Sarah's Story

Sarah lay across her bed, fiddling with a rope, debating her fate.  Her entire body ached; she and her father had gotten into an argument that day, and he beat her with a baseball bat until she collapsed, and then kicked her once in her right side before leaving.  A nose bleed sprinkled little red spots across her hair and shirt.  The argument was trivial; she asked for permission to visit a friend, and when he denied her request, she was foolish enough to ask why.  When he sent her to her room, she thought her safety still remained, but knew better when the door opened, her father towering over her, eyes sparkling in anger, holding the bat.

         She didn’t know if she had fallen asleep after or simply passed out, but either way, when Sarah woke two hours later she knew her line of action.  Although her best friend Jessie often tried to convince her of the beauty of life, Sarah saw her empty future.  She had no extraordinary talent, or life goals; she had practically already left this earth.  No one noticed when she grew quiet and let her pain take over; no one would notice her death, either.

         The blonde-hair, blue-eyed teen had tried to find ways to improve her life, all things her friends swore by.  However, music, writing, relationships, sports… even self-mutilation had failed her.  Everything seemed to make her pain worse.  She used to get glances from the boys at her school who longed to hold her in their arms, and was carefully teased by her friends, who saw her beauty more than anyone else, but in the past year her wardrobe turned entirely black, and she began to blend into the shadows.  Yet this neither helped nor hurt.  She was still alone, simply alone by herself.

         Except for Jessie.  Jessie, with her stunning green eyes, dyed black hair, and self-assurance that touched even the top of the high school society.  She almost gave Sarah a reason to live.  She almost convinced her that life can hold a completeness.  Sarah thought for awhile that she could capture Jessie’s perfection, but eventually learned that she would never hold her strength.  She would never be good enough to amount to anything in this life.

         Therefore, she must do this.  Her decision had been made.  With tears streaming down her face, Sarah jotted a brief note to Jessie and her father, collected the rope, and slipped out her door to the living room.  Standing on the arm of their dirty yellow couch, she threw the rope over a ceiling rafter and knotted it firmly, leaving just enough to hang with her toes scraping the ground.  Making a loop at the end, she once again knotted the rope, hoping it would be enough.  Sarah laid her note down on the couch cushions, slid the loop around her neck, and then paused there, no longer sure if she wanted this fate.

         Was she merely allowing her father to dictate both her life and death?  But on the other hand, how could she continue to live like this?  Was it possible?  If she went to the police with bruises to show, would they believe her this time?  Maybe they would.  Anything was better than something as final as death.  She would replace the rope, try telling the officer at her school, and if he didn’t believe her either, death was still an option.

         The front door opened, interrupting her thoughts.  Sarah spun around in surprise, forgetting that she stood on the couch’s arm, and a foot slipped, the other right behind it.  In an instant, she recognized her future, and a single tear escaped before her neck snapped and the darkness closed in forever.