BARK!

The door slammed behind me, and at the same moment, the cheerful little face of the dark Cockel Spaniel lying on the bed in front of me turned its attention in my direction.

"Hi Bruno," I said meekly.

Three heavy thumps on the door kept me still, I didn't make a move from where I was standing. With a hint of anger, I sighed, and the scratchy sense of annoyance dwindled with a steady pace.

“Adam!” A feminine voice called from behind the doors “Give it back!”

I take a step back and lean my back against the door. My eyes are directed at the ceiling, straight at the hanging lamp. My gaze was suspended on it, and I shifted all my focus and energy to my tongue.

“I’ll give it back to you tomorrow, alright? I need it for my drawing!” I shout with a sharp tone, in order to make her go away.

“You can’t even draw properly. How much time and money did you spend only to end up not even slightly better?!” She banged once again on the door, Bruno was startled because of it and looked at me, then at the door.

She was telling the truth. No matter how hard I tried, it was impossible for my skill in drawing to improve to any extent, despite my attempts and time spent practicing. I was locked with what I had, although my level wasn't bad.

The most complicated thing I could draw in a good amount of time, that is, within relative decency was a circuit board that took me about thirty hours to make. Still, it left much to be desired.

Pushing that thought aside, I looked at Bruno. He was a smart dog, an extraordinary dog. He immediately understood what was on my mind. Although you can't give him too much credit for intelligence in this case. The reason for this hung on the left, on the wall.

The portrait of Bruno, done by me in about two weeks (and I helped myself in various ways), depicted an English Cocker Spaniel puppy with a Blue Roan coat. The proportions were slightly exaggerated, which had the effect of making Bruno not much larger than the other dogs of his breed.

Yes, Bruno was brought into this world by me. He was under my absolute control, but because of the precision and desire and the thrill of drawing him, which was five years ago, Bruno also had an autonomy worthy of a dog and above-average intelligence.

Here one principle becomes apparent. The more realistic the drawing, that is, the more the drawing looks like a photograph in terms of quality, the more the materialized item or materialized animal possesses characteristics of the item or animal the materialized objects represent. For some reason, such an animal is also more submissive and intelligent, which seems contradictory but it is so. Emotion and motivation in the drawing companensate the flaws, raising the level of the animal or object above the threshold provided by the quality of the picture. Bruno wasn't very realistic in his drawing, but he was pretty good. It's most likely that because of my excitement and religious discipline in drawing Bruno he ended up the way he did.

“Bruno” I called the dog loud enough for my sister to hear. “Bark, if you think Lucy should go away.”

“Bruno, don’t!”

*Bark*

It didn’t help, Bruno did as I wanted him to. I know what others would think, that I’m an authoritarian guy who likes to boss around, otherwise I would let Bruno decide for himself. That wouldn’t be the truth though.

I can’t change the relationship between the two of us in any way. If I can, I don’t know how. Any incentive to perform something, which I can argue with and with reason reject, Bruno interprets as a problem or desire of mine. Anything that goes around my mind, if not done by me, Bruno will try and do if it's in his capability to do it well. At least I think that’s the case, I’m still lost in that matter.

Nonetheless, I had a task to manage. I let Bruno out, so that he would not distract me with his presence. I don’t know why, but I always feel an obligation to play with Bruno, or any animal for that matter, if they’re unoccupied. Peeking outside the door, I observed as he went to the living room to lay before the balcony door, where he usually slept.

I closed the doors and began my routine for today.

I held in my hand a plastic toy, which my sister used as a decoration in her room, until recently, as her school joined a campaign to help homeless children and encouraged students to give up their old toys. She put it in a bag with a few other gadgets she chose to give up.

