rissy stories

As the door to the house swung open, she let the winter air wash over her heated skin. The clothing she wore was hardly made for the plummeting temperatures outdoors and yet she did not care because she felt a treacherous fire brewing within her that needed to be extinguished. The darkness from outside slowly crept upon her, becoming almost a comfort because it covered her shame. Tears blurred her vision as she relied solely on her memorization of the pathway to get far away from the house. She heard hollering from behind her, but she did not stop, knowing that he would not dare follow her into the night.

This flame igniting inside her bones was not unknown to her. She had felt it several times before, but only when she was with him. He shared a lethal chemistry with her, often adding fuel to the fire, making all self-awareness and control slip away. Her heart was equivalent to glass, shattering to pieces as he morphed her into an overly defensive creature that she could not relate to. Before the anger caused her to explode, she ran it off. However, she knew of only one painful way to stop the madness. She may not have been successful at changing him over the course of her life…but there was something she could change about herself by facing her demons.

Her fists were clamped tightly together. Her fingernails broke the skin on her palms. Her arms pumped vigorously at her sides, propelling her forward. Her bare feet became raw, scraping against the cement on the street-lit sidewalk due to her sprinting. She felt no pain from this because the frigid weather was already spreading numbness over her body. Hot tears ran down her freckled cheeks, successfully clearing her light- green eyes so that she could see where she was going. Her long, red hair freely flowed behind her, dancing against the wind. She filled her lungs with gasps of freezing air, letting it stir inside her for as long as she could without having to let it go.

Exhaustion eventually grabbed hold when she successfully locked away the creature. She came to a sudden halt, leaning forward with her hands on her knees, gasping for precious air that tasted like liquor. She closed her eyes and let her body shiver as the fire inside snuffed out. Her breathing finally regulated and she painfully regained her posture, feeling as though there were someone pushing back down on her shoulders. She gathered her whereabouts and realized that she was close to the school that she recently graduated from. She let out a heavy sigh as unwanted memories swarmed inside her skull.

An all-too-familiar loneliness consumed her as she thought of the past four years spent in that prison. Her first instinct was to continue running as far as her legs could take her, but she knew deep down in her heart that this was exactly where she needed to visit first. She took in a deep breath as she walked towards the entrance. Luckily, there was a meeting in the building that night, so the doors were unlocked. She cared little for the security cameras because she did not plan on staying there long.

She walked right in and headed towards a specific classroom that harnessed too many emotions that were begging to be unleashed. The room was exactly how she left it a year ago: welcoming. As soon as she took a step inside, scenes from her past unfolded right in front of her. A boy, a girl, and a teacher appeared in the midst of the clustered desks, each staring at her with different expressions. The boy looked inconsolably sad, the girl appeared enraged, and the teacher was simply smiling.

The boy sat there and cried because of all the misery he had endured because of her. A sick feeling churned in the pit of her stomach because they had loved each other once. Guilt from the violent death of their relationship hung in the air, but she could not fully blame or save him. Their mutual pain was not worth salvation, so she let him go. Her eyes then flickered over to the girl with a glare that could kill. This had been her lively friend for years. This was lost when she had unintentionally wronged this girl in more ways than one, changing her friend into something foreign and dark. That once resilient girl was now an angry person and she felt responsible for that destruction. The teacher then caught her attention. This woman was like a second mother, creating a sanctuary out of a classroom for her students. This home was comforting and safe, but she knew it couldn’t last, nor did she want it to. No one else would ever be able to comprehend the complexity of the entire story and she could not relive this. She concluded that this could haunt her no more.

She fought through the sadness, reached down, and picked up three pieces of broken glass off of the floor. The pieces were blood red and she stuffed them into her pockets, taking one last look at the three people before she left, but she quickly realized that they were already gone. She then proceeded to walk out of the room, feeling some weight being lifted off of her shoulders. She shut her eyes with relief as she walked back into the cold night. She was now outside the back of the school and she faced the softball field.

She didn’t hesitate towards it, and felt the cold grass of the outfield in between her toes as she walked. This had been her main position on the team before she graduated and decided to leave the game behind forever. Tears welled up in her eyes as suffocating memories surrounded her, good and bad. She looked down at the ground and noticed something shimmering in the light of the moon. She picked up another piece of red glass and put it in her pocket along with the others. She caught the sight of two more shining pieces present in the infield, one at the pitcher’s mound, and the other at shortstop. These were the positions she used to play as a child. She quickly snatched up the rest of the pieces and continued on her way, another weight lifted from her shoulders.

She then turned on her heels and ran back the way that she came because she needed to face her last demon. She felt the pieces of glass shake in her pocket as she ran, but continued until she reached the front of the house. She stopped and stared at it for the longest time and felt silly that this was the hardest place to approach, even though it was where she lived. She caught her breath, walked towards the door, and threw it open. Treading inside the war zone, every past experience she ever had in that building crashed into her.

She watched and listened as people screamed at each other, feeling very frightened that she could barely recognize her own voice in the chaos. Every door slammed, stomp taken, insult shrieked, and object thrown were overwhelming and dangerous. She promptly put her hands on her ears, closed her eyes, and let out all of her anguish in one scream. The flashbacks successfully disappeared and she heard more glass hitting the floor in front of her. She opened her eyes and found four more pieces. She picked up the other four and pulled out the ones from her pocket.

All ten pieces were spread between both of her hands and she looked at all of them curiously. Shockingly, right before her eyes, they all magically connected with one another…forming a tiny, fragile, heart. She stared down at it miraculously and felt the final weight behind lifted off of her shoulders. She stood completely straight and heard footsteps getting closer to her. She finally looked up from her hands and found him standing before her. He still looked fuming from their latest spat. However, he held onto his hateful comment and noticed the glass heart in her hands,

“Where did you get that?” He asked suspiciously and she surprising felt no passive-aggressiveness towards him anymore, she simply wanted to end the struggle,

“This piece is mine and it always will be. A lot of effort was given putting this back together and I’m never going to let anyone from my past break it again, including you. I’m leaving everything behind, except for this, and moving forward. I would love nothing more than for you to accompany me, but if you can’t find the broken pieces to your heart, I’m leaving you behind as well.”

Her whole heart stopped beating as she awaited his response.