Raindrops

A low whine escaped her throat as she tossed her bag onto the floor in frustration. She needed to get a hold of herself. A whole day of avoiding being productive was never good. At least, that’s what Ellie kept telling herself despite ignoring her personal duties. It's not that she was purposey trying to fail or avoid her obligations, but her ability to tune out the world and focus solely on art has seemed to just disappear altogether.

There was no going back in the day though. It was past eight o’clock already. If she wanted to get any sleep, she’d need to quell the chaos in her mind, that is...if her mind would even allow it.

With a huff, Ellie flopped onto her chair and put her headphones on. It was a cold, rainy October night, so her mood called for a Halloween playlist; particularly one with darker, more brooding songs. She settled on a playlist that satisfied her needs and wrapped the bottom half of herself in a warm fleece blanket. If she was going to be productive and sketch something, she needed her arms free. For a few minutes, she flipped through her sketchbook, admiring past works she did before she settled onto the first blank page. She stared at it for a moment and grimaced. Drawing used to be something she did without a second thought or without a care in the world. It was almost like a reflex. She didn’t care or think about how it turned out; she would just put it on a page. Now it had become a process, and one more thing for her overthinking brain to fixate on: her dried up passion.

Ellie let out a soft, low growl in frustration and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Behind her, a pair of sharp claws slowly curled around the top of the chair. A large, snake-like tail wound itself around the base of the chair, barely brushing against Ellie’s blanket strewn out on the floor. Ellie opened one eye to see a large shadow creeping across her lap and sketchbook. Without looking up or removing her headphones, Ellie barely acknowledged the monster’s presence.

“You’re blocking the light, Rosemary…” she said flatly.

She finally glanced up at the creature whose mane oscillated slightly between hues of blue, purple, and soft a red as her vibrant, green eyes gazed curiously at the sketchbook.

“I didn’t even draw anything yet,” Ellie sighed, letting out a faint chuckle as she laid her head back to get a better look at Rosemary.

She was beginning to recognize when and why certain colors showed up in the monster’s mane. It was all too common seeing her hair turning a deep blue or a bright, angry crimson, but the purples were new. Ellie’s eyes slowly listed over to the window just past Rosemary. The rain was coming down hard and blurring the outside into a swirling mess of color and light. It almost matched the colors in Rosemary’s mane.

Ellie pursed her lips and flicked her eyes back over to her monster, noticing how, the longer she stared, the more pinks and purples appeared in her bushy mop of hair. Rosemary’s emerald eyes flashed excitedly as she glanced from Ellie back down to the sketchbook. Ellie nodded back, stifling a small grin and took out her markers, letting her hand dance around the page as if it had a mind of its own. Rosemary let out a content grunt and watched intently as Ellie let herself melt further into the chair and fill the page up with color.