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It wasn't fair to be born feeling like a part of you was missing. Many people might complain about such a feeling later in life when they realize they had a hole in their heart for the longest time or the unmistakable melancholy of never feeling complete. But it was different when you were brought into this world and your body was physically craving to fill that emptiness. Maybe it wasn't so much emptiness, it was more of an ache that would never let go, the urge for a substance that you had never consumed yourself yet were somehow addicted to all the same. It was unfair really, being born with an addiction, never having even stood a chance against the shackles of such that consumed far too many lives.
Marlow sometimes wondered if she had lost the genetic lottery seventeen years ago, but she'd come to terms with the fact that it was more of a give and take situation. You take the consequences that your mother's crippling opioid addiction had imposed, but you're given good looks and nice features as a consolation prize. Most things in life actually felt like a consolation prize when Marlow thought about it. She might have to suffer from aches her whole life, but at least she was born with pretty eyes. Being stunted in growth would never let her grow taller than five feet, but at least people seemed to envy her body. Both her parents may have already passed and she had spent the last six years growing up with her aunt and uncle instead, but at least she had grown up quickly. In all honesty the consolation prizes just seemed pitiful.
If there was only one thing she could change in her life then it would be to get rid of that itch that sometimes appeared under her skin, telling her that she wasn't complete. That dull aching, so slight yet still apparent in her muscles as she made her way down the usual downtown route she took. She was more than used to the aches, but on rainy days it could become exhausting at points. Today seemed to be one of those days although there was not a rain cloud in sight, so she shook it off, knowing the feeling would come and go. Maybe it was all in her head after all, weren't most pains psychosomatic anyway?
What mostly only affected her neck and shoulders was also bothering her legs this afternoon as the day slowly drifted off into evening with the setting sun casting a golden glow over the city. The massive buildings towering up over her head blocked out most of the light, yet downtown still looked pretty at this time of day. It was a nice moment to take a second and breathe, not having to sweat through your clothing and grime settling on your skin, because there was a soft breeze filling the streets as the sun ducked out of sight. The summer would end earlier than Marlow had anticipated, but she figured it wasn't the worst thing in the world. Completing that last year of high school would finally set her free to live as she pleased, even if she didn't know what that entailed.
She never really had any big goals in life that she strived towards. Any for that matter. Surviving seemed like a good one though. In this world surviving meant having enough money to sustain yourself and so Marlow had worked carefully over the past few years to save up enough cash to get the hell out of her aunt and uncle's house the day she turned eighteen. She supposed that sounded like a pretty good goal too. It was what lead her to form a routine of sorts, coming out from Queens to work a shift at a café in lower Manhattan and then proceed to procure money in other ways after hours. In a way it had become a habit she couldn't break. The cash she raked in each day she would stack carefully in an old shoebox under her bed and count the days until she had enough to slip into her battered white sneakers one morning and never return.
Today was just a normal day though, treading those dirty sneakers along the bustling sidewalk as she held her canvas bag tight on her shoulder. She was still in her work clothing consisting of a baggy black long sleeved shirt and matching short black shorts and it was starting to get a little warm out on the street despite the breeze. Nothing could live up to the spoils of the blasting air conditioning at the café, after all. But the temperature was not something to worry about when there were more important matters to think about at the moment. It was getting noticeably dimmer in the streets and that meant it was time for her to spring into action.
YOU ARE READING
Glass Half Empty
Action"You need to get out of all this before it's too late", his tone was frantic, pleading almost. "Get out of this?", she tilted her head, "Why would I want to get out of this?" That was when he knew she had slipped a little too far to turn back. ~~~ T...
