Excerpt: From Here We Move Forward

It was like looking into another world. The painting Adam had just finished. With all that's been happening – school, final project, Cheyenne's latest checkup – he was wondering if he was simply going crazy from the stress. Or maybe it was an optical illusion? Or a lack of sleep? Possibly a dream?

Just two weeks ago, spring vacation had marked the end of the long winter and the beginning of warmer days. Adam awoke in his bed, at the home he grew up in, on a dew laden morning from a most inspiring dream of a mystical kingdom with a beautiful princess who spent her days hiding in a distant tower. There she would sit out her days reading a book, looking out at the valley below, and exploring the contents of the long deserted tower.

Adam wasted no time in collecting the materials and beginning the first piece of this “Princess Marie” series. It would consist of five to six paintings of the princess with the point of view coming from the same place on the inside of the tower. But in each one, the princess would be in a different pose, position, angle, doing something natural every time. Some would show the storage in one way, and others would have it moved about. But all from exactly the same viewpoint and perspective in the room, like a fixed camera. And as the pictures progressed, so would time in that would, showing the girl getting older and older until she reached young adulthood.

Now it was two weeks after that initial inspiration, and the first painting of the series was complete. A girl about nine or ten was exploring the tower for the very first time and wiping the years of dust off a mirror across the room. Adam was pleased, as he gazed upon the first of his masterpieces. Adam closed his eyes with a perfect sense of self-satisfaction.

“Eh? Who are you? Are you alive?”

Adam snapped his eyes open at the sudden, unknown voice of a child. He passed his head left and right, looking around his room for the source.

“Ah! You are alive! I thought so!”

Adam glanced back at his newly finished painting to find that the girl had moved. She had not simply changed positions, but was physically moving. He gaped on at her unable to believe his eyes. And so he sat there wondering if he was awake or if he had passed out from being up all night. Or perhaps he was hallucinating? The logical reasons why this could happen were getting less and less probable, and more and more ridiculous.

“You-you're...talking to me?” he stuttered. “You're real?”

“How rude! Of course I'm real! Aren't you?” She seemed annoyed that someone would imply that she wasn't.

“Yes. I am. But-”

“Are you a wizard?” She asked suddenly.

“A what?”

“A wizard. My daddy talked about them once. They can do lots of miraculous things. When I looked the first time, this was just a painting of an empty room, but when I looked again you were there!” She smiled definitively. “So, to appear in a painting, you must be a wizard!” The child looked pleased at her logical deduction.

Adam chuckled at her reasoning. “Well, I guess you would think something like that. However, I'm not a wizard. I'm an artist.”

“An artist? Like those guys that daddy hires that make us sit still for a long time, and yell at us because he doesn't like our clothes?”

“Yeah, well, a little different. I paint landscapes, mostly.” He thought for a moment. “But I guess you could say that an artist is a type of wizard. The things we paint contain our very own souls, and that creates a type of magic for some people. You understand?”

The girl looked puzzled and didn't seem to buy that explanation. “If you say so.” She turned around and began walking away from Adam. “So, Mr. Artist, by what name are you called?”

“Ah, you really want to know? Tell me yours first”

“No!” She said defiantly. “I asked you first!”

He laughed again. “Fine, fine. I'm called Adam Rodenbury. Now it's your turn.”

She turned to face him and gave a gleeful smile. “I'm Marie! Marie, the Princess of Morrisey and it's future Queen!”

*************

"I have instructed the palace attendants to prepare guests rooms for you and your companions. Clean yourselves up and join me for supper. We begin at eight o'clock, please do not be late. You will find suitable attire in your quarters." Queen Marie's haughty words just made Taniah irritated at her “good will” hospitality. She didn't care if that woman was a Queen, she just wanted to find a way back home. And what was up with Adam?! Him and his stupid half-assed “Yes, Your Highness.” That boy just instantly accepted what happened and didn't even allow them to say anything.

“That damn Adam. I'm SO pissed off right now,” she said to Casey as she searched the wardrobe for some “suitable attire.”

