tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53539015451864622132024-03-04T20:48:12.096-08:00Blexley's cornerAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10327527510520342440noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5353901545186462213.post-1142101606954159042017-03-18T18:39:00.001-07:002017-03-18T18:39:35.690-07:00Identical<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Her hair was wavy and auburn, mine was
straw like and ginger. Her eyes were emerald jewels, mine resembled the soaked
grass of a football field. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The hairs on my skin stood up as I
cowered in her grand shadow. She always led, and I followed like the pathetic
creature I was. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">She was the poison that you would
willingly drink. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘Rose, over here!’ Jessica, her closest
friend waved her over, ignoring the lamentable version standing beside her. The
crippling reminder that I was the forlorn twin tore through my stomach like a
dagger. The dagger grew sharper as my cuts deepened. Jessica was cunning and
unstable, much like Rose. My sister however, was smart. She could make us
believe she was normal, however far from the truth that was. Rose hurried me
along as she sauntered to her friends. She wore a light blue sun dress and
strappy sandals, accentuating her delicate curves and perfect creamy light
skin. I grimaced at my own reflection through the tuck shop window. I was waifish
and pale with bags under my eyes and clumpy freckles. I wondered over to the
group of uncontrollably giggly and beautiful girls and quietly sat myself
beside Rose. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘Oh, hi Iris.’ Meg, a blonde bob haired
girl smiled weakly and returned her attention to Rose. I wasn’t surprised, but
my head throbbed nonetheless. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I slaved
every waking moment to be interesting, to meet Rose’s standards. Only hers. I tried
to mimic her stance, achieve her catty eyelashes and make my skin as flawless
as hers. I practiced in front of the mirror, placing a hand on my hip, holding
a cigarette in the other. I pouted until my facial muscles ached. It soon
occurred to be that is was not enough to be like her. I tried to escape from
the shadow that my sister had cast over me but it was much too extraordinary. I
wanted to be Rose and I knew it from the beginning. Her dark red lipstick oozed
sex appeal. A careless flick of her thick hair at a carefully planned moment would
bring boys to their knees. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">As my sister excitedly recounted the
intimate events which took place between herself and her outdated lover the
night before, I found myself tugging at the grass beneath me and placing its
thin blades on my pasty thigh. Rose eye balled me in an intense revulsion,
shifting closer to Jess and further from me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘Christ Iris, your fingers are filthy
what are you doing?’ I kept my eyes on the soil beneath my fingers, not daring
to look up at her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘I’m going to the bathroom to wash them;
I’ll be back in a minute.’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I spent exactly a minute sitting on the flimsy
toilet seat, tears trickling down my cheeks and lips. I cupped a hand over my
mouth as I began to sniffle. The thought of her thrived like mould on bread. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I walked out, I stood in front of the
mirror, stiffening with distaste to what I saw. I rinsed my eyes out and slid
my fingers across the running mascara. I smoothened out my pasty yellow dress
and returned to the group of girls. They hadn’t noticed the shaky fingers or
the glass eyes. Or at least, they had pretended not to. Rose rambled on about
Olive, the ‘too curvy’, ‘too vague’ raven haired girl who had allegedly glared
at her earlier this morning. She tossed her head back and snickered, avoiding
my sullen gaze. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Once the sky had darkened Rose and I
made our way home in silence. I watched her from the corner of my eye as we
walked through the empty streets. Her flawless frame, her refined stride. She
noticed this but refused to look at me. She sighed quietly, rolled her eyes and
looked on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘Hello my darlings!’ Mother held out her
arms, embracing Rose and I. Her eyes were unfocused and every wrinkle seemed to
have sunken deeper into her skin. Her light pink lipstick smudged at the right
corner of her mouth, the stench of whiskey leaving her every breath. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rose unsubtly shifted away from me, scowling
before turning to kiss my mother’s cheek. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Jeans, tees and undergarments lay strewn
across the carpet. Dishes from a dinner three nights ago remained uncleaned and
piled in the sink. I hurried up the stairs and locked myself in our room. I
stood, my back against the door, slowly sinking onto the ground. Rose’s side of
the room was impeccably neat. Her sheets were creaseless, her books were
uniformly stacked on the shelf and her expensive clothes perched on their
hangers. My half however, was embarrassingly chaotic. Liquid liners and
mascaras scattered across my dressing table, alongside a photo of Rose. All
those wasted hours trying to look like her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘Open the bloody door Iris!’ Rose kicked
the door, jolting me forward and onto my hands and knees. I sunk my nails into
the fleecy carpet, biting my bottom until I could taste blood. I unlocked the
door and watched as she stormed in, spitting out ‘bitch’ and ‘whore’ as many
times as seemed appropriate. My head began to throb violently and every pure
thought left and I was stranded with the corrupt. I stared at her, not daring
to look away. Everything blurred but her immaculate features. I stood up,
sucking on my bottom lip. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘Why are you Rose. Why am I Iris.’ She
rolled her eyes and placed a hand on her hip. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘What are you talking about?’ I shoved
her as hard as my skinny arms could manage. A grin escaping me as she stumbled
backwards. She clenched her fists but stayed back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘If I was Rose would I be pretty like
you?’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘Get out of my room now you psycho!’