The fuss you witnessed was because she’s very territorial and assertive. Lucy hates it when someone does something to her stuff without first asking her. I don't know what her problem was, the moment she put the toy in the bag she put into effect the idea of relinquishing her rights to the ownership of that thing, and the fact of carrying it to school made her a mere purveyor of nobody's property. Such behavior contrasts strongly with the fact that she is a generous person, she could open a bag of chips and not eat one single chip and let others do it, but if someone else would've opened it without her consent she would explode in rage and rather throw the bag out and into the trash then allow anyone to take one chip out.

Since I didn’t hear her talk back or bang at the doors, she probably went back to her room. Finally, there was some good in my life. I don’t know what sort of toy it was that I took, but It looked like a mirror or something in that category. It was simple and seemed easy to recreate on paper.

My last experiment damaged my printer. I can always screw things up. So I had to make drawings by hand instead of using the software. But I wouldn't need it today anyway, because the drawing I was planning to do was going to be moderate, and I'm going to a boarding school in a few days, so I don't have time to wait.

So I walked over to the gray table, on it was a dozen cups filled with various markers, crayons, and pencils. I put the toy on the table, took a picture of it, then transferred it to my laptop. I unplugged the monitor, and it automatically went into tablet mode. I put a piece of paper on the monitor, and the photo showing through the paper was clearly recognizable.

I wasn't afraid of damaging my laptop, I had an exact drawing of it tucked away in one of my folders, and I could always get myself a new one if needed. Since the laptop was mine, in a way it was a distinguishing feature, losing information on the drive was never a problem for me. I dread the day when the fact of being broken becomes an irreversible feature, resulting in me pulling out a broken laptop every time.

There are exemptions, which from I am sure of another principle, namely that sometimes in spite of the fact that there is no change in the composition of the picture, I obtain an object that looks the same but acts slightly different. Every now and then when I materialize a bottle of water, it comes out empty.

So, I have turned my thoughts to my work. I carefully made a sketch, it took me two hours. The sketch was clear, and the toy itself was fairly easy to trace, so it wasn't difficult. I added a few elements to make the structure make more sense, I left out one of the levels of the platform the mirror stood on and the wavy decorations that run around the oval shape on the sides. I added shadows for a 3d effect and gave the top part that was missing (because it was visibly broken off) a new shape like a pen nib.

I liked this sketch and accepted it, not wanting to change it further. I didn't want to mess with it further, because what would be the point? I could always make things worse by making corrections, even though I wanted to do well.

I noticed it was already eight pm and therefore time for the evening dinner, so I went to the kitchen and prepared myself a meal. Since mom and dad were in the city for the day, they returned as I had finished preparing the ingredients. Lucy came to ask them what they did and used my position and earlier situation to force me through the authority of my parents to make me do something for her as well.

I had dinner with Lucy, we had scrambled eggs, and my parents didn't have an opinion on the fact that I took my sister's toy, but they made me make dinner for Lucy anyway. The snot still complained that I didn't give enough salt. Anyway, my parents were usually quiet, they didn't say much to me, and they were cold towards me, but I couldn't accuse them of not taking care of me. When there time comes, I'll say shine some light on the details.

I went to my room, Bruno followed me in. For the next two hours, I packed my things, I had prepared a special suitcase with notebooks and drawings that I could use to guarantee myself the necessary things when...

A sad, biting sensation of warmth groggily reverberated through my frame. My heart sped up, and I knew that I would probably have trouble falling asleep, because this is always the consequence that happens to me when I'm anxious.

I sighed shallowly, Bruno walked up to me and nuzzled my leg, after that he started to lick me. I merely looked at him and my negativity made him yelp, he hid his tail in between his legs and walked up to the corner, thinking it’d be best for me if he left me alone.

I didn’t mean to do that! Frustration filled my heart replacing the melancholy in an instant. I started to walk around my room stopping in midway many times, almost in the process of taking something into my hand and throwing it at the wall. I didn’t even have consistent thoughts as it rained cats and dogs in my mind, soaking my brain with only anger.

My usually stable state is constantly raped by emotions that every which way find the pitiest opportunity to push me into a raging pendulum swaying from jaundice to a feeling I could only describe as self-inimicality.

