g r a v i t y

Somewhere in the distance, a dogs hollow bark sliced through the silence of a busy street. The faint sounds of cars passing by and people going about their everyday business reached the stained windows of her bedroom.

The air was bone dry, and every breath felt like it was suffocating her fragile lungs. The stale smells of life hung in the air like old coats long forgotten, and she sat there on the floor, breathing. Just breathing. Her arms were laced with delicate drops of scarlet tears, a self inflicted nightmare.  Her wrists said death, but her eyes shouted for life.

She wished she could just scream. She wished she could have found some place beautiful to get lost in, but she knew that no matter how far away she went, it would always catch up to her. Running away would not help, not today. Not on a stifling Tuesday afternoon filled with the agonizing cries of demons that she thought long buried.

The only thing keeping her here, was the devastating pull of gravity keeping her down. The funny thing about gravity, is that even when you're ready to fly, it finds a way to chain you to the ground.

Her fragile strength leaked away from her, pooling on the ground at her arm. She forced a gulp of air into her burning throat and her thoughts drifted back to everything left on her bedside table. A pen to write her story. A torn and crumpled piece of paper to listen. Her favourite book carelessly tossed open next to a small stone that glittered like the broken heart she was hiding in her chest.

She remembered all the coffee mug stains from nights spent up way past midnight and the songs on repeat that brought a melody to the darkest parts of her dusty sad soul. She saw the way the light reflected off the murky water outside and watched as it danced on her ceiling entwined with the most beautiful music she had ever heard.

Somewhere in the distance a lonely dog barked, but this time she was not there to hear it. The light had faded from the sky and the moon softly shone down on the nearly dry scarlet tears shed cried. Her wrists said death but this time her eyes agreed.