In a Painting

“Come on Zed, you need to look at the future,” Mom said, trying to cheer Zed up.

“But mom, why did we even have to move to Brooklyn, our life was fine in Japan,” Zed whined.

A few minutes later Zed had just finished unpacking and noticed his old painting set. Oh how he loved that set, he would paint on it all the time. But one day, after his father passed, he never painted again.

“Zed it’s time to get ready for bed, you have to get a good night’s rest for your first day of school tomorrow.”

“Fine,” Zed complied.

Zed shut his eyes and dreamt. He dreamt about his dad (as he does every night) but something wasn’t right, something about the dream was different. His dad told him something.

“Zeddy, change is ok. Change is…good. Go to school, make new friends, and keep on dreaming. Oh, and one more thing, I used to love your paintings, they were buti-.”

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP His alarm clock cried.

“Zed, get ready for school, you’re going to be late!” Mom shouted.

“Ok mom,” Zed said half awake.

Zed got his clothes on, brushed his teeth, put his contacts in and put his backpack on. Then Zed hopped in the car and his mom drove him to school. Zed was so nervous; he didn’t know anyone.

“Bye sweetie, have a great first day of school,” Mom said, purposely trying to embarrass him (We all know the feeling).

“Bye, love you,” Zed said with his face all red.

Zed walked into the school keeping his head glued to the floor. Suddenly he ran into someone and all his books fell to the floor. The person did not hesitate to help pick them up. He handed the books back to Zed.

“Hi, I’m so sorry about that. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Nick. What’s your name?” Nick asked.

“z-z-Zed, my name is Zed,” Zed responded shyly.

“Oh, hi Zed. I think we have the same class. Come on,” Nick said as he started running.

Zed followed Nick to the classroom. The classroom was colorful, lively, and joyful. The room was full of art. The teacher was young, short, had a smile on her face, and was dressed like she just came out of a room drenched in paint and color. Her name was Miss Zockwalts. Zed on the other hand was the opposite of Miss Zockwalts, he was dressed in black, lean, blank expression on his face. Zed took a seat in the back left corner of the classroom.

“Ok class gather around in a circle. I want to get to know you all, so you will share your name and where you are from and where you want to go,” Miss Zockwalts explained.

One by one students shared their name and destination. Next was Nick.

“My name is Nick, I’m from Pennsylvania, and I want to go to California,” Nick detailed.

Then it was Zed’s turn. It felt like his heart stopped. It was hard for Zed to talk, then he thought of what his father said. He took a deep breath.

“My name is Zed and..uh…I’m from Japan and I want to go back,” Zed said.

The greeting had finished and the rest of the day went by fast. At the end of the day Miss Zockwalts assigned homework. The homework was to draw a picture of anything you want. So Zed went home and looked through his drawer. He spotted it then picked it up, it was his old painting set. He spread out a big sheet of paper on the floor and began drawing. He drew about his home in Japan.

Then something happened, he got sucked up into his drawing. Zed was knocked out cold. When he awoke, he was alarmed. A big mighty dragon was in his face.

“Hi, My name is Sho,” the dragon said with a big smile on his face.

“Uh..h hi, I’m Zed,” Zed said, a little frightened.

Zed and Sho had talked and talked. It felt like it was hours. Then Zed heard something….zed….zed….zed…ZED!!!

Zed blinked his eyes and he was back. His mom explained that Zed had been painting for hours. Zed’s mom said that he was glued to the paper. Zed looked at the painting, It was different then when he passed out. The painting now had a dragon in it, and Zed was also in the painting. Zed got ready for bed and he was excited to work on the painting again the next day because it’s the weekend.

He slept and slept and all he dreamt about was Sho. Zed felt that Sho was the only person (after his dad passed) who understood Zed. Zed woke up, but instead of a black hoodie and sweatpants like normal, he wore something colorful. Then he got back to painting…..

“Lalala lalalala, Oh Zed, I missed you so much,” Sho said, pausing his sick beats for later.

“I missed you too Sho,” Zed admitted.

“Hey Zed, I saw they have a spirit festival. Do you want to go to it,” Sho asked.

“Yeah, that sounds awesome, let’s go,” Zed agreed

Zed hopped on Sho’s back. Sho flew through the air. He zipped and zoomed through the sky. Then they landed at the festival, there was food, games, and a parade. The dynamic duo wanted to do it all. First they had to try one of everything and play every game. Then they did not just watch the parade, they hopped in it. All the little kids had big smiles on their faces seeing Sho. Then they went back to their hang out spot.

“ I’m stuffed,” Zed said.

“ Me too,” Sho agreed.

“Well, I will see you tomorrow,” said Zed waving his hand goodbye.

“Bye,” Sho said, waving his tail.

Then Zed went to bed. On Sunday they talked all day again. But then it was Monday, they had to show Sho (get it) to the whole class. Zed rolled the painting up and gently shoved it in his backpack. He walked into the classroom. But this time he had neon clothes on and a smile on his face.

“Ok class, who wants to show their piece first?” Miss Zockwalts asked.

A bunch of kids shot their hands in the air, including Zed.

“How about…Zed, you come and show us your painting.” Miss Zockwalts said.

Zed grabbed his backpack, brought it to the front of the class, and rolled his sheet out. The painting had Japan, Sho, the spirit festival, and many other things. Zed explained how he and Sho would talk to each other and go on fun adventures together. After he was done talking the whole class gave Zed (and Sho) a big round of applause.

“That was very beautiful Zed. Ok who wants to go next,” Miss Zockwalts asked.

As Zed gathered his stuff and sat back down, others showed their pictures. Nick’s was also pretty cool, it had lasers and dinos. After school Zed walked back home. Then he heard something…it was Sho. He said he wanted to come to my world. Then the big dragon came out of the painting. Zed and the Sho rode off into the sky and will never separate.