Rose slapped me. A stinging sensation licked my cheek. I looked to my right,
her pretty red lamp rested on her bedside table. I grabbed the lamp, ripping it
from the power point. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The remorse and instability that had
been hidden by layers of makeup and years of wrongdoings finally found its way
out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘Iris.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
gazed at her all-consuming fear before cracking the lamp over her head. Blood spilling
into her soft, auburn hair. She wailed and clawed at the carpet. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t stop. Not until her face was bloody
and ruined. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I sat myself in front of her dressing
mirror, my bare feet resting in the puddle of blood beneath me. I extended the
end of her dark red lipstick, gliding it over my lips, puckering them slightly.
I slipped into her light blue sundress, slowly tracing my curves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘Look at how beautiful I am.’ I turned
to see Rose wincing as she regained consciousness. She placed a hand on the
back of her head, sobbing in agony as she noticed the dried blood on her
fingers and the carpet. She lay on her stomach and reached out for my ankle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘Ugh, Iris, what are you doing?’ I
kicked her limp and bloody hand away. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘IRIS, PLEASE!’ She reached for my ankle
again, tugging, crying. I tutted as I picked up the lamp, all blood soaked in
its glory. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘Well.’ I giggled excitedly. ‘Look at
where we are now.’ Who would’ve thought that I, would be her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘I’ve got a boy to meet, as you
mentioned earlier today.’ I slung her hand bag over my shoulder, smoothening my
dress. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">She slowly closed her eyes releasing my
ankle, as if she’d given up on the idea of mercy. One deep breath. I swung the
lamp across her head, a sharp crack following as her body collapsed onto the
crimson carpet. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘I am Rose and you are Iris.’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10327527510520342440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5353901545186462213.post-14747056577033289642017-03-18T18:34:00.000-07:002017-03-18T18:34:21.138-07:00The librarian who never read<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">The library was always empty in Oatlands. From 9 in
the morning till 5 in the afternoon, I sat on the old leather chair, tapping my
pen and watching the clock, perched on the back wall. Waiting. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">A tall, chestnut haired woman entered slowly, peeking
her head through the door. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">‘Hello?’ I grinned, waving my arm from behind the
large desk. Audrey Sprouse, a tall tulip amongst the cotton thistles that were
Oatlands’ residents. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">‘We’re closing up soon, but come in Audrey.’ She
smiled and disappeared behind the tall shelves in the fiction aisle. She ran
her fingers along every book spine in the C- D <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>section, repeating the name ‘Camus’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">‘Ahh here.’ She grinned as she pulled a black book
from the shelf, opening it, smoothening its pages and inhaling its scent. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">I snorted in amusement and quickly covered my mouth. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Audrey
looked up at me, smiling. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">She approached the desk, placing the black book before
me. ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Stranger’, </i>the title read.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">‘What’s it about then?’ I watched Audrey’s content
smile as she continued to smooth her hands over its cover. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">‘Why don’t you read it and find out, Nancy?’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">‘Oh, well.’ I pushed my glasses up as they stubbornly
slid down my nose. ‘I…don’t really read.’ She stopped fiddling with the pages,
and looked up at me in polite confusion. Nobody really read in Oatlands, except
Audrey of course. With its already meagre job offers, the local library,
parched from its painful lack of customers, was the only decent place left. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">Audrey slid the book under my fingers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">‘I’ll borrow this, after <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you </i>have read it.’ And with that, she smiled and left. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">I sat and stared at the book, thick and complicated in
all its glory. She was expecting me to read this? I flicked through the book,
its meaningful words yearning to be read and understood. I closed the store up
and turned my little desk lamp on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">Over several hours, I had devoured pages of what I
finally concluded to be, “a terrible sort of beauty”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I re read the same phrase over, and over
again. ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">There is not love of life without
despair about life.’ </i>The following morning, the book was still contently
nestled in my hand. A night, a book, and the reasoning behind everything I’d
ever done was doubted. The clock menacingly stared down at me, ticking
impatiently unlike anything else in this slow town. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">I opened the blinds and unlocked the door, hissing
quietly as the natural light seeped in. The cool morning air filled the
library, and for a moment, it looked beautiful. I stepped outside and watched
the mill begin to turn. The familiar smell of maple syrup and crepes wafted out
of the café kitchen across the road.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything
seemed smaller today. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">I wondered what went on behind the grey eyes of the
little old lady that sat on the bench beside the library every morning, sipping
the same strong scented black coffee. Was she happy? I looked at my chewed
fingers, raw and unsightly. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was I happy?
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">I searched through every aisle, looking for another
book to read. After a half hour of skimming through blurbs I decided to settle
with ‘Northern Lights’, a fantasy novel that had enticed me with its blue and
vibrant colours, yearning to be read. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">Audrey returned to the library that day, smiling as
she eyed the new book in my hand. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">‘Philip Pullman?’ she asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I nodded and held the book up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">‘Look who decided to come early today.’ I watched as
she searched for another book, this time she had found herself in the F to G
aisle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">‘Just wanted to make sure you’d read the book is all.’
She winked and continued running her fingers along the spines. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">I’d read the book. Whether I was happy about this, I
wasn’t sure just yet. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">After I’d closed up, I sat on the old lady’s bench,
staring into the dimmed sky. The only grocery store was a ten-minute walk away,
the pizza shop was two stores down, the and my house was just down the road.
