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Burden

by Sammy

Short Story
Dramatic · Other

Published March 8, 2012

In Burden

Burden

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She sat on the edge of the roof, swinging her feet slowly back and forth.

She was nothing but a burden. She knew. To her family. To her friends. But what could she do? She’d tried to stop leaching off them. She’d tried so hard to stop. But every time she stopped, she chose another person.

It was a chain reaction. The domino effect. And it happened over and over and over again.

She stood on the edge of the roof.

She wanted so desperately to stop. But there was only one way out that she could think of. People say that only cowards take that way out. But she was too afraid to go down even that path. What did that make her?

She was useless. Absolutely, utterly, completely and totally useless. She was reminded of this several times a day, everyday. All she did was sleep and eat. A waste of money. But it was true. So they had the right to tell her so.

She looked down. The wind threatening to push her off any second.

She was a parasite. An emotional disease. She would drain her victims of every bit of happiness they had. And then she would leave them for another. Because that’s what she could do, what she was good at. She would strain their patience. She’d manipulate and guilt them. She’d make them believe she was something she wasn’t. Then she’d get mad that they couldn't see through her mask. She’d leave. She’d dump them like a used rag. Then she’d be a mess. She’d pick a new target. And the process would speed up every time.

Until now. Now she decided that this was it. No more.

She crept closer to fall. She stood up on the edge and closed her eyes. And she fell forward. Only for a second, though.

An arm stretched and closed itself around her waist. She dangled from the edge for a second before the hand dragged her back to flat ground. It held her tight. The owner didn’t say a word.

She sank into the warmth of their body and cried. Not because of what could have

happened if she hadn’t been saved. No. She cried because the cycle continued. She didn’t

bother to look back at the face of her savior, who was stroking her head, comforting her.

She didn’t want to see. She couldn’t bare to see the face of her next victim.

Comments & reviews · 1

Joker

Review

Joker wrote a review Review · Mar 8, 2012

This is super! The ending is particularly excellent. Leaves us a sneaking suspicion that she knew someone would catch her, and look after her. This feels like a pretty complex character here. Is this part of a larger piece of work? It could be. One thing I would leave out is the Harry Potter reference. You lower the level of sincerity of which your own work holds by having it in there. Use your own, delicate words to express how she manipulates and bends people.

Well done, though!