It may be worth adding that Diana would spend much time just staring at his progress, wondering how on earth someone could apply so much detail to a mere figment from the dream world. Yet it was certainly there. Moles, freckles, the colour of the skin, shades of the eyes, all as accurate as Taylors' memory could reproduce.
He stood back and frowed.
"No..." He murmured. "Not, not quite like that."
Isaac happened to walk by and stopped to watch. It was obvious that it was only half finished, but it almost scared Ike for the life-likeness it already possessed. He often wondered how much of it was dream and how much imagination.
Taylor put down the paintbrush and sighed.
"Tay?" Isaac asked.
"Huh? Oh hi Ike."
"Looks pretty good so far."
"I wish she'd leave me alone."
"Why do you always draw her then?"
Taylor shrugged.
"It used to help me. Now she just makes things worse."
He turned to look at Isaac.
"Do you have any idea what it's like to be totally in love with someone and not even know who she is?"
"You can't fall in love with a dream."
"Can't I? You know all the time I was with Jade I kept feeling like I was cheating on Her. Can you believe it? And if I didn't feel like I was cheating then I was tricking myself into thinking Jade was Her."
"Tay..."
"I can't stand it Ike! I'll never have a decent relationship with a girl as long as She's in my life."
"Jade didn't exactly deserve you in the first place Tay. She was cheating on you from the start and she's a junkie."
"It's beside the point."
There was silence for a moment. Taylor picked up the brush and looked around.
"Damn it, I forgot something." He said, putting the brush down again.
Taylor left Isaac gazing at the painting and headed to his room. Once there he opened a drawer and started poking around.
"C'mon, I know it's here somewhere... Ah ha!"
Taylor pulled out what his fingers had wrapped around. It was the bottle of pills Marty had given his so long ago.
"I thought I threw these out." He said. "Hmm, I'll have to do that."
He put them on the desk and fumbled in the drawer again, this time finding the paint he had been looking for.
Taylor was just about to leave the room when his eye flittered over to the pills. He picked them up... and put them back in the drawer. Her haunting eyes seemed to follow him sadly as he left the room.