Artistic Vengeance

Artistic Vengeance

By Clive B

A Photoshop Fraud

Joshua Stevenson sat in front of his computer. He was creating a masterpiece in Photoshop while listening to “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” by Taylor Swift on Spotify. As the soft rays of the sun bounced off of the window of his Manhattan apartment, Josh could not hold back the tear running down his cheek while thinking about his recent breakup and how he was going to afford to stay in his apartment without his girlfriend. Even though Josh loved making digital art and photoshop tutorials, he knew that it would not pay his rent. He had started out with nothing but a $200 Dell laptop which his girlfriend had turned into a $2,000 PC. Josh needed a stable job, and he needed it fast. If everything went well, Josh could hopefully acquire the recent job opening for a graphic designer at Realm Entertainment.

Two blocks West of Joshua’s apartment, Amelia Smith scrolled through Instagram on her brand-new iPhone 14 Pro Max, scowling when she saw a piece of artwork created by Joshua. As a woman who had created her own successful business in the art of clothing design, Amelia despised people who called themselves digital “artists” and sat in front of a computer clicking their mice to create a cacophony of colors. If Amelia has her way, social media influencers and digital art would not exist. She vowed to herself a long time ago to destroy digital artists’ reputations by any means necessary, and because of Joshua’s post and “about me” page, Amelia immediately knew exactly who she could target to start her attack on digital art. Amelia would not stop until she buried Josh’s reputation in the ground in addition to ripping away all chances of Josh acquiring a graphic design job at Realm Entertainment.

On a cloudy day while scrolling through the comments of his latest Instagram post, his best piece of all time, Josh stumbled across a comment saying that he did not create the piece of art, but rather that the writer of the comment created the original design that Josh had simply copied and passed on as his own work. The writer claimed to

have been working on the piece for several years and that she had asked Josh for help. She claimed that after sending him a photo of the piece, he simply downloaded it and posted it on Instagram. After reading the writer’s name, Josh immediately knew who was accusing him of plagiarism. The writer was named Amelia Smith, who Josh knew as an incredibly talented, hard-working clothing designer. Josh knew that with a reputation as prestigious as Amelia Smith’s, anyone would believe her over him. He knew that if Realm Entertainment saw this comment, his job application would go straight down the toilet drain like a pet goldfish after it dies. Josh’s fate lay in the hands of luck.

An Aggressive Attack

The sun shined brightly in the sky the next morning as Amelia walked her dog, Spike, through

Central Park. While Spike ran off on a mission to catch a squirrel running up a tree, Amelia strode towards a bench where a young man she recognized from Instagram, Joshua Stevenson, sat to complete a mission of equal importance. As Amelia walked towards Joshua, who was working on his laptop, she reminded herself to not cause too much of a commotion in public where she would surely be recognized.

Joshua quirked his head a bit just in time to see Amelia menacingly walking, almost jogging, obviously angry, towards him.

“Joshua Stevenson?” the woman demanded.

Josh simply nodded. He did not even need a second after turning his head to recognize that Amelia Smith was walking towards him. Fear and worry overcame Josh because he wondered what Amelia could want so badly that she needed to confront Josh in public. He felt like a turtle without a shell to retreat back into. Amelia fought back against a barrage of anger as she informed Josh that his art looked utterly disgusting and that he would never be able to obtain a job at any company with digital art as disgusting as his. She

then proceeded to pluck Josh’s laptop out of his hands and slam it on the ground where it shattered into a million pieces. As she walked off, Amelia uttered Josh a warning, “I would advise you to stop pretending that your art could ever be considered real art. You don’t know the lengths I will go to stop you and your foolish social media page.” Josh simply stared at Amelia walking off while thinking about his helplessness in that situation.

Robbery Without Restraint

The next morning Josh took a break from creating artwork on that same Central Park bench every morning for 20 days to buy some eggs, coffee beans, and other dietary necessities at his local Sprouts. Unfortunately, Josh neither noticed that Amelia had been stalking him since he left his