Numb: A Love Story

Chapter 1

Elizabeth.

She breathes in the crisp night air as she stares at the night sky splattered with stars. She does this every night. Every night, feeling nothing but the depression and rough roof tiles of her small, rural house in her small, boring neighborhood.

Her life is perfect. She has a family, gets good grades, is healthy, has a decent living space, everything. Everything is simple and easy for her... except for the scars on her stomach from her father's box cutter he never uses and the fact that she thinks about digging the box cutter a little further than usual and letting the blood spill.

And spill.

And spill.

And spill.

Until it's over.

Just like that her pain could go away, but... For some reason... She wants to experience life for the things it gives. She wants an adventure. If she got just that, then maybe she'll change.

This time she brought the box cutter up with her to the roof of her house. Again, the thought of ending it all flashes through her mind, but - again - she will give her boring life a chance.

So, instead, she cuts her upper thigh. Deep, but not enough to kill her. She likes the blood, she feels a sick sense of pride when she cuts deep. She feels better. So she continues to cut and think of her monotone life on the rough, brown tiles of her roof at 2:30 AM.

She stops cutting at 2:45.

She dwells in emptiness until 3:28.

And crawls back inside through her bedroom window into her small, simple room and stays awake until 4:59 AM. Her mind and body numb, she finally sleeps...

...a spacious room full of people in fast motion. People smiling, crying, laughing, talking, and her. It's just... Her... She's sitting on a burgundy couch... Numb... No feeling... No expression... She feels like a boulder... And feels nothing...

A flashing, red car burts through the white walls... Hits an elderly man and a young boy... Someone cries.. Someone screams...

The wall now has an ugly hole in it and the smell of smoke fills the room. A drunken man comes stumbling out of the car, with yellow teeth and a gnarly gash on the right side of his face holding onto a bottle of beer, he looks straight at Elizabeth... and mumbles words she can't make out.

The car explodes and a massive fire starts from the car. Screams fill the air from the burns of the explosion and everything is chaotic.

Elizabeth tries to stand up and move to help but she can't. She's paralyzed on the burgundy couch.

Everyone will die. Except for her. Because when the fire starts heading for Elizabeth, it doesn't burn her. The couch flames up around Elizabeth and Elizabeth stays untouched. She's perfect.

And Elizabeth cries...

And doesn't stop...

10:42 AM.

Her eyes are swollen from the dream last night. She looks at herself in the bathroom mirror and all she sees is a blurry face with a frown and a body. This is her world.

She wishes she could go back to bed and stay the whole day... But she can't. Her parents will worry.

So with every ounce of will she has in her body and mind she takes the bun out of her hair, brushes it, splashes ice cold sink water on her face, grabs her phone, and walks out her bathroom door and into her bedroom, out the bedroom, and walks toward the kitchen where her father is seen making scrambled eggs for breakfast.

The world is still fuzzy to her.

"Hi, dad!" She smiles at her father and walks to the living room couch.

Well... Not her, of course. The mask that she put on.

"Hey, Eliza." he calls from the kitchen.

Elizabeth hears her dad's distant voice and starts to tune out the world. Trapped in her hell for what will seem like forever.