The school bell rattles above my head, the metal clanging against itself as students begin to rush out of their respective classrooms and into the grand hallway. I stand at the end of the hallway, near the bulletin board with old cheerleader tryout posters and chess tournament advertisements. The students before me begin to turn blurry as tears rise in my eyes.

Four years spent here, within these...

Dashing one final stroke against the bursting canvas before me, my eyes began to feel heavy. A throbbing headache formed behind my eyes as I left The Zone and suddenly became aware of the fact that I hadn’t had any breaks for the past eight or so hours.

I was working.

I can’t predict when my strokes of inspiration will arise, they just do. Sometimes when I’m sleeping I’ll have to jump out of b...