Gone

Something between the rocks glinted in the morning sunshine. It called to me.

It is never good to keep secrets. I should have taken that to heart, because the truth can set you free.

I lied and told my mom I was fine. College was okay, I was meeting new friends and keeping up my grades. Mom never prodded, and I purposely gave little detail and skirted the issue tactfully. I kept up appearances, like a shiny apple that was rotten on the inside, my secret eating away at my flesh yet no one would know it.

What is dark will come to the light, and I could feel it like a tidal wave, a lump in my throat, a caged animal scratching its way out. I was being consumed, mind and body, and the professor's voice began to drift away as my own repetitive thoughts began to scream inside my head. I felt my palms go sweaty and my heart go wild and I stared out the classroom window, trying to drown out the devil inside.

That's when I saw it, shimmering in the distance, offering a permanent escape. I knew I had to go, and I got up in a trance, stumbling past my desk and out the door, my mind finally quiet, the beast soon at rest. If only I had told my mother everything, for the monsters inside and out will kill you. And your story isn't old when you're dead.


Join us at the speakeasy, fiction and poetry abound!