Chapter 11: But I Made It For You

"Diana," Owen's voice echoed. "Diana. Diana wake up now." Mai's lids slowly revealed the deep indigo beneath them and they gleamed with a look of calm, security and rest.

"Owen?" She saw him sitting there at her side, upon the soft white sheets of a grand bed.

"I was beginning to think you would sleep all morning!" He smiled gently at her, brushing her face with his hand. "Breakfast is ready downstairs. Hungry?" Before she could reply a great noise assaulted her ears. It was a dog barking. A great mass of black fur made it's leap at the bed side and the Labrador seemed to smile contently at Mai as it panted heavily. It pawed playfully at her leg then pushed off the mattress. Owen grinned. "Well, Oscar's definitely ready for food. But whenever is the scoundrel not?" Mai heard the clicking of nails against a wood floor leave the room.

"Owen..."

"Yes?" He asked her cheerfully.

"Where am I?" But he gave her no reply and instead only continued smiling happily at her.

"Breakfast's ready!" He repeated in the same chipper tone. Mai frowned. "Hope you're hungry." And Mai went to open her mouth to speak but when she did, no sound left her lips and this further startled her. Bringing her hand to her mouth she looked to Owen. His lips were moving but there came no sound and he seemed clearly oblivious to this.

"Owen." Mai spoke but still no sound came from her. She shouted, "OWEN!"

Then there was nothing. Everything pulled away until she could no longer see the room, until she could no longer see Owen. For the moment, her ears became her eyes.

The slightest sound of small footsteps racing down a long hall could be heard and then Mai saw her.

"Father!" The little girl exclaimed happily. "Father, look!" Mai could see the child bouncing up and down playfully in a soft linen white dress. Her small curls cascaded her oval face and her toothy grin glowed. In her tiny hands she paraded a single sheet of canvas with what appeared to be an exuberant rendering of a man in a top hat. Standing next to him was painted a tall whimsical looking figure of a woman in a long yellow gown and in between them a smaller figure, swirling lines of paint adorning the head as hair, a girl. All of their smiling expressions and splashes of bright reds and yellows suggested a rather cheerful family.

"NOT NOW, Diana. Leave me be." The abrupt voice was harsh and overbearing. Mai's eyes settled on his form; a sleep deprived, sunken looking man, hunched over a desk full of strewn about papers. One hand laid tensely about his bald skull where fine white hairs peeked through the worn and bony fingers. There were several bottles of ink, some over turned and leaking, creating small pools of blackness that bled through fragile paper. Surrounding the large desk, like soldiers guarding their post, sat many crumpled up portions of parchment. It was a disheveled sight, much like the man who sat amongst it. She saw the expression on the child's face drain from her features. The toothy grin lost and the glow had gone.

"But, but I made it for you. See?" Again the girl held up the painting and still the man ignored it, his head was kept bent, his eyes staring intensely at his work. His tight fist fiercely scribbling along with a ratty feather pen. A woman's cautious voice suddenly made itself known, inquiring if her services were needed. Immediately the man ordered her to "take the girl away". Mai watched with a growing sadness that seeped within her chest; a familiar sadness she would of much rather kept forgotten. The child was led outside, the heavy wooden door slowly closed, consuming the disheartened face of the small girl. Mai looked down, noticing the painting had been left to fall and rest upon the emerald carpeting. And all Mai could do was stare down upon it. She turned to look toward the desk at the man but his chair had been abandoned. Mai cast her eyes back on the vibrant colors and knelt down beside them. She muttered,

"But I made it for you..."