“In The Details”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

Prompt: “A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.” — Diane Arbus

Let’s begin at the edge.

The edge is torn. The once-soft fibres of the paper are frayed. They reach out to grab at their brothers who were ripped from their fingers. Now, they are frozen in place. Their fingers are splayed open like the jagged limbs of an old tree.

The edge is a darkened, crusty yellow. A few pigments of colour are splattered here and there, growing more concentrated as we move inward.

But let’s not rush. More on that later.

The few scattered pigments around the edge are a multitude of colours. Some complement each other; some clash. There seems to be no order to the colours, simply chaos.

But now, let’s move inward. Because as we move inward, everything begins to make sense.

The colours begin gathering now. Slowly, yes, but surely. As we drift away from the desperate, reaching fingers of the edge, we find a new land.

The paper loses its roughness. It becomes smooth, covered entirely by pigments of a vast array of colours. From here, so close to the surface, we cannot see what these colours make. But we can see the details, the little imperfections and blemishes that no one else can.

A scratch mark. A rip. A single blade of grass that’s facing down instead of up.

If anyone else were to see such things, they would surely throw away this masterpiece. It would no longer be a work of art, but a mistake. A failure.

So perhaps we should keep these details our little secret. Let them perceive it as a false perfection even though we know the truth.

Final Comments: I don’t think I’ve written something so descriptive in a while… It was fun!

Overall Rating: 🙂