Short story about a girl named Scarlett with issues of finding good self-esteem. |
Prologue Scarlett's body was filled with anger and sadness as she rushed to her mom's car. She sat quietly in the back seat and salty tears dripped down her rosy cheeks. "I'm so fat, so ugly, so fat. Fat. Fat!" She would yell to herself every day...but nobody knew her secret, because you see, it was all in Scarlett's head. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Every day the stories of her disfigure would change...the voices in her head were unbearable, at night she would scream, "STOP," and even the stars would jump at the noise...how could so much pain be displayed in a young girl's voice? She would wake up to the sweet, soft, gentle voice of her mother rocking her back and forth...and slowly Scarlett would fall back into a light sleep, her hair splayed out on the velvet pillow. Scarlett was a small girl, the age of 16, with long black hair and a beautiful smile. No...an ugly smile, a terrible smile...at least, this is what she thought. Valentines day. Scarlett rushed down the hall of her school, hiding behind her doe eyes and fleshy stomach, so she thought. Boys smiled at her and waved...snickered, so she thought. Blushing was what she knew how to do. Hiding, crying, depression, this is what Scarlett knew how to do. She pulled her Algebra folder out of her locker and looked at her feet as she shuffled down the hallway. Adam stopped her, his blonde hair just barely touching his long lashes and dark brown eyes. "Hey Scarlett!" He said, smiling at her. Scarlett blushed, so used to the teasing...nagging, now the most beautiful boy in school abused her too. She wiped her shiny, ice blue eyes and continued walking without looking up. Little did she know that poor Adam stood behind her, deflated and defeated. He trudged away. Ugh, I'm such a fool, I'm not worth her time, only better boys, smarter boys, more wonderful boys...not boys like me. Scarlett thought the same thing as she walked into her Algebra class. Smarter, better, more wonderful....not fat, not hideous...not like me....so she thought. After school, she opened her locker once again to put away her English binder, out fell a hundred valentines, maybe more, littering the floor like a thousand rose petals. She looked about her quickly. This isn't my locker. Then it hit her....jokes, she thought, all jokes, class jokes....so she thought. She threw them all away, a thousand rose petals hit the bottom of the garbage can making tiny, unknown wails for their mistress....they are left behind. Scarlett sleeps. She wakes. Day after day goes by. Scarlett doesn't notice the world around her, instead she is routined...hiding behind her hair...hiding behind the smile that she never uses...her screams of pain urge her on through the day, to keep going, to get through life, all though, for her there is no point...so she thought. Adam, Scarlett thinks about Adam, he is so beautiful, so wonderful...I could never have him. Scarlett, Adam thinks about Scarlett, she is so beautiful, so wonderful...I could never have her. Yes, they are in love. Adam longs to hold the girl who thinks herself ugly, who thinks herself fat, the voices in her head ruining her life. Adam runs to the beach, his thoughts swirl...he wants to cry, but he must be strong. The girl he loves, she is so wrong about herself, so desperate for someone to love her...to want her...to need her, yet, she doesn't have that pleasure...that strength to urge her through the day...all she has are the cries of pain. Adam stays at the beach, night falls, yet he stays and he watches the stars who are secretly calling to Scarlett, calling...whispering, but she hears them...she doesn't know it, he doesn't know it, but Scarlett hears them non-the-less. She is asleep...but she hears and she follows... if the stars call you, you have no choice but to follow. Scarlett does not wake but she rises from her bed and walks, slowly, as if in a trance, but not...she walks to the beach where Adam waits and waits although he does not know for what. Scarlett walks, her bare feet are tickled in the sand, but she does not awake, her night gown clings to her from the late Spring rain...but she does not awake... Adam sees her, he calls out to her..."Scarlett," he calls, "Scar..." his voice drifts as if left like a bruise, a cut...a scar in the wind. Scarlett does not awake. Adam runs. Scarlett is closer to the edge...in her dream, the edge of her pain... In reality...the edge of the ocean...a cliff. Adam runs. Scarlett runs...but she does not awake. Closer and closer...she runs to the edge...one more step Adam runs. Scarlett falls, but Adam catches her, the sweat on his forehead drips down his face, she falls into his arms like a sweet baby. He kisses her forehead, sweet and tender, Scarlett slowly awakes. She sees his face, and her lips find his as the pain floats away. "Adam," she moans..."the pain...it's gone...finally, the pain..." She collapses again, but the voices they are gone, and sweet love has taken over. Adam grabs her into his arms and carries her home. Back to the stars. They are calling her home. The stars are calling sweet Scarlett home. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Epilogue You see, Scarlett truly was a beautiful girl, slim and tan with a beautiful smile. Sent from the stars to rescue herself and a boy who both thought nothing of themselves....please imagine her this way, as Scarlett is not in anyway ugly as she is not human, though she does not know, she was sent from the stars, rescued by them and from their, she was taken back home to them by the one boy she will only ever truly love. |