Distance

Bridget Meyer
Aug 25, 2017 · 2 min read

A weight was shackled around my ankle. Leather rough against my hand, I tossed the ball once more, only laugher falling on my deaf ears. As the ball came for me once more, it slipped between my fingers and bounced hard on the ground below. Over and over it was like this, though occasionally the shackle on my ankle was slack enough for me to catch the ball, my hands glowing red.

Over and over. Not as much like a record, more like a tape, rewound every ten or twenty seconds. Fire smoked out my lungs, chains tied my legs to the ground. The yellow glow that had been in my life dimmed right before my eyes.

It wasn’t surprising. Or, I made myself think that. I mean, yellow wasn’t even my favorite color or anything. If I made myself think that, the smoke in my throat might just clear up.

Leather found my hands once more, another rewind. I guess my brother was good enough company while I fought for feeling. It wasn’t surprising.

The location wasn’t as important; just a few tall trees, the background noise of a ghost park. We stayed in the large field. I don’t know why.

As I tossed the ball again and heard it bounce to the ground alongside a laugh, cheery words said around a giggle taunted the ball and chain on my ankle. “C’mon, you look like you’re not having much fun. Let’s go back to your house.”

The yellow glow flickered, it seemed, as though it were a flame atop a dying candle. I could only watch as the flame disappeared, the last of the wisps of smoke drifting away.

)
Bridget Meyer

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Hey…. I actually post stuff more on Wattpad, so…. https://www.wattpad.com/user/StymxK

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