The lights of the caravan park lit up from behind the information centre and I
thought of Darcy and Belle, the twins who live with their parents in one of
those dilapidated vans. I smiled as I remembered the boy who worked at the
pizza shop, constantly needing to be reminded of how to spell pepperoni. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not a car passed by, for the entire night, as
I sat on my own, staring at the mill’s silhouette slowly disappear. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">On Tuesday, I packed all my clothing and personal possessions
into a single suitcase, and tossed it into the boot of my old Beetle. My life
in one boot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">I sat on the spinning chair in the library, staring at
the clock, Audrey was later than usual. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">The little old woman sat herself on the bench again. She
gazed into nothingness for at least half an hour. Her coffee grew cold. This
town was caught in a time capsule that I just couldn’t squeeze out of. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">Five minutes
before close up time, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">she </i>opened the
door. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">‘Audrey.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I put
on my coat and hurried to her. ‘I was worried you wouldn’t turn up.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">‘Everything okay?’ I cupped her hands in mine. It was
difficult. Difficult to explain, that I had outgrown this little town. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">‘I need to get
away from this place.’ I said hurriedly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">Audrey struggled to find words. After all, I would
never have thought to leave a day ago. I looked behind her, the mill slowly
turning, the old lady still sitting on that retched bench, and the library.
Still empty. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">‘I’m wasting everything here Audrey. I realise that
now.’ I lived in an undisturbed story without climax, hidden from change. I
kissed her on the cheek and slid the first book I read into her tote bag. She
squeezed my hands tightly and nodded. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">‘Maybe I’ll see you again.’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">I sat in my car, hands resting on the steering wheel.
I looked ahead at the seemingly endless road. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">I turned the ignition on and left the library, the old
lady, the maple syrup and crepes, and Audrey. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-themecolor: text1;">As I drove away I could feel the town collapsing in on
itself. And now, I was off to find a new book, and make myself a story worth
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was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWMsuR-gQJqMxOv6O2sAwldirTfpDByadE46RnFxlk4rE0KHf8HbI1L_ZnCrVS46t7DgEUBZhTK2NgBG64rMykTrJiyVjeivfUpIvB02Vmk_qIZ-ToaioQtXjA7iMGJ969jbTY-oayCH8/s1600/book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWMsuR-gQJqMxOv6O2sAwldirTfpDByadE46RnFxlk4rE0KHf8HbI1L_ZnCrVS46t7DgEUBZhTK2NgBG64rMykTrJiyVjeivfUpIvB02Vmk_qIZ-ToaioQtXjA7iMGJ969jbTY-oayCH8/s320/book.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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</style>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10327527510520342440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5353901545186462213.post-4350292048845791042017-02-10T00:43:00.002-08:002017-03-18T18:36:27.648-07:00Today I forgave Myself. <div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">The scent
of fresh paint burned my nostrils and made my head pulse. I flattened my hands
on my thighs as I realised I was biting my nails. I avoided her gaze and
focused on the blank piece of paper before her, thick pen in hand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">‘How are
you today Emma?’ She smiled. Margaret looked simple enough, but her mind was
far from it. Her empathy watched me through those dark, almond eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">‘I’m… okay.’
I swivelled from side to side on the new orange chair, smiling weakly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">Today had
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hated this. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">‘It’s the
cycle, it eats at my head.’ ‘I hate it.’ I was biting my nails again, this time
I looked at her. She was scribbling on her pad, and nodding her head. My mind
is gone from the moment I wake up. My pace is heavy, my eyes sting and my mouth
is dried. I look at myself in the mirror. The exhaustion and all that late
night thinking presented itself in eye bags and cracked lips. There was a time,
when my face was clear and eager for the day ahead. My gleaming blue eyes had
turned into a sombre grey and the bright red lips were pale and trembling. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">‘I don’t
like what I see, I don’t like what I’ve become.’ The muscles around my mouth
ached, I tried so hard to keep a straight face but I was moments from losing
control. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">‘You weren’t
always like this were you? It seems to me that you liked five-year-old Emma.’ Margaret
looked at me with her soft and caring eyes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">‘Yeah, I
thought I was going to change the world when I was five.’ I didn’t care what
others thought, I would run around with my long pony tailed hair, satchel on
one shoulder. A book about dragons, pens and pencils. I gazed into my opened
bag and saw a phone, a brush and school books riddled with words that meant
nothing to me. Words I was forced to write down. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">‘I realised
in high school, that I wasn’t special.’ ‘I let myself become like everybody
else and now, I don’t know who I am anymore.’ There was a mask permanently
attached to my face, that I couldn’t rip off, no matter how hard I had tried. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">‘I decided,
that I was going to make friends, and I changed myself.’ A sniffle escaped me as
I cupped my hand over my mouth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">There was a
moment of silence that I’d created, and I thought of all the days before this
one. Monday. I’d sit at my desk and poise my pen with an empty book before me, remnants
of ripped out paper bothered me. My mind was blank. I’d clench my fist and
close the book, hide it within a pile of text books and find something else to
distract me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">Margaret
asked me about me about my parents, my friends and school.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">‘I am a
good writer; did I tell you?’ I sat up straight and looked into her eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">‘No you
didn’t, tell me about that.’ A warm feeling was quickly muffled by my frustration.
Writing was what I lived and breathed. I was inspired by everything, life and
people, seemingly so unique and beautiful. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">‘It became
a chore.’ I ran my fingers through my hair, tugging at the knots and staring
behind her. The words I wrote were re assembled by others to make something
that had already been done so many times. Something that suited others ‘better’.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">Tuesday.