I sometimes wish that Bruno-

NO!

STOP!

Not that thought!

I panic, my ire becoming now despair, as I turn towards Bruno, I breathe heavily under the imponderable weight that rests on my shoulders, making me feel small and weak. I walked up to him hastily and picked him up and took him with me onto the bed, and tightly hugged him, carefully running my fingers through his curly hair.

Bruno… if he knew how much danger I posed to his existence, regardless of the fact I am the sole reason for him being in his world in the first place, would he even dare share one planet with me?

For all that danger you face by living near me, Bruno, you should bite me.

I snicker miserably, knowing that I’m at the point of allowing thoughts that can let me to self-harm. Yet, what argument can strike that reasoning down?

I look at the table, focusing on the drawing I made. I ought to disappear.

I went to bed after some time, but I couldn’t fall asleep again. I thought about the ways I used my unearthly power and the consequences that followed. I felt guilty for doing things that were straight-up immoral and questionable.

When I was little, I could only pull objects from pictures I had made, they lasted for some time and then turned to dust or ash. I never was caught and I took great pride in that accomplishment. However when I turned eleven, I noticed I could do it with pictures that others drew as well, and the objects I pulled from drawings made by me stayed with me forever. That same day I was determined to try and materialize a bird, as it was small, therefore by my logic back then, it should have been easy. I was awful at drawing animals at that time, so I told my mom we had a project and asked if she could do it for me.

After a tantrum, on the verge of crying, for the last time before giving up, I managed to do it. I have pulled out a sparrow from a drawing.

The sparrow played with me, by catching small things in the air I threw, or it did tricks I wanted it to do. My mom drew it well, therefore the sparrow was in a large degree similar to a wild one. At first, it was rather clumsy, because it had no idea how to do what I asked it to do, but after a while, it got the gist and performed the tricks better with each consecutive try.

Then something snapped and my nose started to bleed. I felt dizzy and the world spun around me. The Sparrow that exact moment attacked me and scratched my face. In fright, I wished it disappeared, and I found myself covered in something similar to sand, different in color and size from whatever normal objects turn into after I wish them to cease their existence.

Later, when I turned thirteen and started to care about such things as morality, and responsibility and slowly also licked politics, I asked myself If I had the right to destroy what I have brought into the world…Earlier I just considered it to be fun and saw the animals as unreal; magical constructs. Was it a real sparrow, from flesh and bone, that when on my command died, as a trait of it existing thanks to me, it turned to dust? Maybe it was something that functioned like a sparrow, but in reality, it was not?

This made me think of Bruno, and when we went to the vet for the first time I was nervous he’d turn to dust after being stabbed by a needle. He didn’t, he was a normal dog that would turn to dust the second I would want him to. Was Bruno different in some way? Was it his age and the quality of the art form which I pulled him into this world? Most likely. However, these still were hypotheses only.

Back in the day, I carried a notebook with pictures that were filled with drawings made by "friends" whom I asked to draw stuff in for me in exchange for some money that I also got from drawn pictures. These of course weren’t perfect, as I was only in high school at that time. This will be the third principle, that the objects themselves don’t have to look one to one to how they’re intended to look like. The world or something else that has a role in my power complements what’s missing if the message and intentions are clear, and as mentioned before, emotions matter as well. Of course, just like with the bottle of water I sometimes had to repeat the process. Rather than normal money, I received a banknote that looked as if it was a cut out of the picture.

I once used this notebook to materialize a Doberman to scare some drunk that approached me. What happened to the sparrow happened at that time as well.

A shiver went down my spine, and I became suddenly wet from sweat by thinking about that day, because of the consequences.

The drunk got severely injured by the Doberman I have materialized. He ended up in hospital with two missing fingers. He was deemed mentally ill when he told the doctors what transpired.

I was too scared to unmake the Doberman, and I let it run away. After the situation, I learned in the following three weeks that there were two more attacks. One of them was a lethal case of a girl being mauled by the dog, the other being a chihuahua that had to be put down after the encounter.

