19.
The girl knew she had made the right choice. Quiet reassurance, from a stranger on the tram, had validated it.
The words cut onto her skin before, didn't bother her now – new skin had shrouded them.
She knew, she was no longer, her – drowning, reaching, latching onto any false hope.
For once, she didn't let either side consume her – because she realised that most people didn't live on any one side of any dichotomy – they lived in the middles of many, amid the in-between areas, floating back and forth, between the grey regions.
They never understood her, her friends, her family, her lovers – they never saw the whole picture. Perhaps it was human nature to want to make sense of human beings – to try and tuck them away neatly into boxes and tags and labels of their own.
And the girl – she had felt torn, because she couldn't fit in, didn't want to belong to any one side.
She wore long skirts, and yet she was not a prude.
She studied anatomy and yet her heart belonged to Dickinson.
She had let him fuck her behind hidden doors, and still she yearned for that one true love, for those three sacred words.
But – no one understood, no one saw the other side.
Now, as the girl thought of the woman, and turned over the maple leaf in her hands, she realised that maybe, she will never make sense to most people – and that, more importantly, she didn't need to.
For perhaps, humans, like autumn leaves, were not born to be made sense of or dissected – but rather to be felt and – loved.
YOU ARE READING
Autumn Leaves (a short story)
Cerita PendekA Girl, tormented by her past loves, gets on a tram, and finds solace and support from a woman who has gone through similar ordeals in her youth. As they each reflect on their pasts and decisions, a question which has tormented women for generations...
