Broken

Chapter 3

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood..."

I gazed out my bedroom window imagining which one would lead me back to my sanity. Why do they even assign homework on weekends? Robert Frost and Edgar Allan Poe seemed just beautiful enough to be left in the care of my school mind. Ha. As if that were any better.

Michelle would have forced my pen back onto the page without a second thought. Writing fast enough for smoke to rise from the page just for the consolation prize. A kiss for yours truly.

I guess I shouldn't really need much motivation anyhow. It's just English homework, right? Mrs. Watson's class.

I bit my lip as I remembered what had happened the day before. What to make of it. Being around her just made me feel so safe. My heart beating wildly out of my chest while feeling completely at ease. What did this mean? I had a little crush on her but that happens to everyone. Gay or straight. She was that kind of woman. But I couldn't possibly have any true feelings for her. Before I could stop my hand, I had once again tattooed her name into my notebook.

Dammit.

I shook my head in disapproval and returned to my work.

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and I-

I took the one less traveled by."

Live free. That was Michelle's motto. Maybe my heart knew something my brain had not yet been able to comprehend. Or maybe I was just doing that whole irrational teenaged lesbian love story thing in my head again. Either way, Mrs. Watson wasn't going to like me any better with another incomplete homework assignment.

The sun had set hours ago and the stars began to play tricks on my mind. If I followed this stitched up, glass heart of mine would it truly "make all the difference"? I put the idea to rest in my mind as I flicked off my bedroom light... Leaving only the sound of her voice to tantalize my dormant mind under the dull luminance of fairy lights.

"Nicole... Nicole...."

Fading... Fading. Where are you? Don't leave. Fading.

Gone.