Today it would come to me. I took my book out again, opened it up, pen in hand.
The soft creamy paper begged to be touched. Nothing. I closed my eyes and saw
the mess my mind was. A soft sigh left me as I closed the book and through it
across the room. I hadn’t written in months. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">‘You’ve let
others change you Emma, because that is what you believed necessary to do in
order to get by.’ I stared at my lap, I could feel her watching me. I knew that
it would be over soon but it became harder every day to wait. After years of having
my worth questioned I failed to realise that I had allowed myself to become
someone I wasn’t. That was the cycle that I had grown tired of. Standing within
a crowd of people who didn’t know who they were. We stare in the mirror and see
a stranger, a creation of societal expectation that hides who we really are and
makes us the same. Uniform, in every way they could make possible. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">I could
hear Margaret’s soft words ringing in my ears and my mind returned to the small
room I sat in. The smell of fresh paint was gone and the piece of paper before
her was filled with scribbles and bullet points. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">‘Emma, It’s
a healing process, to regain any passion after having it dulled by other
commitments.’ ‘However I can guarantee you, that it will happen.’ I nodded and
smiled, a weak smile but a smile none the less. An hour had passed, it was time
to go home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">Wednesday.
The empty book lay sprawled on the carpet. I sat at my desk and flattened out
the crisp pages, pen poised in hand. ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Today
I forgave myself.’</i><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></span>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10327527510520342440noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5353901545186462213.post-45039196266416265802017-01-15T03:08:00.001-08:002017-01-15T03:08:39.760-08:00This isn't Felix. I looked into the eyes of the person I had shared my darkest secrets and sweetest moments with. They were different, emptier and darker, like something was missing. Felix, a gentle and damaged soul, who you'd expect of all people to have eyes filled with hurt and feeling. And yet, I was staring into a blank face. Blonde hair falls around his soft cheeks, a look, different to the five hundred I'd seen before and memorised. His skin had paled and his wrists were thinner.<br />
'Jess, you ok honey?' Felix squeezed my hand, giving me a look of concern. I squeezed back.<br />
The hospital room was bleak and sterile, smelling of disinfectant and sickness, if it had a smell it would be this. I should have been overjoyed to see him after months of surgeries and waiting. What was wrong with me? Something hadn't felt right for weeks. <br />
<br />
This wasn't him, not my Felix. Something had happened during the surgeries, he had been replaced by somebody identical. I slipped my hand out of his, my fingers trembling. The man in the bed looked at me, creating a facade of confusion and hurt, masking his true intentions.<br />
This was an imposter.<br />
Engulfed by fear and rage I began to strangle the man in the bed. If this were really Felix he would have been able to overpower me but this man was much to frail and weak for that.<br />
' I need to see the real Felix, WHERE IS THE REAL FELIX?' I spat, tears spilling onto his chin.<br />
'Jess! Stop!' His weak voice shrieked, he grabbed my wrists in vain, pushing me away. My hands pushed against his brittle throat, why wouldn't he tell me where Felix was? In minutes his fingers slipped from my wrists and those beautiful eyes that had been stolen slowly closed.<br />
Harsh hands grabbed me by my coat, ripping from the bed and taking me away. The doctor and nurses ran to the imposter's aid.<br />
'FELIX WHERE ARE YOU?' My screams echoed down the halls as I was dragged from the pretender's corpse.<br />
<br />
The next day I awoke in another bleak and sterile room, but this one was different. I was alone, there was nobody by my side, no Felix. Why weren't they looking for him? Nobody had even tried.<br />
My wrists were raw and hand cuffed, as I stared into the mirror before me, a red eyed, blotchy faced girl looked back, scared and exhausted. I could never forget his warm hands and soft cheeks. His sad stories and sad eyes. Nobody knew what it was like to stare into the soul of somebody you loved only to realise they had been replaced, by a pretender, an imposter. Nobody.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10327527510520342440noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5353901545186462213.post-61024712311078439642017-01-11T23:30:00.001-08:002017-01-11T23:30:24.631-08:00Thursdays are for Overthinking. <br />
I'm a writer, a dreamer, a thinker and yes, a cryer. I like vintage//thrifted fashion and horror films. And please, don't label me as one of those who deliberately strays from the crowds. I merely refuse to agree with the idea that we're all the same. I don't believe that people can be ordinary, as everybody has their own unique and ingenious thoughts that seperate them from the masses and make them <b>different. </b>That is, after all, what we are I believe. Irreplaceable and one of a kind. All born with the potential to be good but when life and our minds test us with its cruel ways we are forced to choose between a million paths that lead to a million different possibilities and a million different endings. And through all these millions of paths, possibilities and endings you are here, and that is more that can be said for many so be glad that you're buried six feet under society's expectations and not dirt. You're here so be happy for you a stronger than you think, don't look up to people, look up to yourself because you are the reason that you are still here.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10327527510520342440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5353901545186462213.post-87740424751356996482017-01-09T20:19:00.001-08:002017-01-17T18:22:20.673-08:00Fool's ParadiseHis hands trembled in mine. Tousled and sweaty hair, collapsed over his delicate features. His dark eyes filled with a familiar emptiness, and a sort of madness that failed to conjure empathy, but instead, memory. Jack was much weaker than I, and it was quite obvious, that this boy was bearing a weight too heavy for such a fragile creature, as broken and innocent as he was.<br />
Most could take the inevitable blankness awaiting them. We were far from okay but would continue to remain alive. Others, like Jack, weren't able to withstand the pain and were murdered by their shaky minds. However, was the only shaky mind left to keep me going. He was my brother, my dear brother, and I would not allow him to become another statistic, with a heart as unfairly broken as his was.<br />
