The Words

A Story by Austin Cates

Words can do more damage than sticks and stones could ever do...

The Words

by Austin Cates

She sits on the hardwood floor with glossy eyes and smeared mascara as the world crumbles on top of her. The music in her ear buds does it's best to numb the pain, but the weight keeps piling on her shoulders with vicious intent. She wonders at what point would that weight will become too much for her to bear; at what point will she let loose one final scream and collapse beneath the rubble?

The laughs echo in her mind, along with every insult and jab people have thrown her way. Her entire childhood she was told about sticks and stones being able to break bones and how words could never hurt her, yet here she sits with bones shattered by the ferocity of words. Self-esteem slowly trickles away with every insult and joke thrown in her face. Hope has begun to fade at an age when it should blossom into what keeps her going.

The smeared mascara continues to stream down her face like an oil painting, and the quiet sobs she tries to stifle with a pillow produce a somber melody to accompany the dark visage on the floor. Doubt then begins to whisper sinister things into her ear, smothering the remnants of what was once such a happy girl. The little girl that ran around the school yard before the words began.

As Doubt's forked tongue drips venom into her mind, the cancer of self loathing spreads like wildfire. She is forced to remember every word used towards her, and each one tears a piece of her sanity away.

Fat.
Ugly.
Stupid.
B***h.
Freak.
Poser.
Useless.
Dyke.
W***e.
Pathetic.

The music in her ears roars but her thoughts roar louder, threatening to collapse at any giving moment. That's when it happens, that's when her fragile mind finds a way to end the suffering...permanently. She claws at the floor before bringing herself to her feet and making her way to the bathroom.

Catching sight of herself in the mirror, she does not recognize the girl she has become; the girl that the words have turned her into. With white knuckles she hurls her fist through the glass and screams at the top of her lungs. As pieces of glass protrude from her flesh, she takes a large one in her hand and stares at it through teary eyes.

Her parents are racing down the hall, but they're too late when they arrive. The cuts go up both forearms, deep enough to groove bone, and blood has pooled around their daughter's body. She doesn't hear her mother's scream, nor her father panicking as he races to a phone to dial 911. All she hears is the words slowly fading from her mind.

© 2015 Austin Cates

Author's Note

This is not a true story, but simply a story designed to show how far bullying can push someone if allowed to run rampant.

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Featured Review

lucafen4

This was haunting. I read it in my head as if a woman were narrating it to me, it flows so well, it was poetic. You're description and appeal is fantastic. This really is well done and well edited. Definitely a piece that could be significantly expanded with this as the final chapter.