Short Story Collecton

Lists

Kristin liked to write lists. She wrote everything from grocery lists to lists of colors to lists of names of the kids in her class. She loved it.

In her mind, it kept life in order. She could see everything written in a clean order and that made her feel like she had control of something.

Something she couldn't control though was why she wrote the lists. She wrote them because she needed to.

When life had felt too heavy to bear, she wrote lists. Lists of happiness. Lists of sunny days. They gave her strength. She needed them to feel strong.

1. New born babies

2. Puppies

3. Birthday parties

4. Visits to the museum

5. Long summer days

6. Chocolate milkshakes

7. Good food

One day Kristin encountered something she never would wish upon anyone. Heartbreak. Her first heartbreak.

It was at this time she never thought she could love again. She deemed it impossible. So through her tears she wrote a list of her feelings.

1. Sad

2. Lonely

3. Hopeless

4. Empty

5. Tired

6. Pathetic

7. Stupid

8. Unlovable

She read through the list once. Twice. Something seemed wrong. Kristin read through the list one last time and found the problem. She scribbled out number 8 as hard as she could.

Then she did something she had never done before. She took the list, crumpled it up, and threw it away.

She ran to her bed and from under it pulled out an old, brown shoe box. She yanked off the lid and scattered the hundreds of lists she kept through the years.

She sorted through them and found one that stood out. It was titled simply "Things To Look Forward To".

1. Graduation day

2. My 16th birthday

3. First female president

4. Finally learning to play the piano

5. Going to Europe

6. Finding the perfect person to spend my life with

Kristin stared at the last item on the list. And she did the last thing she thought was possible. She smiled. And promised to keep hopeful and certain. And she was so glad she did.