<br />
Jack and I were born into the black and white. We had heard stories from our grandparents, of the world before our generation, a world of colour.<br />
'What is colour Nanna, why can't you explain it?' Jack would ask.<br />
'It is something we do not deserve.' The light in her eyes would dim as she says this. It was always something that fascinated the children of our generation. A beautiful thing that our seniors could never put into words or show us.<br />
So beautiful perhaps, that people would pay thousands to see it with their own eyes.<br />
There were no historical accounts or photos. It merely seemed a legend that the senile elderly had conjured up for whatever reason. If colour was everywhere then why wasn't it here now?<br />
'We were punished.' Grandad would say. ' We took something that was good for granted and in moments it was gone.' He never elaborated on this, nobody did. Since we could not see it, we did not believe it. All accept Jack, of course.<br />
<br />
When Jack and I were adults, a revolutionary drug had found its way into Melbourne. A week had passed, everyone was addicted. 'FP' it was called. Later we learnt it stood for 'Fool's Paradise'. The drug allowed the user to see colour for what felt like too short a time. People in this saddened city were happy for once, and rightly so I had thought. Imagine, what it would be like for everyone to see the most beautiful thing in the world, at once. The grass beneath my feet was 'green' as nanna had called it, and so were my eyes. Some lips were pinker than others and Jack's skin was like porcelain. Life had been brought to the city and with time, people had their meaning. In moments, their meaning was lost.<br />
<br />
The drug had started off as extremely cheap but over a year the price had risen to unaffordable heights. I could never shake from my mind, the day I couldn't buy another pill. The day my happiness was forcibly ripped from my firm grasp.<br />
'Mum all I need is a little loan, please it'll all get back to you in a month or two I promise.' My mother would look at me with her broken blue eyes and run her shaky fingers through her bright red hair.<br />
'I've got none left.' I felt myself sinking into the ground. Or at least, that's what I wanted to do. My lips throbbed and my throat clenched itself.<br />
'What do you mean 'none left'?'<br />
'I spent it all on the colours sweetie, can't you see?' She collapsed onto the floor in a pool of her filth and tears and I left her there, on her own.<br />
That day, I was able to distinguish being alive with living, for I never lived again.<br />
<br />
I was able to suppress my feelings, like most of us had done and we went on. Without colour. Our lives had ended here and yet we still continued. Somewhere between life and death. 'Limbo', as Grandad had called it. Even time couldn't restore ignorance.<br />
Jack, the little boy who was fascinated with that beautiful thing he couldn't see, was never able to regain any part of him that once was. We were all broken but Jack was shattered, like a china doll.<br />
'Dear sister of mine, did you know I dream in colour?' He placed his wet head on my shoulder, his eyes unnervingly dead.<br />
'No, I didn't know that.'<br />
'I am forced, every morning, to wake up and face another uncoloured day and pretend that nothing had ever happened to us all. The worst and best nothing.'<br />
Jack squeezed my hand tightly and looked out of the window beside us, wincing at the sight of bland nothingness.<br />
'What did we do to deserve a world with no colour?' <br />
'We were living in a fool's paradise.'<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10327527510520342440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5353901545186462213.post-68002443357254866542017-01-06T14:21:00.002-08:002017-01-06T14:21:29.193-08:00Tooth & Co. <b>Lost and Found</b><br />
<br />
Light bounced from every sharp edge, illuminating purples and greens, sprayed on the worn out walls of this old brewery. A sense of idle loneliness crawled through the forgotten machinery. Rusted and consumed by its memories. As broken glass and moss engulfs the unsteady ground I am reminded of the state loneliness leaves us in.<br />
Oh, how easy it is to believe that you are forgotten by the world, when in fact it is impossible. In your darkest days, think of this brewery, with a broken back and yet it still stands. Lost, and found again.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10327527510520342440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5353901545186462213.post-38500135902626686672016-07-10T03:14:00.000-07:002016-07-10T03:14:00.979-07:00Lost in Causeway.Everyday passed by like a stranger on the street. Forgettable and most routinely, ordinary. I wasted my long hours, sat on a bench and watched the machine that was humanity, spinning it's cogs and turning its wheels. The world surrounded me with an absent mindedness that was pushing me closer to insanity. The chaos consumed my thoughts and I remained a mere shadow of the person I once was. A spectre, lingering amongst the masses, in perpetuity.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10327527510520342440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5353901545186462213.post-81250736360613493352016-04-25T21:36:00.002-07:002017-01-16T18:57:29.155-08:00The Arsonist<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 200%;">I </span><span style="line-height: 32px;">didn't</span><span style="line-height: 200%;"> live in a house, I
didn't own a car. The little money I earned in mopping other peoples'
crap off the floor was wasted on matches and petrol. It was hard for
people like me to stay in one place for very long. I spent most of
the day in a barren park surrounded by broken wire fence. When the
night cast its sheet of darkness over me I was the only one who
remained. The lights turned off and the people hid behind the safety
of their multi locked doors. The stares of disturbance and the
agitated yells disappeared for a while and I was left with my own
thoughts. The voices in my head were louder than ever before. The
streets were empty and only the leaden sky was left to see who I
really was. I sat on a wooden swing and ran my long fingers along
the burns scars on my arm. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">As
a child I used to stare into the open flames. There was something so
beautiful about fire, a dangerous temptation for the sick. The
flames had a power over me that was impossible to control. The
matchsticks made their home in the pocket of my scorched jeans and it
was havoc from then on. I had nothing but loneliness and the pleasure
that came from all the ashes in my wake to keep me company during the
long hours of the day. </span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">I
spun a a matchstick between my fingers and smiled at the jerry can
between my feet.
