Random Short Stories

I don't know I'm bad at titles

          He'd finally done it. He had achieved the closure he needed, he burned it all.

        He had run into the forest with a ton of lighter fluid and a match. He planned to set the whole forest on fire, or maybe he wanted to burn the memories he was burdened with from that place. Too many memories are spent in this forest, mostly happy, but some sad. Like the time he came to the forest to climb a tree, to climb away from all his horrid problems.

       He didn't come with anyone else at first, but then he made a friend, his only friend in fact. They played in the forest multiple times a week for months straight. Once they conjured up a spooky story there, it was fitting, after all the forest had a ton of fog giving it a mysterious and ominous effect.

      The story they wrote was about a porcelain doll from these very woods. A girl, about seven years of age, comes along and picks it up. She goes to her mother, who was at the edge of the forest. The girl shows off the porcelain doll. The mother screams, the girl just laughs.

      He wanted closure, he didn't want to remember any of this. Any of the stories, any of the stories about stories. Anything. He wanted to be away from this place, as far as he could go, move across the country even. No...He wanted it to burn.

    So he did it he burned it all, every tree branch, every tall and twisty tree. Everything. He burned the petite forest to just a bit of ash. Closure, that's what he needed.

     Then he sprinted away from the ruins of a used-to-be forest to somewhere different somewhere new. He didn't want to remember everything. He wanted to start fresh, away, far away. So he ran, and ran, and ran. He ran past residences, neighborhoods, convenience stores, everything.

      But he just ended up in the woods again

      They were in different locations, but they were the same. They looked the same, they probably had people like himself that came by here frequently. He wondered how their memories of the forest contrast with his. He wondered how similar they were. Were they more alike or different?

     He wanted to go back in time a few weeks when things were finally looking up. He had his best friend - his only friend - by his side just hanging out in the bland woods. Those woods had no color he wondered why he ever went there at all. Why didn't he go to a colorful park with all its flowers and greenery? They had so much more to do at parks, so why didn't he go there? Maybe he didn't like to socialize, after all, parks can be a very popular hangout location. He wasn't very social, he only had one friend. He never had to talk to her though, she understood him. He didn't have to speak to her for her to understand his words and what he truly meant. She just knew. She always knew.

      Who will know now?

      She was extremely social, a social butterfly one would say. She had an excessive amount of friends. She practically knew everyone in their high school, she even conversed with the Juniors and sophomores. Everyone knew her.

     She was absolutely exquisite in every way, from the way she looked to the way she spoke with such absolute gentleness. She truly cared about everyone, maybe that's why she got hurt. Life is such an unfair thing, if your mean then you get hurt, if you are nice then you get hurt even more than when you are violent and terrible. That shouldn't be the case, but it is. It is the unspoken truth of life, the one that barely anyone speaks about, or even attempts to go near the topic. He hated reality. He hated.....everything.

      Everything, anything. Anything, everything.

     He used to think that life was a scale, one side represented the good while the other represented the bad. If it tips to one side then it will tip back eventually, it needed to be balanced. It all comes full circle. However, he no longer believes that not after what life did, not just to him but to everyone who knew her.

     Everyone, Anyone. Anyone, everyone.

    He never wanted things to end up this way maybe it was his fault. Maybe. Maybe if he convinced her to skip that party and come with him to go to the festival in the next town over instead. Maybe. Or maybe he couldn't do anything at all.

      Nothing or something? He'll never know. Never.

     All he can do is wonder now, wonder what could have happened...no...what should have happened. She should have grown up and gone to college, get a job as a veterinarian like she always wanted. Or maybe she would have switched carrier paths, he'd never know.

    Never.

    He started running again. The next thing he knew he was at the graveyard, he had to be near her. He hadn't had been able to bring himself all week. He finally was here, he was finally ready to visit her.