In light of these horrifying events, I am more than anyone else justified to question my purpose in life and ask why I live. I know it's shameless for me to say this, but I am on the same level as Jesus, Buddha, Einstein, Da Vinci and many others.

My ability allows me to materialize anything that is drawn, most likely regardless of the surface it was drawn on. I can influence the world in ways these people could only dream of influencing.

I don’t find any justification in using my power to influence the world to such a degree as these people did. In order to be sure I never do, I need to cut contact with humanity.

In the following days, I managed to pack all of my things. I was ready to depart, but not in the same way my family expected me to. Bruno could read my thoughts and he knew what was coming. He didn’t show angst, albeit he seemed less likely to engage in contact with me. My mom noticed this too and said that Bruno sensed I’m about to leave them for university. She didn’t know how far from the truth she was.

I returned the toy to Lucy. She said that the toy wasn’t even hers to begin with and belonged to dad and had something to do with some show he used to watch which he didn’t finish, I guessed it was about horses, since the mirror's frame’s shape was styled like a horseshoe.

To be honest, I found it bizarre that dad kept toys with him in this house. Secondly, Lucy seemed odd when she said that. I didn’t give it much thought afterward.

I borrowed a projector from my neighbour and cast the image of my sketch on a large sheet of paper I hung on my wardrobe. For the rest of the day I redrew the portal I have designed. My hand trembled and shook, my emotions were strong and this only could have helped me in my situation, even at the cost of quality.

My cousin, Jacob, promised to take me to the city and drop me off at the train station. He waited outside my house while I said my final goodbyes to my family. I didn’t cry, but my eyes were watery, which my father noticed.

Having the opportunity, I asked my dad “What was the show about?”

He looked at me strangely. “What show?”

Lucy shot me a fiery gaze, making me stop in my inquiry “Never mind” I said and waved my hand to dismiss the question.

I have decided to place the drawing on the back seats together with my backpack containing the sketchbooks. Jacob was very unforgiving and constantly tried to ask me what was on it and why it was so important that I took it with me.

“You’ll see.” I said after he asked what it was.

“When exactly?”

I planned to do it somewhere quiet, the perfect choice was a dirt road that stretched into the forest or some alleyway. I intended to ask him to stop the car eventually, but since the conversation took a favorable turn I had to adjust to the circumstances.

“If you take the route to our party place, I’ll show you”

He interpreted my words as a rude response “Listen, if you don’t want to that’s alright, I just find it strange-”

“I was serious” I said genuinely and looked him in the eyes.

“What?”

“I’m dead-ass serious, drive there and stop mid track”

There was a minute of silence, we both felt odd and it didn’t help my voice was dry and the tone I spoke with was plainly harsh.

“ ‘kay “ He nodded “As if I couldn’t just stop the car here.”

“I already made up my mind”

“But we might not make it on time for your train.”

“It doesn’t matter” I quickly added

In twenty minutes we arrived at our destination. The route we drove went along a river and further on eventually it would lead towards a place where people seldomly camped, making it a perfect place to meet and have a drink with my colleagues and Jacob.

We stopped midway. Jacob still was baffled by my confidence and probably had thought about my weird behavior. I didn’t pay him much attention and focused on battling my second thoughts about what I was about to do.

It didn’t matter anymore, he could witness my power. What will he do with this information? What will it change?

I took the scrolled drawing and asked Jacob to find two stones to hold it in one place, so that the wind wouldn’t carry the sheet away with it. Weird, isn’t it? It's such an important drawing that I took it with myself, and now I will place dirty stones on top of it.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, Lucy has been texting me for the last five minutes, but I didn’t respond to her messages. I already made a decision, and in order to be consistent with it I knew that I mustn't text her back.