</span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Tonight
there will be light.” I dreamed of the tall houses before me
collapsing in flames. A work of art as it would seem, and I was the
artist. To the people in this town I was just that boy who spent his
days sitting under a tree in an empty park. But I was so much more
than that. I yearned for destruction and turmoil amongst the insanity
that surrounded me. This was a new town; they would figure this out
soon enough.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">I
could smell the petrol on my skin. Burning my nostrils, the
nectareous odour filling me with a warmth that normal people couldn’t
understand. I focused on a house on the street surrounded by yellowed
grass, lonesome, and forsaken.
</span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">I
bet it'd look nicer on fire.” The voice in my head was impatient. </span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">The
dry grass swayed softly with the night's breeze. The house glaring
down at me menacingly as I paced to its door. I curled my fingers
against its cold knob and twisted it until the door groaned open.
Before me was a large and bleak room with sickly curtains and flowery
wall paper, curled with neglect. The wooden floor boards were coated
in saw dust and the windows were shattered. I lifted the can up to my
stomach and twisted the cap off. </span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Let
there be light.” </span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">All
was silent except for the gurgling of the petrol pouring onto the
walls and floor boards. Anticipation and release rushed through my
veins like a noxious plague. </span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Savour
this moment kid, take one deep breathe and light it up.” So I did
as the voice ordered and took one big breathe. </span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">One.”
I pulled out the redheads and picked a match. “Two.” I lit the
match. The enslaving rush it gave me never got old. “Three.”I
hovered a finger over the head as it emanated its alluring heat and
tossed it under the curtains. I watched in wonderment as it crawled
up to its drapes and spread across the floor boards.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">It
was truly beautiful. I could barely tear my eyes away from the
bright, sharp flames inching closer to me every second. I spun around
and rushed outside the house, the flames licking closer too my heels.
I ran across the road and sat myself back at the little wooden swing.
Swing swing. </span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">It
was always better to appreciate your art from afar. And it was quite
a sight. The loud crackling noises filled the neighbourhood, the
lights turned on and the doors unlocked. People soon gathered around,
keeping their distance from the bright embers as they slowly
collapsed, with such grace. I leaned my head on the tree and ran my
hands over its harsh bark. I slid the matchbox open and pulled out
the last matchstick. I looked up and smiled at the tall tree,
envisioning the sound of crinkling leaves. The excruciating screams
and gasps of the voices flooded my mind and the arduous silence of
the night was gone. </span>
</div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">And
there was light.” </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10327527510520342440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5353901545186462213.post-11056452605986322652016-02-27T18:13:00.003-08:002017-01-06T15:38:58.092-08:00Hello, my name is Panic.Hello, my name is Panic. I'm the constant heaviness in your mind that never leaves. The sweat from your palms and the trembling of your fingers. I'm the voice that tells you it'll never be okay. My words of torment stick like glue and can never be unstuck. We sleep together, in a tangled web of lies that I've spun and you feed on my deception, the way you would drink a cold soup. Sometimes you'll feel like I've left you. You will feel a sudden feeling of relief, and take one long breathe. But I always come back, I never really leave. I'm the ball in your throat and the harrowing heat that rushes through your body. And late at night when you're lying in bed, surrounded by the chaos that I've created, I am the tears that roll down your red cheeks and pain that rises up your chest. When you try to scream I'll stop you, when you try to ignore me I'll make you listen. I bring upon you the unbroken feeling of worthlessness and belief that your world is ending. I am the loneliness that you fear countless times a day and the arms that will hold you down. Hello, my name is Panic.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10327527510520342440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5353901545186462213.post-47334115396074157752016-02-09T23:29:00.001-08:002017-01-06T15:41:11.968-08:00ButterfliesA little boy with bright blue eyes and a strange affinity for butterflies. He wondered off to the big green pastures watching the blue and black butterflies flutter before him.<br />
He watched as the other children stomped around with their big nets, swiping into thin air, the butterflies moving in a mad frenzy, trying to escape the inevitable.<br />
Over the years the grass became drier and the butterflies became fewer, but the little boy would still sit there, watching and waiting.<br />
And just like a big net eventually catches up to a butterfly, age caught up with the little boy. over the years his hair went grey and his dark skin wrinkled like raisins. He sat in the dried and yellow grass that had once been so green and lay on his back, looking up at the bright blue sky. The breeze was soft against his pale cheeks and the sun was shining brightly into his eyes.<br />
He took one last breathe as a little blue and black butterfly fluttered onto his nose. The old man smiled and closed his eyes, and the butterfly flew away.<br />
