Beautiful In Every Way
Shelby breathed deeply, exhaled, and let it all go; sending everything that she had left in hopes of an answer. She was beyond exhaustion, her rage and adrenaline beginning to fade. Her stomach knotted, and she began to cough and spit. It was no use, too exhausted to stop the inevitable, she began to spit up on to the floor, covering the inscription with brown liquid. “Ughhhhh…that…is nasty,” she said.
Suddenly, a humorous thought, “I should have brought one of my ex-boyfriend’s shirts with me for just such an emergency!”
The event had taken her to the edge of death, and she collapsed on her back against the stairs. Pluckinga few bits of debris from her lips and face, Shelby smiled and whispered to herself, “thank you…for leaving the carpet on the stairs.”
A wave of memories filled her mind, images of the last time she’d died. Abandoned in a dirty shed for days, nobody caring to check on her after she’d been poisoned by someone close to her. She recalled every detail. The filthy table she’d been placed on, dusty boxes of tools, and the hundreds of dandelions just outside; especially the one that she’d made a wish on just before closing her eyes.
As she laid on the staircase; her thin and frail body damaged from lies, false love, and betrayal, a peaceful thought pushed every other thought from her beautiful mind, “I’m ready.”
“Not one tear,” she whispered.
A response, “Shelby,” whispered deep within her mind.
“I’m here…I’m right here,” she responded, a combination of thought and feeling..
She closed her eyes.
**Afterward will follow**
