kezi21
I jingle the string of bells so gingerly tied to my wrist. Its ringing is stabbing my eardrums, though I know it's a soft and frothy chime to them. I open and close my eyes, blinking rapidly, hoping to draw some attention - that yes, I'm here. Yes, I'm alive.
But I as I do these things, I slowly remember. My movements are not slick to them. They are not even recorded or recognized.
Because sometimes I forget I'm paralyzed.
The old woman cackled, grabbed my wrist with her filthy talons and beckoned me to sit on a fluffy pink cushion. She told me to wait. I looked around this dump, viewing the layers and layers of overlapping fabric in candy colors and the thick smoke that made my throat scream for mercy. The witch shuffled back into the room and presented me with a bejeweled box with a heavy lid. Opening it, I found a small doll with button eyes and a stitched mouth. She handed me some pins, and I plunged them into the voo doo doll.
All I do was wonder how I brought myself to resort to this.
She did it all.
She took sprits and crumbled them, smashed faith, and broke hearts. She went too far in every snarky comment she made, wanted blood every time she opened her mouth to speak. She wasn't an animal; animals still had the ability to feel.
But what made her so unrelenting, so unforgivable wasn't what she did. It was the fact that she didn't feel a thing after she did them.
I was shining. It was bright. It was like a giant red eye, staring at me, accusing me, questioning me for all I'd done. It was a small light outside my cell, one that I stared out for ages. I stared because I wanted to manipulate it, yet I clearly knew it was untouchable.
And then it happened. The ruby morphed to an emerald.
My cell had opened. I was free.
"I love you, I really do.."
"I know you do. And I love you too. But you have to save yourself. You have to save yourself and your secrets and wait. Wait for the right guy."
"So saying you're not the right guy for me?"
"I'm not saying I am or I'm not. But I know that I adore you and I always will. But you have to wait. Because when you find the right person, you'll be so happy that you saved a secret no one else has seen."
The young little boy stared up into his grandpa's face. "Grandpa, please don't leave." The man just smiled and embraced the boy.
"We all have to leave this earth someday, son."
An idea popped into the boy's head.
"Wait here."
He came back a couple of minutes later with a piece of paper in his hand.
"Grandpa, I drew this for you."
The young woman stepped into the king's palace, which was white and gold. Although it was lavish, beautiful and classy, it still had a very comforting feel to it.
"Wh-where am I?" She didn't recognize her own voice; it was shaky and uncertain.
"You're in Heaven."
"But why? I wasn't prosperous on Earth. I should be in Hell."
"You were a kind person, and that's all that matters."
"But it wasn't my fault!"
"I don't care. Who cares about you, anyways? You're secondhand to your siblings. Your parents overlook you. You're nothing but a spineless little wimp who has never defended yourself in your entire life. Go back to where you came from, you stupid sidekick." He started to walk away with a smirk on his face.
She tapped on his shoulder, then punched him in the face. He lie in a lump on the floor.
She crushed his hands with her heels.
"Who's the sidekick now?"
I tore my fuzzy winter hat off and shedded my thick eggshell white parka. It was crazy - I know; standing in the freezing winter air with nothing on but a turtleneck, jeans and riding boots. I heard someone calling my name.
"Hanna, get in here!"
"No."
Mom went outside to get me. As we walked back into the house, she whispered, "Shoot. Your braid's undone."
I looked at him for what may have been the last time. His dark eye brows were scrunched up on his forehead, his eyes a swirling mass of blue. He was standing over me, looking at me like I was a small animal that needed caring for.
Finally I said what I wanted to say for so many years now.
"Luke.. I -"
They pulled me from the room.
I never got to say the 3 words that meant so much to me.
load more entries