Amaranth Hue

The Sacrifice

Everything that life is and ever will be is precious. All of the evils and woes that dampen it do not soil what we have left to reap. Life and death are never purposeless. They are lessons. They teach us to be grateful, and to enjoy our days while we still have them. To be thankful to our temporary youth, health, and happiness. Transitory is every memory.

It was quiet. Lonely. It was the epitome of existence in a realm of non-existence. I felt nothing and everything at the same time. I felt alive, but I didn't feel like I had lived in a long time. There was no pain, but my skin felt like it was burning, too. Consciousness had departed from my brain for seconds, before I gasped for air, and felt a sticky humidity cover my lungs. Opening my eyes, I saw a popcorn painted ceiling, and the mauve hexagonal wallpaper that lined my bedroom. Was I back home? But what happened? Didn't that car hit me? Soon, my eardrums boomed and popped and then sound started to blur back into my senses again. A beeping could be heard. My alarm clock.

"Rae Haskins! Wake up this instant! You're late for school!"

Beep! Beep! Beep!

"Rae Haskins! You're LATE. This is the third time this week!"

Beep! Beep! Beep!

 "You alright? You're looking pretty pale, and you're acting strange."

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Voices, words, faces, they all swirled into the same coagulated thought of repulsion in my brain. Everything and anything I tried was all so entirely useless. Days went by, though it felt like months. Eventually, I decided to stop going to school entirely. Sometimes I couldn't even get out of my bed, because my body wouldn't allow me to go through the same trauma again and again. But one day, I thought that I should go to the crosswalk again... and maybe... try again.

I glanced down at my veiny, slim hand, recognizing nothing, feeling as though this body didn't belong to me, but to someone else. Turning my gaze past my shoulder, I waited at the crosswalk for that girl I had sacrificed my body, sanity, and every fiber of my being for. I didn't even know her. Why would I do this for her? Soon enough, I could feel my body instinctively quake as I heard a vehicle down the road, and though I hadn't eaten in days, my stomach was full, which gave me something to throw up if the instance arose. I waited... and I waited... but- for some reason, I couldn't hear the playful laughter of Mary, nor the thumping footsteps of the boy chasing her. The sheer lack of noise besides the car made me quiver. The longer I stood there in stasis, the more my heart ached, and pangs of pain jumped through my core over and over again, begging me to investigate. 

Soon, the car drove over the crosswalk, speeding past me, and I couldn't see through the veil of black tint in the windows. But... wait... wasn't Mary supposed to be here? Crushed beneath this guy? Her entrails spread across the concrete, and cause me to lose myself even more? Where was she? How was this happening?! When my feet finally broke out of my frozen encapsulation, I turned around, and saw a young girl with gorgeous, long blonde hair, a trace of curl spread through each lock. Her eyes, bluer than a sapphire, staring directly into mine. Before I could even decipher who she was, I dropped to my knees. Mary walked towards me, and I could finally see that her cheeks were stained with tears, and her nose was flushed with a rosy, crimson color, spreading across her expression.