said subtly.

She pours her friend into a cab that night, and walks herself into the car. She stares again into her mirrors searching even harder to find the thing she is trying to climb her way to. Herself.

"Who am I ?" Is what she murmurs as she turns her key and drives off.



Reaching her loft she hurries up the steps as she carries herself to the door and unlocking the door. She switches her tight black dress in for a pair of silk made pajamas. As she lies in the bed she closes her eyes and hears the words of her one and only friend say she just wants her to live with such desperation with a long echo. She opens her eyes for the first time and then opens her blue sea eyes. She jumps out of bed and goes to her bathroom mirror and for some reason she sees no face, hands, breast, feet, or legs she sees a light. And in shock because this is not what she usually sees. For some reason the word, the word LIVE sticks out in her mind. She murmurs it over in over as if it is not a word she had never heard before. All in all she had heard this word before but she just had never done the definition of the word..To exist. She races to her closet filled with clothes that reflected the person she was all along with pops of bold colors, sultry nudes, and flowing pastels she reaches back all the hangers. She digs toward the back and pulls out a white dress of high collection from Chanel and drags on her Marc Jacobs heels. And walks towards the door with a new strut and a new style.


Moments later her car pulls into the parking lot where it all began for her in the big apple. She gets out of the car and for the first time without taking the excruciating moments looking in her mirrors, because she is not searching anymore. She stands in front of the door as if when she opens the door it will be gateway to her new life because it was. She opens the door and sees the blank canvas that she mounted up on the easel the last time she left. She grabs her brushes, paints and pencils that she will use to draw up her new plan of life with. She sways and splats the colors, lines, strokes and shapes on the canvas. This piece reflecting her life is no longer structured it is now free. Her colors are finally liberated to be free.