A Brush With...
"Well I just wanted to check up on you, so I hurried out here after your friends thought I went to bed. I'm concerned about you. You got sick right after you met me. Maybe it's my fault. The least I can do is to help you get better." She stepped toward him.
"Um, thanks, but Grammi already helped me. I feel alright now. Anyway, how'd you know how to get here?"
"You wondered where your little toucan pet had gone. Well, he flew out to Gummi Glen because you were so late in coming back. The rest didn't see him, but I did, and he led me here. He's by your hammock. Look, don't you see him there, sleeping?"
"Oh, okay. Well, Casey, thanks;I'm going to bed now and I guess you'd better get back before they get suspicious and really wonder about you." He wondered a little about why his noisy pet went completely undetected by all except Casey. A slight sliver of fear went through him, but it ceased quickly. He would not allow himself to fear a fellow Gummi bear.
"What do you mean?" she asked, feigning ignorance.
"Gruffi, you know, the brown one, lectured me all the way home about you--like you were evil or something. But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, Casey. When I painted you, I knew I could trust you."
"Only because you don't remember what happened, do you put your faith in a sorceress," she muttered in her mind.
"Well, thanks for not pre-judging me. And, oh yeah, don't forget about your paints and easel and canvas and stuff. It's all out there still. You'll have to get it tomorrow, I guess."
"Thanks for reminding me."
She stepped past him and onto the elevator and as she did so, she slipped a new paintbrush from her pouch into his hand. He turned around and looked in awe at the brush. In his shadow, the handle was glowing gold and silver in some parts and rainbow-colored in other spots. And as one looked into the handle, its three-dimensional depth seemed almost infinite. No metal clasp held the brush hairs, instead each hair almost seemed to emanate or grow from the end of the handle itself, as hairs would grow from a tail. The paintbrush was seemingly organic and was warm in his hands. It was unlike any other brush he had ever had before.
"I'm an artist, too," she whispered.
"What's this?"
"Something to remember me by. And something which will grant you your fondest wish..."
"To be a great artist...," Gusto said.
"Yes, as soon as I remember where I'm from, I'll leave, and you won't see me anymore. Just use the brush for all your future paintings and your wish will come true, and you'll remember me, as your most beautiful memory."
She stepped onto the elevator.
"Sweet dreams, Augustus."
"Wait...I should give you something..." Although he had no idea what to give her to repay her kindness. But she was already gone. Had she even used the elevator? It was still in front of him. Was he already asleep, with the medicine wearing off and dreaming a feverish dream?
Cassandra had seemed to have simply vanished.
"Sweet dreams, and thank-you,...my inspiration..."Gusto said and laid down gently to sleep, accidently dropping the brush, and not even noticing that the real Artie had had his wings clipped and beak tied shut and was expertly trapped in a magical cage without a lock or key or door. In a few days, Artie could be dead without access to food or water. The bird struggled, but to no avail. He had to warn Gusto (and the others) of what had really happened!
The end of Chapter 3
The Gummi Bears all belong expressly to Disney, etc. (not me). All rights reserved.
Please note: I don't own these characters, etc. I just did some fan pages of them. No copyright infringement intended; all images and text are fanworks and not the original licensed works. This is just a creative bit of my own fan writings. The writer of this story, if requested to do so by the owners of said characters, etc., will gladly take down this page and all of its contents. Permission pending. I'm in the process of trying to ask them for their o.k. I am begging and hoping for no lawsuits here. (Me being the unfortunate victim of Murphy's Law...)