Bare Edges

A Short Story

        The chilly night air blew through the girls fiery red-hair, such a compliment to the orange and brown leafs that rustled on the branches, above her head. A few leafs struggled against the force brought upon them, but still fell from the trig like eyelashes. They gently fluttered away. Despite the dark of the night and the girl who stood all alone, in fear, some leafs floated to the ground peacefully. Before her though, stood out a yellow leaf, unlike the rest, as it was not crunchy and dead. The wind soon settled into a gentle breeze, still leaving goose bumps behind on the girl's bare arms.

        The girl stared down at the yellow leaf, as if the leaf told a story no one has ever heard-a story only she could see, or hear, or tell. In that moment, and that moment alone, the girl didn't feel so desperate or scared. She didn't see herself as all alone-she saw another soul before her, understanding her stories, her life. The girl nearly smiled despite her situation, the one where she was running from her own home, her old life: the position in which she was now waiting for the county bus to stop and take any soul willing to ride.

The breeze picked up again, the full forced wind returning, another reminder that no matter how far she runs, she will always return-not in person, but in her mind, in the far reaches where her memories can never escape her; where she is always alone, no matter the size of the crowd or level of noise, it's only her voice in her ears.

        She sucked in a a breath, her nostrils filling with the sweet scent of bonfires-the ones she used to smell every year, before the accident that left her alone, a memory that had been burned through her like a raging fire. Because every year before the accident, it was her and her parents burning those bonfires in the backyard, and laughing among one another. It had been happier times.

        She picked up her bag and slung the strap over her left shoulder, shrugging the cold off, knowing she was leaving home; this time for good. She took a once over of her small town and stared out at the houses of families she knew, the ones who were nothing but another reminder of what happened so long ago, but it wasn't so long ago, not to her. The cause of her misshaped pain and tears, wasn't so long ago. She shook the feeling, as her eyes began to sting and brim with tears. Her pain was only minimal now, after time, it had begun to fade, but it was still there, scarring her. It would always be there. She turned from the homes that had lights shining from the windows and smoke escaping chimneys. She looked towards the empty road before her, where a single, blue, blazer was parked on the right side, up against the curb, and the street lamps hung over the road-dimming more everyday. She stared down the road, watching slowly as headlights appeared at the far end of the road, on there way towards her. The rumble and sound of the engine was enough to tell her it was time to go.

        Her hair was a mess from the wind, and her body chilled to a brisk corpse now, but she managed to climb the stairs onto the bus, as it slid to a stop in front of her, and opened its doors. She moved towards the back, taking a seat by the tinted window, staring out at the sidewalk at the small, yellow, leaf that seemed to stare back at her. The bus door slammed shut, verified with a click. She put her fingers to the glass of the window, imagining the leaf in her fingers, the feel of the natural fabric of the world, the way it would crumble if given time. She stood, feeling the rock of the bus as it moved forward and then braked. 

The bus driver had not seen her yet, so she knew he had not stopped for her, but he still opened the bus doors. She walked down the aisle watching the bus driver smile and nod towards her. As if he understood. His white hair was thinning, and his wrinkles a prominent feature on his frail face. The girl nodded back and skipped down the steeps into the night-thinking back to the night she lost it all. 

        She dropped her old bag on to the sidewalk again, and leaned over picking up the yellow leaf, the one that stuck out to the rest; the one that brought back the wind of yesterday, a soft reminder. The reminder she wasn't really alone after all. She smiled down at the lonely leaf, the first time in a really long time she really smiled. She felt the chilly wind on her again; the dark, night, sky pouring down on her body. She held the leaf close, remembering she wasn't always broken. She remembered the night clear as day. It was similar to the one she lived in now, the moment silent and cold. The night the girl lost everything to a fatal crash and mishap hunt.

        The girl sat listening to her music in the back seat of her father's Volvo as her mother and father fought in the front. Nothing prepared her for the gut-retching scream of pain and the car swerving without warning. She watched as her father shot forward, his head hitting the steering wheel then bouncing back, blood pouring from a large gash. She kept silent her heart pumping as the car slammed into one of the many large oak trees around the road. Her head hit the glass, the cracking sound matching the one that came from the engine as a red flame rose up ad smoke fogged the air.

Her father didn't move and neither did her mother, who sat limp in the passenger side seat, in front of her. Her mother's seat belt had constrained her the entire time, letting her head rest now, between the head rest and the car door. The girls door was partially smashed against the tree and the other sides door incapable of opening from previous incidents involving water, the girl began to panic. She screamed and cried, her tears sliding down her cheeks in hot streams. The girl closed her eyes and thought quick, slamming her elbow into the window, which thanks to angle and height, was not closed off by the tree. The glass shattered both ways and the girl climbed out, saving herself, her parents already dead. Her mother had a bullet through her chest cavity, and her father from a self-induced aneurysm from the hit to the head. She did not know either yet. All she knew for sure, was that they no longer took in breath.

         Her hands were scraped up and her legs bloody with glass. Her forehead was covered in blood, sliding down the side of her face, and then she heard sirens, but she had not called anyone, in fact her music still played into her ears, but everything seemed silent; except for those odd sirens. Lights from the distance became brighter, and kept a repetitive blinking till the ambulance pulled up to the side of the road. She only watched as two men climbed out from the back and came towards her. She saw more blinking lights and more sirens again at the distance. A loud boom caused her to finally take out her ear buds and look over to the Volvo, flames sparked up and the car itself was the fire fueling the beast. She felt tears slide down her cheeks, mixing with blood and sweat. But that was all she felt, as she was tugged away to the ambulances back. Her headphones removed from her head, her hearing restored. The sound was blistering. The crackling of the fire and the occasional pops, seemed to go on forever as she was being treated. Firetrucks attempted to put the fire out before the trees around the vehicle lit up like a newly stringed up Christmas tree. The one tree that her father's Volvo hit was too late, the bark was charred and the leaves on the ground were flaming about. The crunch of the leaves were the softer sounds, the illusion of good fall days around her. Smoke filled her lungs though and the air around the vicinity. The color black and flaky. She did nothing but cry.

        Now she was all alone, a reminder in a leaf, and the tears kept on coming, one at a time pulling at the corner of her eye and then sliding down her cheek. The smooth stream damp to the touch, and silky to the look.