Short Stories

Prompt #11

A/N - I'm not too sure about the ending of this and personally I think it could be better, I just didn't know how to finish... On the contrary I hope you enjoy! :)

"She cried and screamed at the edge of that cliff until she tasted blood in her mouth and her body collapsed into the dirt, spent and shaking"

Pain. Pain was all she could feel. She had spent years enduring torture and hardships, enduring the pain, thinking that one day it would all be worth it in the end. She had hoped that after the suffering she had been through, the pain would go away and be replaced by happiness or love. No it had not come. It was not given to her. She liked to say it was stolen from her, but she had never possessed it. Overflowing emotions leaked through her fragile glass heart as it cracked from years of bottled fear and anger. Sadness poured through the cracks in small streams as she began crying. A silent numbness in her head and heart as she struggled to supress the tears she had trapped inside for too long.

She screamed at the world, a desperate cry for help laced with anger and feelings of betrayal. She had dealt with the undeniable weight of expectations given to her by her parents from an early age, she had worked every day she left home, hoping to find a life that suited her. Being alone was something she had grown up with, people never seemed to like her at all. Always feeling left out, like an outsider looking in. She had tried to will away her bothered thoughts but the lonliness was her only reminder of just how alone she really was.

You couldn't deny the fact the woman worked hard in everything she was thrown at. Having moved from job to job, town to town, she had always known that she had to work hard to recieve the award she desired, but she had never worked so hard in her life as she had yesterday. She had found a glimmer of hope in the darkness, a young scrawny child with curly hair and a goofy smile. He had laughed with her, reminded her of a life she didn't have. Immediatley she thought the child was a sign of a new found happiness. Determined to not let the opportunity slip through her hands she had done everything in her power to make sure she would adopt that child there and then, making sure all the legal procedures were completed within the next day or so. As soon as she succeeded she had failed. The boy's hidden illness took him away.

All she had wanted was a happy, simple life. All she had known was pain and wasted effort. Her fragile heart shattered more as the feelings spilled out. Tears dropped to the floor as her chest ached from the pain and loss of breath. She shouted and screamed pure agony into the raging winds, the taste of blood in her mouth. She could take no more of this, no more of the useless feeling inside of her. There was a hole in her soul that fate had sealed there long ago, cursing her for a reason unknown to her heart. Everything inside her told her to go to the edge of the cliff, slip away into a new silence that would stay forever. Her mind told her to go, to disappear would clear the world of another cursed child, but her heart willed her body to stay.

She wanted the soil at her feet to open up and swallow her whole as she weakly fell to the ground. She felt nothing, an empty sensation lingered as she cried over something she never understood. Her faith in the world slipped away as her dull eyes stared out at the darkening horizon. The world no longer had colour. There was no light behind her eyes. She was lost forever. Reminiscing over the few childhood days she had enjoyed caused her to cry in more agony, as she remembered how happy she was, how happy she could be. Her heart was pounding and her lungs ached, her chest hurt and she couldn't stand due to the shakiness in her knees. She needed something, someone to just hold her up, support her. She silently begged for help deep in her heart. A longing for a saviour, a friend, family. Some sort of sign that would give her courage and hope. Something to save her from crumbling into nothing.

A stranger passed by the crying woman, headphones firmly over their ears. They didn't see her at first due to the sun blinding them, but upon realising her presence the young teen sat by her. The teen had an expression which showed the woman a deeper understanding than she'd imagined. "You're the 5th person tonight you know," he calmly spoke. The woman looked up at the teenager. He had a typical teenage boy build, he wore some scruffy but arguably comfy clothes, accompanied by a beanie covering his short black hair, a tattoo marked his underarm and his eyes were an impossibly bright shade of grey. They stared straight into her soul, she felt transparent under his gaze. "I'm Leon, I'm not going to say anything, but I'm going to stay with you, if that's okay?" The young boy asked. He looked like he was 16 or 17 perhaps a little younger maybe. She couldn't tell. All she could see were blurs of a face. She nodded in reply to his answer and he sat beside her.

A comfortable silence was apparent as the two gazed at the stars in the horizon. The boy sat comfortably, a mixture of sadness and relief shown on his face. The woman cried still, retching as she had no more tears to give, no more air to breathe. She slowly tried to regain her composure, the boy beside her was mysterious and her curious mind wanted to ask him something. "Why? Why are you here?" She whispered. The boy's head sunk downwards, his body language expressing feelings which mirrored the woman's. "I was like you once. I didn't want to die, but I had never felt a drop of happiness. That was until I met someone. They were like me, they wanted to die too, but in that moment I stopped them, in that moment I realised that helping people gave me happiness, by showing people who were surrounded by darkness the light in the world, I gave it to myself too," he softly replied.

The woman fell silent, her sobbing stopped as she took the first breath she'd had in the past hour. "All I ever wanted was someone to understand" she faintly replied. The boy felt her sorrow through her words and sighed in disappointment with himself. "Make me understand. I want to understand. I'll listen to you, to everything" he replied kindly. Hesitating, the woman looked up again at the younger boy, searching for the truth and kindness which he had expressed in his words. Staring intently with her blurred vision the woman sighed in exhaustion. "I guess it won't hurt, I've got nothing to lose anyway" the woman spoke, making a self depreciating joke. She began slowly explaining and due to the dryness of her throat and the dehydration she had gained from crying so much, her voice was quiet and hoarse. Upon realising this the teenager pulled a flask from his backpack. "It's soup, still warm I hope" he offered. The woman didn't say a word but took the flask, her co-operation enough to show that she was grateful.

When she had finished the soup she passed it back over to the boy then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Thank you" she replied, her voice louder now that she had eaten some of the soup. It warmed her stomach and it gave her a hint of comfort, enough to allow her to explain the destructive hurricane of emotion inside her. While she wasn't sure she understood it all herself, she took her last chance at hope and told it all to the teen in front of her. The teen who had been like her once. As she let everything spill out of her heart yet again she began to realise that he had told her his name and she had left him without one. Annoyed with her impoliteness she introduced herself. "I realise it's a bit late but my name's Sadie," she spoke.

The boy flinched slightly before quickly recovering. His uncertainty didn't go unnoticed and she decided to ask him about it. "Okay now it's my turn to ask questions. Who's Sadie? Is she why you nearly did what I was going to do?" She asked, hoping not to lose her only company. "Sadie was my last foster mother's name... she used to beat me,but it's okay because they took me away from her afterwards" Leon spoke with a broken undertone. "So you're an orphan?" Sadie asked. "I guess so, but I've only got 2 years until I become an adult so nobody wants me, I'm practically an adult anyway" he explained in response. "I'll do it." Leon shook his head and looked at the woman. "What did you just say?" He questioned, doubting his ears and her words.

"I'll do it, I'll adopt you. Please, I want to help you. You saved my life. I promise I'll take care of you," she spoke, hoping to persuade the boy to agree. Luckily for her it wasn't hard for him to accept. Tears streamed from the boy's eyes as he hugged her gratefully. "I'd love that... thank you" he whispered. Sadie smiled and felt her life regain some of it's lost purpose. She looked at the night sky, at the watchful stars and taking a deep breath, she thanked the stardust and stood up, gazing at her soon to be son. "Shall we go home?"