Apathy

They all smiled as she walked past. The child of the whole town, everyone thinking of her as their own. With eyes that lit up while she talked and an inquisitive ambition that proved she would go farther than anyone they knew. She would make them proud, she would provide for them in their dying days. She wandered throughout their market, smiling at strangers and pointing them in the right direction. How could anyone think of her as anything but an angel walking on earth?

The girl knew what was expected of her, the daughter of the whole town. Raised by them all, giving her her every want or desire but ensuring she knew what was expected of her. They told her that she was destined for greatness. She was going to be the one who would bring them out of poverty and care for them in their dying years. And she felt the weight of everyone's hopes and dreams resting on her shoulder.

She walked out of her town for what she thought would be the last time. Headed for the train station on the outskirts of the town, where she would take the train to her future. To her destiny. There were tears, but she knew they wouldn't be sad to see her go. She had been training for this, waiting and training her entire life. The entire town watched as the train pulled away and she understood that she could never go back, and even if she did it would never be the same as when she left.

The city was full of skyscrapers and noises she had never heard of. More cars than she had ever seen before in all shapes and colors rushed past her then stopped as the stoplight turned abruptly from green to yellow to red. No one smiled as she walked past, everyone was too busy on their way to their important lives unaware of the girl who was about to change everything.

Clutching the address to an interview she wove through the maze of bodies and shouts. She watched as others easily navigated their way through while she struggled to find the correct turn. The inquisition for the world started to fade from her eyes. She watched as people were shoved out of the way. She watched as people who were in the pits of their lives were ignored. She watched as people put themselves first.

During the interview she said all the right things. Every word the town had coached her through. Answered every possible question and had all the right paperwork. They marveled that a girl from nowhere was equal to them who had been training for years. They watched as she held herself to a higher standard than them and awed at the ease which she climbed through the ranks.

She greeted them all with a smile on her face and they greeted her with one. She had become more powerful than they were all combined and every person's smile told they knew that. She felt her happiness starting to fade away as she watched them all hurry about never wondering what anyone else was feeling. Never caring.

Wondering what it was like to be happy. Wondering how caring would give her the advantage, she climbed still higher. The isolation was only one thing keeping her awake, the cold of being up too high without enough warmth. The cold of jumping up to touch the clouds but seeing snow. The freezing isolation kept her awake as she forced herself to climb higher until she went numb.

The people in the town thought often of the girl with the bright eyes and the curious nature. They thought often about how she would help them once she brought home enough to care for everyone. At first she was all they thought about, but slowly she seemed to fade. The checks being mailed ever increasing never brought her closer to their hearts and while she climbed higher than ever the people on the ground began to search for someone else to climb to the very top.

Her fingers were going numb as she walked to the podium. She watched as her opponent fingered his tie while she stood their looking calm and composed never giving away a hint of fear. She knew she had won the moment she turned her frozen complexion to face him. She knew she had won the moment she saw that his eyes were so unlike hers. The moment his eyes started to melt. She watched as though trapped inside a frozen shell as she moved from place to place. She screamed while her mouth stayed shut and cried as she laughed. And yet, she used her frozen fingertips to climb a still higher striving for the moment where she could rest upon the clouds.

They watched in amazement as she pushed herself beyond limits. As she took power from those who had seemed worthier. As she strove to give everyone what they needed. They watched in horror as those who disagreed with her took the blame. Those who weren't necessary to her cause fell at her double edged sword that took a piece of the bright eyed girl with the inquisitive smile with them.

She stayed trapped inside the horror that had become her life. She watched as her body began to crack and chip away the more she moved. She watched as something began to grown around her own face. Something that wasn't recognizable. She watched as everything she had been taught to hate and to fear became her. She watched as she became the apathy she was told to rid the world of.

So she walked around trapped until she was no longer in control. Until the path she had been set on before she knew how to think took her in and she became another one of them. She felt herself walk past without knowing what was happening. She had climbed to high for her to come down and she was up with the others who too had climbed. As she walked to greet these new people their frozen faces turned to stare. They all smiled as she walked past.