Casey didn't answer, but just looked solemn by herself, sitting on the on the four-post canopy. She wasn't really listening to what Taniah was complaining about, because she was too busy reflecting back on how Adam and Queen Marie were interacting earlier. It seemed to her that the two had a serious prior history before, though they only met face to face today. And everyone else's reaction to the name “Princess Marie” had left her feeling left out.

“Princess Marie was a series of paintings that Adam did in his junior year . That was before you came here this year as a freshman. That series made him pretty famous throughout the school, so everyone knows who “Princess Marie” is. But if you weren't here, then I guess you wouldn't know about it, huh?” Taniah had explained to Casey who “Marie” was.

Casey disagreed. “But Lori knew about it! Why!? And he's just a freshman too! It's...not fair.”

Taniah sighed. “You really don't pay any attention to what's going on in the school, do you? Lori may only be a freshman, but if you looked at the other winners of the art show, you would remember that Lawrence was one of the second place winners. It's just that Vincent and Adam's pieces were so embarrassingly displayed that his work was overshadowed.” Taniah turned to face her. “You understand?” She scoffed. “But you never would have thought it, huh? That Lori was such a prodigy in art? The kids got more spunk in him than I first thought.”

Casey nodded and tried to not think about it so much. But here she was, still thinking about it anyway! She could curse herself over her lack of self-control in her own thoughts! She just couldn't help feeling like Lori and Queen Marie had somehow beat her, which didn't do anything for her own self-esteem. Somehow all this thinking did was make her feel dirty and ugly, not a feeling she's particularly used to feeling.

“Hey, Casey? Are you listening to me?” Taniah had finally picked out something appropriate for the two of them. Now it was just a matter of putting them on. But Taniah couldn't help but notice Casey's distant attitude. “You've been out of it for some time. Don't tell me your still hung up on being left out?”

Casey snapped out of her reverie and her mind returned to the matter at hand. She hurriedly shook her head. “No, it's just...it's just a lot to take in all at once.” Casey was referring to the explanation that took place shortly after the Queen's identity was revealed. Adam, having figured out where they were and what might have happened, spent some time describing his experiences with Princess Marie talking to him through the painting since she was a young girl, but how to her Adam seemed to never get older with the passage of time. Together, they spent some time speculating why this was possible and weather or not it was real. Speculations ranged from imagination, wizardry, delirium, a cosmic window. At one point, Queen Marie was convinced that Adam had a curse on him that trapped him inside an old painting and she even tried to break it!

Their contact had finally ended with the completion of the last of the “Marie” series. It makes sense then, that after months of no contact, that time in this world would advance so quickly that the next time they met, which was after they were transported here, that Marie would have become fully grown and accepted her role as Queen of the Morissey Kingdom. However, on their last conversation, that was when Adam was feeling less than inspired for his first project, and consulted the Princess on the matter. She suggested that he draw a landscape of Morissey as she described it to him. And so he did and that created the Best of Show piece at the Fall Art Show at the Leeseburg Art Institution.

So that was where they were, inside Adam's painting. It was all so unbelievable that she wasn't sure whether she was simply dreaming or not. But the pain she felt in her heart was definitely real enough to convince her that this was really happening.

Casey quietly examined the dress Taniah had picked out for her. It was a Renaissance style long gown, lined in pink and auburn ribbons and lace. It had a modest neckline and short balloon sleeves that ended just above the elbow. In the back, there was a decorative auburn ribbon that would be tied into a bow. “Hurry up and get dressed. We have some time but I don't think we want to give that witch any more reason to look down on us.”

Taniah had already stripped and was negotiating with some underwear that seemed too complicated, and too small, for the excessively big bosomed Phily-girl. Casey giggled and stood to offer her services to her BFF. “Silly, you have to tie it like this.” She effortlessly got a handle on the corset and helped Taniah tie it in place.

“Phew! Damn, girl. The fact that your comfortable with these types of clothes scares me to death.”

“I've had lots of practice.” Casey was feeling much better, knowing that she wasn't alone in her situation. Taniah was there for her and she would be there for Taniah. That would never change even if they were to be separated. That thought gave her much courage.