Man, I've been writing a lot of short stories this week. No other work has been getting done. Tonight I set a goal. I was going to sit down, and finish some homework. Unfortunately, Lily came to me, so I had to write about her.
Here it is!
She lived in two entirely different worlds. In one, she was home, watching cartoons with her mother, happy. But, in the other, a slave, forced to take care of her drunken father. The Switch came completely at random, never with any signs of warning.
She thought it a curse, what else could it be? It certainly wasn't a blessing, of that she was sure. If her mother's world had it's depressing and hurtful times, her father's was a nightmare. Trees, a vibrant emerald, turned black with death. The bird-song so sweet in her ears became a crow's tortured cry. Smells of home baked cookies, and lavender, replaced with the reek of alcohol and shame. Sometimes, she would be stuck there, for days, even weeks. Every minute was a fight for survival. She could never explain to her friends where she had been; she herself could not fully comprehend it.
Her father yelled. She could not understand him. The language he spoke, a horrid, broken jargon, was incomprehensible to those unlike him. When she tried to explain that she did not hear him, he became infuriated. He smacked her, not a rare happening in her stays with him. As he reached in for the second, the nightmare was over.
She sat in class, in the middle of a lesson. How did they not realize her absence? Could they not see the marks on her face, which she felt with a burning intensity?
She would quickly forget all these worries; every day spent in her mother's world would bring her closer to truly being there. She knew that if she stayed long enough, she would never have to leave. This was the thought she held on to, as she drifted towards sleep.
She was lucid, running through a field of grass. Long, golden stalks reaching to her hips. She was free. On her right, she could see an ocean of blue, with clouds, white and puffy, dotting the sky underneath her. Her left was the antithesis: a forest, trees limping and dead, no movement or life inside. A solemn voice told her she must make a choice. It seemed so obvious.
After six months, her mother decided to pull the plug. The doctors said there was no way she would come back. Her father did not realize she had gone.
Her two worlds had merged. Neither was reality, as happiness was incomplete without sadness. She reunited her lost parents, separated not by miles, or kilometers, but by planes of existence. She could not live in a world where her father was depressed, having lost his lover. But, she despised the world where her mother was unfazed by the death of her's. Only a world without her would be complete.
Two lovers, unaware of a daughter loved and lost. One world, aware of both tragedy and fortune. Balance had been achieved.
She stood next to the solemn voice. It was pleased; she had made the right choice.
[Edited on 03.31.2012 5:57 PM PDT]