Fresh (626 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.5 on 8 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by indigogecko (View user info) at 2005-07-12 18:22:22 EDT
Fern walked through the backstreets of the city. Behind the park the faint smell of ozone mingled with the scent of crushed wet grass and the last of the honeysuckle, playing her senses and stirring up memories.
"...sweet and clean now, after the rain..."
It was a good day for a fresh start. Autumn was drawing in, but a lingering summer sun was warming her back as the clouds cleared from the thunderstorm.
Almost a year since that day, the day she had spent sitting in the shower watching salty tears mix with drops of salty blood. It hadn't been much; she hadn't been able to go through with making the cuts. The scars from where the point of the knife had pierced the skin - Gods how that had hurt - had faded over the months, but the memory of what had driven her that far...
"My life will be forever autumn, now you're not here...."
He hadn't been that close a friend, for the most part. But he was someone who hadn't bullied her, ever, and that counted for something. Jamie was always around in the shadows, from her early childhood. They'd been to all the same schools, and their fathers worked together. He never really seemed to care much about her; when Fern got beaten up at school when she was 14, she remembered catching his eye as he lurked, an onlooker, impassive, just before she lost consciousness. Somehow though, when she came round, he was the one leading the nurse to where she lay at the bottom of the stairs. And so it went on. A sort of guardian angel, but one who never saved her from hurt, only from serious lasting harm.
And then, one day, he wasn't there, and she wound up hospitalised.
At first she was annoyed with him for the fact it was someone else who called the ambulance for her. But as the days went by and he didn't come to visit, and her parents and friends who did come avoided talking about it when she asked.
Blood clots, Bones knit and scars heal, and she survived, was released from hospital and was back in school inside a week. But Jamie wasn't there.
When she had found out why, life no longer felt worth living.
Meningitis can kill in 24 hours if it's not recognised. And it killed Jamie. As it turned out, he'd been just down the hall from Fern's ward, though she would never know that the last thing he saw before he died was her being wheeled in.
A year ago, she'd lost her guardian angel, and almost died mourning his loss. But she'd since found faith, and with it came the confidence to walk away from the fights.
And today, she'd found someone who would be there. The picture of Jamie still stood on her desk, she could never forget him, but today...
Today was a good day for starting fresh.
User Reviews
Submitted by ruthless (user info) at 2005-09-27 16:28:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Good stuff never gets enough attention.
Submitted by Hirilnara (user info) at 2005-07-13 02:05:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Brilliant! - I saw your name in the list - best of luck in the madness, not that you need it with skills like that...
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-07-12 23:42:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-07-12 21:32:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I have a good friend named Fern, but he's a dude and never fights. In fact, he got punched in the face once by a stranger and didn't do anything about it -- except ask, "Do I know you?"
Anyway. This was pretty good, but I thought her hospitalizations seemed a bit drastic. The idea that she gets beaten to the point of unconsciousness so often that it becomes routine just didn't make sense to me. But I like that Jamie wasn't a shining knight.
Submitted by Genko (user info) at 2005-07-12 20:24:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You made it in, right?
If not, that's a travesty. This is fucking awesome. Sad, though.
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2005-07-12 19:19:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Playing first chair for Al Hirt and Cal Tjader was great for a young, fresh faced 15yr old
Submitted by Unabonger (user info) at 2005-07-12 18:40:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by PokeyPecker (user info) at 2005-07-12 18:25:36 (#)
Ranking: 1
An excellent breed of hunting dog is the Irish Setter, though they're seldom used for hunting any longer. Irish Setters are excellent dogs but need a great deal of supervision, roaming space, and attention. They can also, because of their size, be inadvertantly dangerous to smaller children, so it is best to provide supervision during such times.
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you're fucking cracking me up.
Submitted by PokeyPecker (user info) at 2005-07-12 18:25:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
An excellent breed of hunting dog is the Irish Setter, though they're seldom used for hunting any longer. Irish Setters are excellent dogs but need a great deal of supervision, roaming space, and attention. They can also, because of their size, be inadvertantly dangerous to smaller children, so it is best to provide supervision during such times.