Kelly Nitton slammed the door of her dorm room and sprawled out on her bed. Tears ran down her face as her boyfriend’s, technically her now ex-boyfriend, face filled her mind. Slowly but surely, the sadness shedded and left behind a growing hatred. Kelly tore a sheet of paper from her sketch pad and grabbed her pencil.
Kelly drew his face with harsh lines. The anger flowed from her head down her arm onto the paper. She dragged the pencil across the paper with such force that the graphite almost broke. She sketched the strong jaw and the narrow eyes with an almost-Cubism style. She morphed the face she fell in love with to the face she now hated. After three years of being together, Kelly’s mental image of her boyfriend changed drastically within the past three hours, and she needed proof of that. When she finished the outline, she grabbed her color pencils and surrounded it with various shades of red, orange, and yellow. He burned on the page, and it calmed her.
Just then, her roommate Jane walked in, gave Kelly a cheerful “Hey!”, and plopped into their huge bean bag, the material giving way and hugging her curves. Kelly felt her face blush as bright as a baby tulip blooming.
Kelly drew Jane’s face with soft strokes. This angelic face deserved her care in every line. She shaped the apples of the cheeks and the full lips so delicately. Her heart raced and raced faster the more detail she added. Thankfully, her unknowing model stayed still, studying from her statistics textbook. Kelly always admired her, but assumed it was friendly. Now, she stared at Jane like she used to stare at the man currently on fire. She added gentler colors to this actual profile; pale peach for the skin, light pink for the cheeks, and a cherry red for the lips. If only she could compete with Jane’s boyfriend.
Getting it up to quickly go to the bathroom, Kelly caught a look of herself in the mirror. She had always admired herself and especially her hair. But now she wrinkled in disgust. And she knew why.
Kelly drew her own with hesitant movements. She drew the profile proportionally and modestly, with the exception of her hair. Kelly had long, silky hair that everyone adored, and she drew it with exceptional beauty. Unfortunately, everyone included her ex-boyfriend. She grabbed her white eraser and rubbed out the long curls, almost rubbing through the paper. Paper Kelly was now bald, and Artist Kelly loved the look of it. She placed the paper in her desk and went out to buy a hair razor.
"Thank god for art therapy," Kelly whispered under her breath as she rushed to Walmart.