Short Stories

Twenty: Crowd

I didn't mean to kill her, but there she lay dead. The crowd around me could only stop and stare at what I had just done. The young girl, maybe eight, was sprawled over the ground. Her skin was a ghostly white, and her bright green eyes were now dull and faded. The brown hair that sat upon her head was strewn around her head, almost like a halo. I could only hear the loud ringing in my ears. What had I just done? A shrill shriek pierced through the air. A lady rushed from the crowd and fell to her knees. Her black leggings getting dirty and scratched.

    She cradled the young girl's head as fat tears rolled down her face. She let out a heartbreaking scream that snapped whatever silence had fallen upon the crowd. An explosion of screams and people calling 911 filled the air as the sobbing mother clutched her dead daughter. I cried too. I didn't want to kill her, but she had touched me. But, that was my fault. I should've left my gloves on. But, I just wanted to feel the cool, winter air. I sank down onto my knees. What had I just done? I scrunch my eyes close and felt the guilt tear through me again. How many people had I killed because of my own selfish desires. I felt numb, the guilt coming crashing down on me again. I stared at the girl. The invisibility went out. People rushed all around me as if trying to catch their thoughts, but I could only sit there and watch as the sobbing mother had to be torn away from her young daughter. The mother screamed and clawed at the paramedics, but they had to drag her away. I crawled slowly towards the girl, no one seeming to notice me. I lightly brushed her pale cheek. Her face was so young and full of innocence. She still had so much to do. I had just killed a young girl. I just sat there and curled up next to the cold, lifeless body and held her tightly as the crowd around me rushed around the little girl who had found death too early. The little girl who had found me too early.