A Stroke of Love

Sam is in a rage trashing her apartment, tearing all her paintings. During her rage she knocks over some candles and her place starts to catch on fire.

*6 Months previous

Why Date When You Can Paint

Sam, Marco and Leah, all three very good friends, go about their lives, browsing through dating apps on their way to work while on the bus, lunch, or while watching Netflix at home. They usually talk to each other about dates they go on, give each other advice and mostly just hang out.

Week after week, nothing much changes in their lives, they continue going on dates, meeting new people or hanging out with each other. Not all bad dates, some people just seem to be abducted by aliens or something after the first date because they are never to be heard from again. Some turn into multiple dates, others just simply lose interest. A few one night stands here and there.

Sam begins to grow tired of this dating life, and wants to take a break for a while. She remembers being a little girl watching Bob Ross paint on tv and making it seem so easy. She never thought of herself as an artist but always felt like she wanted to try painting as a hobby. At first she uses pictures she has taken while on trips to replicate onto a painting. Just can't get a brush to last more than a week. Finally she comes across one at a shady website that promises the brush will last a lifetime. Immediately there is a difference in her paintings so she quickly gains confidence. A few weeks pass meanwhile Marco and Leah are still going through dates.

Sam has enough confidence now to start painting people, she has a vivid imagination so she just paints people that come to mind. Before starting a painting, she gives it a name, then whatever comes to mind of what that person with that name looks like to her, that is how they will look. The 3rd painting of a person, she names Rachel.

Art Imitates Life or Does Life Imitates Art?

What nobody knows is that the people in her paintings are coming to life, and have a whole life setup according to Sam’s imagination or scenery in the painting. Once she finishes the painting, those people disappear as if they never existed.

One day Marco decides to come visit Sam and to catch up since they hadn't talked much in a while. One of the paintings catches his attention, as he gets closer to it he recognizes the person on it with the name and everything. It is a painting of Rachel. He questions Sam on how she knows Rachel and when did she see her last? Sam explains people in the paintings are not real, they just come to her imagination and she gives them names, there is nothing more to it than that. He does not believe her, and goes onto telling Sam of the couple of dates he went on with Rachel. And how he thought there was a connection with her, and suddenly he stopped hearing from her. He even went to her apartment, but it was empty as if no one had been living in it. She brushes it off as a coincidence. Marco is convinced there has to be something more to this but can't figure out what or how. He does get a glimpse of Sam’s current painting named James and makes a mental note of the way he looks. They go back to enjoying the evening and eventually call it a night.

The following week Leah and Marco hang out. Leah starts telling him of the guy that just ghosted her after a few dates that went well. She mentions his name is James, Marco spits out his drink in disbelief. He starts describing the way he looks even though they never met. Marco knew James was from Sam’s painting. He tells Leah about Rachel and how Rachel and James are two paintings that Sam has done recently. This sounds a little too whacky to Leah and doesn't really believe him. Marco has Sam let them go over to see these paintings. Unfortunately the canvas that James was painted on got paint spilt all over it so they could not see it. The night ended with Leah and Sam being skeptical but Marco still feeling he was onto something with those paintings and their dating life.

Due to the recents events and Marco believing people on Sam’s paintings are coming into their lives, he takes a break from dating. However Sam was interested in Marco's theory, and after hearing from Leah and Marco had some success in dating. She wanted to test out Marco's theory and see for herself and make a new painting of a guy and see if she can date or at least meet this person from her painting.

A Lovely Stroke

Sam begins a new painting named Roberto, making sure she does not finish the painting. Several days pass by, and she decides to get on her favorite dating app. A little surprised but not completely shocked that she finds Roberto in there. They meet up, go on several dates and have very good chemistry from the start. They quickly develop a bond and a deep connection. The same as Marco had with Rachel and Leah with James, but now she is experiencing it for herself. She does not tell Roberto that he is just a painting of a random person. But she does let Marco know that he was right all along. She is confused how it is even possible. 10 months pass by and they move in together. Roberto knows that Sam enjoys painting, so while she is at work he unpacks all her painting things and sets up their spare room as her studio. He sees the painting of him, and is amazed how it looks just like him. He realizes how talented Sam is, and wonders why she never showed him all these paintings. But the painting is not complete, so he looks for a brush to finish it for her. He is just thinking she will be happy just to have a paint studio. But will be excited to see his painting is now complete so she can move onto the next. As he is going over his painting for the final details, the brush falls to the ground.

A few hours later Sam gets home. She knows he is home because he didn't work that day and was just going to unpack. She makes her way around their place seeing all the work he's put into unpacking. Every room is either fully unpacked or close to it. "ROB!?" She calls his name. No response. She goes to open a bottle of wine, grabs 2 glasses, "ROB! WHERE ARE YOU!?" she yells. Still no response. She thinks to herself he must be tired. So she continues going from room to room looking for him. She walks into their spare room seeing all her paintings hung up perfectly. She hasn't been able to hear him or find him so surely he's in this room. "Roberto" she calls his name in a softer voice to not startle him. Still no response. Sam knows he is not asleep, because he snores pretty loud in his sleep. But she's not concerned, she thinks he's actually hiding trying to scare her or something. So she continues looking at her paintings as if they were displayed in a museum. As she makes her way through the room she sees a paintbrush on the floor. *PANICK* set in.

She walks closer to it and sees the painting of Roberto is complete. Not knowing how to react, she started screaming, then tears followed. Her mind raced knowing exactly what had just happened. Roberto finished his own painting, and just like Rachel and James when their paintings were complete, he too disappeared.

The Last Draw

Sam goes on a rage trashing her apartment, tearing all her paintings. During her rage she knocks over some candles and her place starts to catch on fire. The Fire Department is able to get to her home on time and put out the fire, but not before mostly everything burns down. She confesses to the Chief Inspector that the fire started because she went on a rampage. Sam tries to explain that the paintbrush is cursed and so are all her paintings. Leah comes to calm her down and take her to her place to spend the night. The next day Sam is still going on and on about the cursed brush, she goes to the fire station to make sure they find it and get rid of it. At this point the Chief thinks she is mentally unstable and sends her to a mental institution.

Marco knows Sam is not crazy, and wants to help her out of the mental institute. He goes to search for the paintbrush, it takes him most of the day digging through the rubble but finally finds it. He starts making paintings of people but he is never able to locate them so he just completes their paintings to make them disappear. He follows the same formula of giving them a name first, then painting them. No results still! He begins to wonder where do all these people go? Following his curiosity and still wanting to help Sam. He begins to paint himself, as well as the paint brush before completely disappearing.