“You couldn’t
really say that something that hurts so badly feels good exactly. It’s more that it just feels right. And something that feels so right just
couldn’t be bad. It has to be good.
“She gets up from the bed and walks into the
bathroom to splash some cold water on her face.
She stares in the mirror for a few seconds, looking at herself as if she
were a stranger.
Who is this?
She supposed that to anyone else she looks
exactly the same as she always did, except for her hair, that is. She doesn’t have the energy or inclination to
fuss with it like she once did, so she just wears it in a braid that hangs
halfway down her back.
But she doesn’t recognize herself.
Maybe her face isn’t any different, but the look in her eyes is. Worse than dead, their expression is simply
blank. She reaches out a hand to cover
them in the mirror. She remembers the
reflection that used to stare back at her.
Those eyes weren’t dead.
She had never known that she used to be
happy. It had simply never occurred to
her that her life had all that she would ever need or want.
The one thing that can make her laugh these
days is how much she used to take things for granted. In the past, little hurts, like doing badly
in school, or getting dumped by a guy, really used to throw her. How was she to know what was lying in store
for her? She shakes her head at how foolish she used to be, getting upset
because her favorite dress got lost at the cleaners, or something equally
stupid.
Stupid!”
