Through Another's Eyes

Tears

She sits.
Alone.
In an apartment that's been empty since she moved in.
Sure, it's got furniture, food, bedrooms.
But it's still empty.
It misses the laughter and love to be full.
A steaming cup of tea from a porcelain mug sits in front of her.
She stirs in honey, and waits for it to cool.
Then, in an instant so quick if you blink, you miss it,
She explodes.
Tears erupt from her eyes, landing in the cup, splashing tea on the tablecloth.
She struggles to breathe.
She thinks,"What am I doing here?"
She misses her family and friends.
She thinks of them every night.
She glares at the ugly pink walls.
She remembers Christmas with her grandparents.
Cousins, whom she once played with, she doesn't know the names of.
Aunts and uncles, nearly forgotten.
Parents, who don't know what their little girl became.
Alone.
Friends, who she'd talk with for hours on the phone, haven't heard from her in years.
"This is just what I need."
She thought.
"Isolation, another state."
She was wrong.
She can't go back.
After going away.
Her parents said it was a mistake.
She went anyway.
The horrible things she said when she left.
She never wanted to see them again.
She knew it wasn't true.
But anger always won.
But she would pay the price.
She couldn't go back now.
She had shunned herself from her own family.
They wouldn't want her.
They would be heartbroken.
She was on her own now.
The tears hadn't stopped.
She'd never laugh with them again. Or play.
They wouldn't want to see her.
She'd disappointed them.
She would have to stay by herself.
Alone.
Forever.
Unless.
Someone came.
She could go home.
Find the perfect boy.
Present him to her family.
Maybe start her own.
They would be so proud.
She took the coat off the back of her chair, then looked in the mirror.
And her smile faded.
How could she forget?
No one would want her. Not when she looked like that.
She sat back down and drank her salty tea.
Still crying.
Shattered.
And.
Alone.