Untitled by Tyler Somerville

[ShortStoryContest]

The following story has been selected as a featured runner-up in our 2015 short story contest (Contest Theme - "The Self-Destructiveness of Vengeance and Hate")

Untitled by Tyler Somerville

The pavement crumbled as her shoes scuffed along the surface, the small cracks gave away under the pressure that she presented to the ground. The sky was grey above her, clouds moving at a slow pace as the wind brushed past her shivering body. The wind was cold, and the air was brisk creating the ideal weather to be tucked indoors by a burning fire. Not for her though, there was no fire in her life, no place to keep warm. Instead she sat on the side of the road, thoughts clawing at her mind.

It was the words that replayed over and over in her mind, the ones that stayed by her at all times. The ones that put her in this position. Stranded her. Her mind brainwashed with voices that she couldn't run from.

She kicked a rock accidentally, and it startled her back in to reality. She looked at her shoe, black and worn, small holes evident in the canvas. Her eyes trailed back to the sky, dark and star-less, slightly cloudy. It felt like days since dusk had moved across the sky in a smooth transition. Her shoulders sunk, and her eyes started to water. The temptations of walking the small distance to her home was overwhelming her.

She wasn't welcome, she kept reminding herself. No matter what, she would not return to the hell-hole that her childhood remained in. The memories forgotten and replaced with the nightmares of the now. She bit her lip and wiped away the single tear that tried to escape. With a deep breath she shrugged away the pain and trudged on into the night. Her shadow followed her along the road, appearing each time she walked under the street lights that light up the night sky.

The concrete soon became dirt and grass, brushing against her ankles with each step. She soon found herself deeper and deeper into pure nothingness, just the smoke filled air and dry grass as she walked along the factory fence lines. She inhaled the smoke allowing the toxins to enter her system and tickle at her nose making her cough.

She soon felt it scratching, rubbing firmly against her neck, making her choke and splutter. The temperature had dropped immensely and the icy breeze was hitting her skin like shards of glass. Tears burned as they fell from her eyes, and she frantically rubbed them away with her sweater covered palm. The voices started squawking in her ears, taunting and teasing her. She fell to the ground, shivering with fear. As she lay on the damp grass she kept muttering, trailing her fingers up and down her scarred arms, tracing the cuts with her nails. The voices swirled around her, echoing at each syllable. She shook her head, chewing at the side of her mouth.

"Don't try save me," she whispered into the night sky. Closing her eyes, she felt peaceful. Her fingers removed themselves from her arm and moved along the steel track beneath her, "they wanted this," she smiled, euphoria filling her body, "they wanted me gone."

She felt the tracks beneath her vibrate, and a horn in the distance. She just smiled to herself and laid still, feeling the gust of wind fly past her. Happy. She would finally be happy.