An Eventful Day at a Museum

A young woman named Jessica goes to a museum to look at a painting, but something else happens instead. She sees a girl all alone in the museum, and no one is around but Jessie. What will Jessica do?

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“And if you move this way, you will be able to view the next exhibit.” The tour guide gestured in a dull manner.

Jessie wasn’t paying attention at that point, so she was left behind. She was so entranced by the piece of art, that by the time she was ready to move on, everyone was long gone.

She shrugged it off, and was going to explore the old museum at her own pace, but suddenly she heard a cry that sounded like a young child. Jessie turned around, causing her long, blonde hair to sway, to see that across the large room, there was a child sitting near a small altar crying.

Jessica runs up to the young girl to comfort her, “Hey, are you alright? Do you know where your parents are?”

The girl sniffled and wiped the tears on her full cheeks, “N-no,”

Jessie tries to see if hugging her would calm her down, but it didn’t.

“What’s your name?” Jessie said to the girl.

She looked up with the same light blue eyes Jessica has full of tears, “M-my name is Sarah.”

Jessie smiled, “My name is Jessica, but you can call me Jessie. How old are you, Sarah?”

“Si-six,” she took a shaky breath, “how old are you?.”

“I’m twenty-three. I think we should find your parents now.”

The girl nodded her head, which caused her thin, brown hair to shake as well.

While Jessie is a nice person, she likes to be in control of things. It’s very rare she let’s someone else be the leader, so she asks the girl if she could tell her anything on where her parents could be as they walked through the pristine museum.

“I’m sorry,” Sarah said genuinely wanting forgiveness from Jessie.

Jessie gives her a questioning look, “Why are you sorry, Sarah?”

She ducked her head a bit before telling Jessica why she’s sorry, ‘’If I didn’t run away from my parents, you would be walking around this place enjoying yourself.”

Jessie stopped walking, which caused Sarah to stop as well, “Look,” Jessie bent down to Sarah’s level, “what’s more important right now, is for you to find your family. Don’t worry about me because I can always walk through this place some other time, okay?”

“So you forgive me?”

Jessie smiled, “Yes, I forgive you.”

They continue walking, and were able to find her parents. The parents thanked Jessica for what she did, and she told them everything that happened while she was with Sarah. Everyone said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Even though that did take some time out of Jessica’s day, she didn’t care. She was in charge of Sarah the whole time, which made the situation easy. Jessie found the beautiful painting she was looking at, and continued to admire it for a bit longer. She couldn’t help but admit how glorious her painting looked in the museum. The way it was defined in the perfect lighting, all the way to how they chose the perfect size for the glass case.

After a few minutes Jessica turns around to leave the quiet museum. She was the best artist and person she ever knew, and she was going to keep it that way.

Author's Note

Any criticism is welcomed.

Reviews

[alanwgraham]

Hi Amy. First of all you have some nice writing here. If i have it right you have two stories going on - looking after the lost girl and then looking at her own painting. Then you've drawn them together with your final .
sentence, 'She was the best artist and person she ever knew, and she was going to keep it that way.' That doesn't seem a very good way to think of yourself! I noticed that your first few lines were in the past tense and then you change to the present. You spoke about telling the parents all that happened but not that much did.
I hope that this is some help Amy and you did ask for some criticism - I hope it is constructive. There are ways you might take this but I think it does need a stronger story line perhaps with a twist at the end. How about that they all praise the painting and then the reveal at the end is that she is the artist.
All the best,
Alan

[Amy]

Thank you, I appreciate your feedback! I looked over my story after I read your comment, and I see what you mean. While I might not rewrite this with the same plot, I can definetly try to write something similar with more accuracy someday.