Upon looking in on the scene, one would find two doctors watching over an arts and crafts room of sorts. On each side of the room stood two orderlies finding some way to get comfortable during their shift at the mental institution. The two doctors appeared to be speaking about one of the patients.
"How's he adjusting?"
"Quickly. He seems to enjoy himself a bit too much. Always smiling it seems."
"Maybe that's part of his particular ailment." reasoned one of the doctors.
The young patient they appeared to be talking about was a recent admission. His hair was short and held a blue tint, his eyes a much brighter hue of similar color. His lips formed a half smile as his tongue stuck out of his mouth; he was focused on his current project.
"What's he working on?
"Some drawing or another. He's getting better, even if he only draws the same picture everyday."
"What's the drawing of?"
"Some woman, she looks familiar, but I can't remember her name."
His hand moved quickly with the pencil in hand, strokes here and there, creating the shape and length of her hair. A few more and the outline of her face was done. A rough sketch, but as time moved on it got more clear and organized.
"A shame what happened to the poor kid."
"Seeing all that death must have put him over the edge. We get wash outs from time to time from the academy that break under the pressure."
"Yea but he's not some student. It must have been extraordinarily horrific in there."
"Too bad they couldn't tell us more of what happened. Maybe we could find a different way to treat him."
Ai finished the features of her face, except for her eyes. He was never good at drawing eyes. A visible frown crossed his face. "Hmmm." he grunted lowly. He took the pencil and rubbed lead across his thumb before making two smudge marks where her eyes would be.
One of the doctors seemed to notice his issue and made they way over with a smile on their face. "Having trouble Ai? Those eyes still giving you trouble?" Ai nodded his head and began to work on her ears and more specific features, such as the beauty mark beneath her eye. "Your getting better everyday. One day you'll be able to get them just right." He appeared to ignore what the woman said and began to finish up the drawing by shading in various colors with his colored pencils.
As the drawing came to a conclusion, Ai took the paper in hand and looked it over unwavering. He seemed to stare at the smudges for minutes at a time. The doctors face showed concern as she moved back to speak with her colleague.
"Something the matter?"
"Just watch."
Ai finally put the paper down on the desk and picked up the ink well. He carefully removed the top from it and held it over his drawing. He tilted the container ever so slowly, the black ink struggling to remain inside before finally breaking the surface tension and spilling forth. Several blobs of ink dropped to the paper beneath, splashing just a little. Ai put the cork back into the ink well and placed it on the desk gently.
His right hand found it's way to the piece of paper, pressing into the staining ink and began to spread it all over the page until it was completely black. Once complete, Ai removed his hand from the page and looked at how the ink too covered his hand completely.
"Why?"
"I ask him from time to time. 'Why do you do that to such a nice drawing? Don't you like it?' He just looks at me with that smile, that smile that just isn't quite right.
"And?"
Ai was now next to them, inky drawing dripping across the floor and his shoes.
"She visits me every night. She torments me all day. I must make her disappear, and this is the only way."