Red, yellow and blue; the three primary colors* . It would be our first painting day. Art class was one of the classes I truly never understood. There was no procedure or any steps to follow. On the first day, we were all told that we could never ask what to do or what we should do, because it would all be left to the “imagination.” I looked at my lightly scratched wooden brush, with the few bristles it had after years of use, and held it between my thumb, index and middle finger. It was just right, and I saw my little cups of paint all lined up in front of me. My sheet of paper was blank, but soon enough, it would be enveloped in reds, yellows and blues. I looked up for the first time since class started, and watched as everyone around me had stripes and dots and other small marks that came together to form something I’d never seen before.
Everyone had patterns on their papers, like the patterns on whale sharks. Whale sharks are actually unique for their pattern, and even though they have the word “shark” at the end of their name, whale sharks are not sharks. In fact, they are mammals and one of the biggest mammals alive. Ironically, they eat some of the smallest organisms alive: plankton. They can consume millions of plankton in just one meal, and can grow to be ten meters long. People are generally scared of whale sharks, but there’s nothing to be scared of. They are some of the gentlest creatures, and would never hurt someone. Once again, no one should be mistaken by the word “shark” attached to the end of its name, and everyone should appreciate this beautiful creature. Now my pattern, what would it be?
Where would I even start? Maybe at the top, or at the bottom, or be ambitious and start right in the middle. Just as I pressed my brush in the corner, which was the safest spot, everyone got up and started pushing their chairs in. I was last to leave and heard the heavy wooden door slam on the way out, jolting every bone in my body. As I glanced at the polished blue floors and noticed the unusually fresh** smell in the air , the older kids walked by with their seemingly heavy bags. It would be impossible to get around them, and so I made myself as small as I possibly could, forcing my backpack—which was twice my size—through the crowd. I stopped for a second, forgetting what I was looking for. I looked around again, but the stampede had cleared.
The hallway was full, not with people but with images. I stood in front of a polaroid picture, seeing how the blue of the sky clashed with the red of the sun just coming up. Photography was something I wanted to start, one because there was a form to it and two because it showed an evolution. It wouldn’t be like painting, where I had to do something by myself or put a bunch of lines and shapes together to make something new. Photography would be capturing something that already existed and making it last forever, because not everything would last forever. Not the hallway I was standing in or the ceiling above me, not even the cells that make up who I am would last forever. It was be just a matter of time until people started vanishing, one by one, until one person is be left. Once again, they would be in the corner, because that is the safest spot. I looked around and saw that I was in the corner, and it was the safest spot. A bell rang, and just like that, the stampede began again.
*One may say “red, blue and yellow” or “blue, red and yellow” or any of the five combinations other than “red, yellow and blue.” It can be said in any way, but I say it as red, yellow and blue because there is a certain order to it; in this case, a rainbow order.
**A lot of people connect the word “fresh” to a breeze or the ocean, but the ocean really just reminds me of fish and seaweed, which is shockingly salty. The fresh scent was more of a cozy one, like a combination of the Febreze original scent and a blanket after a trip to the laundromat.