Different

A small, dark-haired girl sat on the couch. Small hands clutched the blanket laying on her lap. Large, black eyes stared ahead at the screen that was displaying vivid colors and images.

She suddenly smiled broadly, dimples appearing.

The small child loved this part. The black-haired man, dressed in royal garments, was able to place the glittering, clear shoe on the young, blonde woman’s outstretched foot. The child brought the blanket below her eyes to cover her joyful smile. Fists resting on her cheeks, the smile slowly disappeared as her head tilted slightly to the left.

“Fairytales happen to people who are different,” she thought.

It was true; Cinderella embodied true kindness, Belle was the only person to see beyond appearances, and Ariel had an unrivaled desire to explore the unknown.

“Amazing things do not happen to normal people,” the child thought. She did not want to be normal if that is how she would be able to live the life that was painted on the screen.

Little did she know, she was not ‘normal.’ She would age and become a person deemed a ‘free-thinker.’ She learned that she was not normal thirteen years later.

Yet, fifteen years later, three orange bottles sat on the wooden table.

Adorned with white labels, the bottles boasted a height of about three inches. One was filled with a white, round object, about a centimeter wide engraved with a large “M”. One was filled with an identical object, but the object was about half the size. The last bottle was filled with a blue, small object engraved with the letters “TV.”

A dark-haired girl picked up each bottle separately. Clutching the bottle in her left hand, she applied slight pressure to the lid of each bottle with her palm, while twisting her wrist slightly. Her fingers methodically plucked a single object from the each of the half-filled bottles. With a single motion, she brought the three objects to her mouth and swallowed.

Three pills to alleviate the same pain caused by low self-esteem.

Sinking into her overly large chair, her blanket was tightly wrapped around her waist. She stared at the screen that was displaying vivid colors and images.

“Why was I chosen to be different?”