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May Juan Pedro Lamaison, rest in peace.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10327527510520342440noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5353901545186462213.post-76452980462087221522016-02-03T22:39:00.002-08:002017-01-06T15:43:24.467-08:00BirdieNewspapers sprawled across her bedroom floors and pinned to her creamy white walls. The faces of men and women, circled in red pen, pins through their foreheads. She walks into the bedroom wearing black from head to toe. All you can see is the darkness in her blue eyes. Her name, is Birdie and she hunts the worst kind of people. She tugs off her balaclava and leather gloves , a bush of curly red hair is revealed, her skin freckled and scarred. She peels off her blood speckled clothes and hurls them onto her bed. Birdie opens the curtain, light dripping into the room, exposing the dust as it floats calmly in the air. She walks up to her decrepit cork board, tearing off the photo of an old man with balding hair and thin brown eyes, like a shark. His face is circled in red pen like all the others. She crosses out the man's face with black pen and places the photo inside her desk draw, along with the large pile of other crossed out people. Birdie saunters over to her laptop and switches her screen on, resting it on her lap. She prints out the document she had left open earlier and waits. A few moments later, her printer begins to whir to life. A page begins to appear, she rests her hands on her desk watching intently the photo of a middle aged woman appears. Rounded with auburn hair and dark blue eyes, holding a nebulous gaze.<br />
" You look familiar." Birdie remarks to herself as she gazes at the photo, baffled at the unexpected recognition she has with this woman. Birdie grabs a pen from her desk and circles the woman's face, pressing her photo onto the cork board and stabbing the thin paper with a pin. Her screen lights up, an unopened message appears. Sender, unknown. <i>'Don't fly away Birdie, or I'll have to clip your wings." </i>It reads. She pounds the lid shut and pours her old coffee over the laptop. She's been found. Her bottom lip tremble, her hands uncontrollably shake.<br />
"This can't be happening."<br />
Birdie stands up and scans the room with urgency, she can't take much, they could already be on their way. She changes back into her bloody clothes and packs the vitals. gun, cash, pocket knife and most importantly... She scrambles toward the cork board and looks hard into the unreadable eyes of the auburn haired woman, ripping her photo off the pin and shoving it in her back pocket. She knew this day would come. She drops to her knees and pulls out a large petrol can, pouring it's contents over everything. The desk, the curtains, the cork board. Everything. She opens her desk draw and grabs her matchbox. She lights one match, and stares at the little orange flame, before she tosses it onto the petrol soaked carpet. It didn't take long before the flames spread but before they could reach her, Birdie had already disappeared. She had no time to wait. She is no longer the hunter, but the hunted...<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10327527510520342440noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5353901545186462213.post-33806714417118481662016-01-30T23:24:00.000-08:002016-01-30T23:24:20.698-08:00LucianoThe soft hum of coffee machines and a strong salty scent. A buzzing cafe by the harbour. Luciano had bright blue eyes, light brown hair and the kindest smile. But those who have the gentle smiles have suffered the most. Outside all seems well with Luciano. He exchanges glances with women who admire his allurement, he serves his coffees with a charming simper and would never speak any words short of kind. At least to other people. When the sun began to settle down, the little cafe would close. The hum of the coffe machines disappear and the salty harbour he would leave behind. He would drive home on his little white vespa, that kind smile, lost for a while. He arrives home when the night has arrived, unpacks his things and saunters to the bathroom. A cleaned razor sitting by his sink. He looked at himself in the mirror, and sighed heavily, running his hands under the tap, splashing his face with icy cold water, to bring him back to the hardness of reality. He was finally awake. Bags formed under his big blue eyes. Larger everyday, since it happened. <div>
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Luciano made his way to the kitchen and sat alone on his wooden chair, cigarette kept tight between two finger. His house was cluttered, just like his mind. Clothes strewn around the rooms. Unwashed dishes, empty boxes. There weren't any picture frames on Luciano's wall, except one. A large photo frame of his mother, father and two little sisters, sitting by a beach, together like a family. Happy. A moment captured in time that is lost forever but never forgotten. Luciano could never give up the feeling of being happy, even if he felt it too long ago. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10327527510520342440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5353901545186462213.post-49994729328356434192016-01-30T17:03:00.001-08:002017-01-06T15:45:32.327-08:00AmelieBlack lace up boots, petticoat dress, red lips, dark hair. Amelie was extraordinary in every sense of the word. She clutched her antique fob watch tightly in her pale hand, people gave her strange looks. She looked out of place, but she was here for a reason. Her hazel eyes searched the crowds swarming like bees in the hustling streets of London. <br />
<br />
"Tic toc." She whispered to herself."Tic toc." Her pace quickened, she had to make it before it was too late.<br />
Amelie looked up at the sky, the clouds began to darken, big rain drops splattered onto the pavement, time was running out. She ran against the masses. She was running for him, they were running from him. A police car raced past her, loud sirens, flashing lights. Moments later there were screams and gun shots. She was close, but she was out of time. A bank, a wide clearing, a lifeless corpse in the middle of the street. Blood everywhere. Grey eyes, a revolver in his hand. She was too late. Crowds circled around his body, drenched in blood and water. A little tear rolled down her red cheek.<br />
She held her fob watch out in front of her , flat on the palm of her hand.<br />
"Tic toc." She turned the crown of her watch, its hands moving backwards. Amelie looked up at the body that was no longer there. The blood, the sirens, the crowds. All gone.<br />
A young man with choppy caramel hair brushed past her as he made his way to the bank.<br />
