"I'll Be Waiting" - First in the three-part series 'Heretic' - Mixed media on plywood. My 176th painting.

 

Kansas City, Kansas - March 14, 1990.

The dusty and worn video camera emits a faint whistling as its internal mechanisms work together to slowly spin the tape forward.

Darcy leaves her chair and steps out of frame. The sounds of a phone call being made.

 
[Ringing]

“9-1-1, what is your emergency?”
“I’m the one they’re looking for.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m the one they want - the three recent events in the news. It was me.”

She leaves the receiver to hang from the wall.

 
“Hello? Ma’am? Are you there?”

Darcy returns to her seat - picks up the glass, throws it across the room - then grabs the bottle and takes several heroic swigs before slamming it back down.

She reaches onto the chair beside her, a .380 comes into view. She rests it on the table. A desperate, prolonged gaze into the lens.

“That’s all.”

Darcy lifts the gun, places the barrel to the roof of her mouth and pulls the trigger.


A few seconds pass and the tape runs out, the camcorder shuts off.