I unscrolled the drawing and Jacob observed that the image of what resembled a mirror or maybe something different, like an archway leading somewhere, slowly was revealed inch by inch with each passing second with the sheet unrolling. He placed one of the stones he found near the sketch, as the drawing reached the upper edge of the paper. When I unscrolled it fully, I held it down by standing with one leg on it. Jacob walked up to me still looking at the sketch and placed the second stone in place where I stood.

“If I knew it would be just this, I wouldn’t have asked you to show it to me” He commented

I chuckled at his comment “This isn’t everything, look now” Jacob raised his brow at that.

I approached the drawing from the right side and knelt down. My hand descended down and rather than stop at the surface of the drawing, it went deeper, sinking into the drawing, creating a ripple-like effect that spread down the drawing but stopped quickly.

Jacob looked at what I did with a dumbfounded look, his eyes speaking both excitement and fear but in a positive, surprised manner.

“Wait…How did you…”

My hand caught something metallic and cold. Instinctively I pulled the portal up, and slowly, as if rising from murky water, the portal’s top parts emerged. Anything I pulled from a drawing had no weight until I pulled it out entirely. This allowed me to turn the portal and set it vertically, which I did.

I saw that the portal's appearance was slightly different from my design. This didn’t surprise me. As previously mentioned, the world sometimes itself adds or subtracts parts if the quality of the drawing is too primitive. Since there was no need for it, I just prepared a sketch, therefore the portal had no colors or fine distinguishing details and ornamentation. However, I was sure of the properties and function it would serve, as my emotions and intentions were clear as day when I had prepared the sketch.

The curvy ornaments on the sides I saw on the toy have been put back in their place, together with the original colors. The top was decorated with what looked like a cartouche with an image of a horse projecting from the surface. Looking at it, I had to admit that the design was very soft and almost childish.

Jacob backed away, looking amazed and frightened at the same time. He switched from a weak smile to an outright expression of pure worry.

“Adam…” He called me with a shaky voice

I carefully brought the rest of the portal up, focusing so that it wouldn’t come out tilted and fall on the ground. At the very end, I found out that the small circular platform I had placed the portal on wasn’t there and as I pulled it up, suddenly I couldn’t anymore, which took me by surprise because I didn’t expect it.

This change in design bothered me. As much as I knew that sometimes drawings after materialization came out different, which was rarely followed by bigger or smaller changes in the way of using the object and what functions it featured, in this situation I began to suspect that not everything will go as planned.

I spread my arms, smiling sincerely and proudly. Jacob walked over to the structure and touched it. He drew his hand away lighting fast, but after a second he reapplied it and even drummed his fingers on the metal surface.

I went back to the car and pulled out my backpack. Jacob watched closely what I was doing, he didn't hesitate to speak up, he was still in shock.

“What is this?” He uttered.

“A portal” My throat tightened, as I replied glaring at him.

Jacob turned grimm “To where?” His wistful tone pierced my heart.

“Away from any sort of human being”, I whispered back.

My hand landed on the side of the portal. The structure let out a low hum that rose up parallel to the volume in a matter of seconds. Pink and blue electrical cords jumped along the iron frame, with the middle shining in the bright colors of magenta and bright red.

Jacob covered his eyes as the wind hurled leafs and soil around, a flashing light that he looked straight up blinded him and made him recoil.

Unexpected burst of white light knocked him down. I covered my own eyes as the brightness was too much even for me. In a heartbeat the light settled down. My years begged my brain to do something about the chimming, deep and loud, which languished mutually with the glow.

It was short and bearable but made me recede in response. I walked up and stood before the portal. Where there was once the mirror now was a pinkish vortex, a slab of energy, swirling like the core of a typhoon.

“Adam!” Jacob gingerly stood up as he called my name.

My heart raced like never before. I tightly gripped my backpack and swallowed hard. I was almost hypnotized by the swirling pattern of the portal.

Author's Note

Welcome,
I hope you will enjoy this story and help me improve by leaving a comment.

And yes, saying that I should stop and focus on other things is an advice too if its genuine.