"I'm never out of time." She smiled a crooked smile and followed the young man, fob watch clutched tightly in her hand.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10327527510520342440noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5353901545186462213.post-23219352920579075052016-01-29T22:19:00.000-08:002016-01-30T16:36:30.595-08:00GaelAn old soul born in a new world. Gael lived in the big city. Big lights, big buildings, big people. Gael was not like the others though. All the big things made him feel small. Choppy caramel hair, big grey eyes and sun kissed skin. Gael walked the long streets in his dirty chucks and denim jeans rolled up to the ankle. A long white t-shirt and a black jacket, hood over head. A revolver tucked under the back of his belt. He traipsed to the entrance of one of those big city buildings, the bank. He yanked the gun from under his belt and fired two shots in the air. A barrage of cries and screams. The big people hid under tables, hiding from Gael. Like mice to a cat. Gael smiled a crooked smile. The big people were so small. <br />
"Look at you all!" He laughed strangely, running his long fingers through his thick hair. The big people looked at him with those empty eyes, exchanging glances, their bodies trembling. Sirens screamed down the street. They were here. Gael stepped outside of the big building and faced the guns that pointed his way. Rain began to cascade from the black clouds, droplets trickling down his long eye lashes. <br />
"you're all so small." He whispered. "You always were."<br />
His finger brushes against the trigger and in seconds, Gael lay on the long street, blood puddling around his body. The tall buildings cast shadows over him, the lights burnt his eyes and the last thing he heard were the cheers. The cheers of the big people.<br />
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Hello everyone! I hoped you enjoyed this story. Gael's character isn't quite justified in this piece or explained for that matter. But I intend to write an ongoing story based around him and his life before his death. I'll be starting that very soon :)<br />
Thanks for reading!<br />
Blexley's Corner xx<br />
<img src="https://49.media.tumblr.com/6f9ed654efa20204df560e3a37b0916f/tumblr_nrwo8o6Vfu1u3805so2_r1_500.gif" />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10327527510520342440noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5353901545186462213.post-22930040954784309922016-01-28T22:27:00.001-08:002017-01-06T15:47:24.218-08:00Waiting. White sand spits from the heel of her brown foot as she saunters over to the big blue waves. Tucked under her arm, a creamy white board with the letters <i>S </i>and <i>R </i>painted in red. The cool breeze kisses her smooth skin and runs its fingers through her sun bleached hair, dry and wavy. The sand becomes damper as it slowly sinks between her toes, the breeze becomes stronger. A chilling rush rises up her leg as she steps into the cold Summer's water, but she can barely feel it, not after all those years.<br />
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She wades further into the water until her feet can barely touch the surface below her; and hoists herself on top of the creamy white board, on her stomach, paddling herself closer to the big blue waves. She bobs up and down as the small waves pass underneath her. She looks to her left, she looks to her right, blonde haired, brown skinned surfers sit patiently on their boards, glancing behind their shoulders. Waiting for the big blue waves.<br />
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This piece was intended to convey a message about being patient and never doubting that the good things in life will eventually find you, no matter how bad things may seem at the moment.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10327527510520342440noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5353901545186462213.post-15453290201496267792016-01-28T01:23:00.001-08:002017-03-18T18:45:40.849-07:00 There are no silver linings<div style="text-align: left;">
People say we can talk with our eyes, but you haven't said a thing to me for so long now. I thought that where there were clouds there would always be a silver lining. But I've looked up at those skies and back on my life and all there's been is rain and stormy nights. 'It'll get better" I've heard it all oh so many times but it doesn't, it really doesn't, because if it did then this wouldn't be how it ends for us.</div>
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I sit here on this little brown chair for hours on end, looking at those glassy blue eyes, that pearly white skin and honey blonde hair. Your cheek bones are sunken in and your gaze is absent. I remember when those cheeks were full and pink and that gaze was warm and kind. The days that you and I would ride down the quiet streets in trolleys, talk about everything and leave out nothing. But it was that day, the day that you kept a secret, a big secret, that everything burnt to flames. And now, you lie in your white gown on those white sheets in a white room, with pale blue lips and short breaths. You never said a word to me from then on. I looked hard into those hollowed blue eyes to find my friend, to hear the words I needed to hear. But I couldn't find them. </div>
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I thought that where there were clouds there would always be a silver lining. But there are no silver linings. I know that now. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10327527510520342440noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5353901545186462213.post-65950781364869385242016-01-28T00:30:00.000-08:002016-01-28T00:30:42.828-08:00Blexey's CornerHi all, and welcome to Blexley's corner!<br />
I am a temperamental and creative teen who expresses her many feelings through writing.<br />
On this blog you will find short stories and/or pieces which I have written. I will write about anything and everything,which means it won't be too hard to find a story you'll enjoy! With hope, some of you will find that you can empathise with or appreciate the stories I have created, and if you do, then I urge you to keep reading as it only gets better from here...<br />
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<i>"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, the man who never reads lives only one"</i><br />
<i> - </i>George RR Martin<br />
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See you soon! xx<br />
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Blexley's corner<br />
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<img src="http://static.tumblr.com/a1f98b1c06490ec151eba7d0cf29c579/zhnnpwr/j0eno7ips/tumblr_static_d5j2wrogl14wkwkc8og444cg4.jpg" />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10327527510520342440noreply@blogger.com0