I'm trying to update more quickly. Hope it's worth it in the long run. n_n
Mind, this chapter is very, very short. So there's more to come soon!
The Faust
The blank wall behind Gill's desk was now occupied. Luke and Owen rather clumsily lugged the portrait in through the front room and it took them quite awhile before it was hanging level. But once all was said and done, Gill was left alone to dwell on it.
Because it was later in the day, the sun wasn't there, but Gill could imagine its rays squarely hitting the painting every morning through the window. Highlighting his young, pastel face. A face that wasn't doomed to wither.
For the first but not the last time in his life, Gill frowned at himself in the mirror. How long would this last? Earlier just this week, he had finally admired his appearance, appreciated it for what it was. And already it was being taken away from him. There was nothing he could do about it either.
That portrait behind him, that work of Toby's. That was true genius. It was a thing of beauty. A beauty that was preserved. A beauty that could not fade or decay with time. It was immortal. Lasting. That was true beauty. Beauty that could not be touched by mortality and corruption.
And Gill was jealous. Bitterly, angrily jealous.
Of course, he was good-looking now. He could sit for Toby all he wanted. But Toby didn't want to paint anymore. He said it himself. He couldn't do it again. Was it because Gill was already fading? Was it that noticeable already? How many others had seen it? His steadfast decay? Hell, by the time he started to wrinkle, he wouldn't have any friends at all.
Feeling paranoid, Gill Gray shunned the mirror and found himself facing the portrait. He couldn't escape his own face. It haunted him with a misery he had never known. To feel so completely helpless and out of control… it was something he was not accustomed to. Something he loathed.
Gill placed his hand against the portrait, freshly varnished and sealed in a gilded frame. He looked into the familiar blue eyes and glared. "If only our places could be exchanged… that I would live forever in beauty and you would rot with time! To be perfectly preserved such as yourself… Oh, I would give anything for such a gift. I would give my life, my very soul!"
A cold stillness hung over the room. Gill watched his face in the portrait in desperate and over-whelming sadness. His portrait self simply smiled in the armchair, unchanged. Mocking him with its pleasant atmosphere.
Tearing himself away, Gill threw his hands upon the desk and closed his eyes. What was becoming of him? Worrying about such things… Such things that were out of his power. That no one could ever change. Such things that everyone had to face. That he was too much of a coward to.
The clock struck five in the afternoon. Evening was approaching. And wasn't it Thursday? Gill decided to put on a fresh shirt and tie before Julius arrived. But he could not get the portrait out of his mind.