Memoir + Short Story

When An Artist Follows Her Heart

The story of a student searching her soul and mending her heart under a lamp.

I studied Art.

I was young and naive. It took me four years to realize how perverse and borderline psychopathic my mentor was.

At the end of my Bachelor, I went to him and asked for his advice.

“Should I become an artist and pursue a career as a still-life painter or accept the six-figure offer I had received from a studio?”

“Yes. It’s the eternal question. Isn’t it? I remember having the same discussion with my mentor back then. Although, I was old school and got an offer from Disney. Let’s go for a short drive.”

Twenty minutes later, we were at the top of a cliff I had never seen before, with an incredible view of the buildings located at 1200 Park Avenue, Emeryville, California.

“This might hurt a bit,” my mentor said before opening my chest with a scalpel he had kept in an ultrasonic cleaner in the glove compartment.

Ripping my heart off my rib cage, he asked me to follow him.

He walked toward the very edge of the cliff, and I thought it was only for dramatic effect, but it was — in fact — a necessary step in his plot.

I was strangely calm. My heart was beating at 60 per minute, but in my mentor’s hand instead of its usual location.

“You came to me to ask about your future. You asked me what was the right choice, which told me something about you, your lack of brain. My first answer was to make up your mind, but since you don’t have any, I will tell you to follow your heart.”

And just like that, he threw my beating heart down the cliff, aiming for the famous lamp in the middle of the campus.

I made a lot of money at Pixar.

Thanks to Ann James for inspiring me with one of a comment she left on the submission guidelines.

After you ask Ryan to add you as a writer, read this story Ann wrote:

Grandma Smillew loves her afternoon cup of cocoa, Scrabble, and her grandson, Smillew Rahcuef. She’s also a pink belt in social media and marketing strategies. If you want to make her happy, follow her on Medium and write for one of her publications: All About Medium and Grandma Power.