A Compilation Of Short Stories

Being Personable Drains Everything From You

Trigger Warning(s): Depression

It takes at least thirty minutes to put on makeup. Lucy knew this fact very well. Yet she still felt the need to wear it everyday. Lucy did what she could to be the "perfect girl" everyone expected her to be. It was common for everyone to think that having a lot of money and living in a large house makes life easy for you. But in reality, it just made Lucy wish she could be like everyone else. Now she was sitting in her room, struggling to put on the blush she had received last Christmas. Lucy had been putting on makeup for the majority of her life, and yet, everytime it felt as if she was touching it for the first time.

Lucy's mom yelled from downstairs, beckoning her to come and get ready to go to school. Lucy's mother always took her and her younger brother to school, one of the few things Lucy did that a lot of other people did too. But even at school, it felt like every person Lucy passed expected her to be "perfect". They thought she had no reason to be upset, no reason to want anything more out of life.

Lucy put the lid on her makeup, walked to her bedroom door, sighed, and walked out into the hallway. The hall that contained the sleeping rooms was completely empty. Lucy walked down the hall and down the long set of stairs that connected the upstairs to the downstairs, where she soon found herself in the kitchen. It smelled of peanut butter and bananas, which was likely coming from her soon-to-be breakfast. Lucy's brother, Markus, sat at the kitchen table, playing with his toy cars with a carefree look on his face. Their mother was standing at the kitchen counter, a frying pan in one hand and her cellphone in the other. Lucy's mother was talking to some person on the phone, likely someone Lucy didn't know. Their father was away on a business trip, which wasn't uncommon for the family. But it did put a strain on things. When her father was away, sometimes it made it hard for Lucy's mother to keep up with her day to day life.

Lucy's mother hung up the phone and put the frying pan in the sink, which was filled with several other dirty dishes. She grabbed one of the plates full of food off the counter.

"Okay, food is ready for you two. You can come and get it now," she told the two children. Markus jumped from his seat, ran over to the counter, grabbed his plate, and sat back down. Lucy slowly got up and did the same.

"Young man, go put your toys away before you eat," Lucy's mom told Markus. He sighed, then picked up his toy cars and walked up the stairs to put them in his bedroom.

Lucy sat and stared at the peanut-butter-covered toast and bananas on her plate. She nibbled on them a little bit, but didn't feel like she was in any rush to finish them.

"What's wrong?" her mother asked. Lucy looked up, confused.

"What do you mean?" Lucy replied. This felt like the first time her mother had asked her that. Lucy knew that her mother loved and cared about her, but she was such a busy woman that sometimes it didn't seem like it.

"I mean do you feel okay? Lately you've been acting rather sluggish and you've barely touched your food this morning," Lucy's mother said.

"Oh, uh, it's nothing," Lucy told her, then looked back down at her food.

"No, it's not nothing. A mother can always tell," Lucy's mother put her hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Now, what's wrong."

"It's just that... sometimes I feel like I can't be the person everyone expects me to be. Everyone thinks I should be as happy-go-lucky as Markus usually is. But really all it's been doing is stressing me out. As crazy as it might sound, sometimes I wish no one knew that I was there."

"I know how you feel," Mother replied.

"You do?" Lucy looked up, surprised.

"Of course. You know how busy I am nowadays. Between constantly rushing to work and trying to take care of you and your brother, sometimes it can be a bit challenging to live up to the expectations of everyone around me," Lucy's mother told her, "but now I've learned one little trick that makes things a bit easier."

"What's that?" Lucy mumbled.

"Sometimes you just have to tell people no. Sometimes you just have to say no, I can't be the person you think I should be. I'm going to be the person I want to be, and people will have to learn to accept it whether they like it or not."

"Wow, Mom. Who knew you were so wise," Lucy told her mother.

"Well, some things just come with age. Wisdom is one of those things. Now, if you start to struggle with something you can always tell me. If you need a break from school one of these days, just let me know. As long as you're not taking a break from school every few days that is," Lucy's mother giggled. She put her hand on Lucy's shoulder and smiled at her daughter. Lucy smiled back. It did feel good to be understood by someone, even if it was only one person.

Markus trotted back down the stairs and sat down at the remaining empty chair around the kitchen table. As soon as he did he began to wolf down his food. Lucy rolled her eyes at him, then began to eat her food. Soon enough they all finished breakfast, grabbed their belongings, and got into the car. Markus blabbed to Mother about everything they passed and anything else that came to his brain, to which Lucy's mother nodded. Lucy stared out the window, thinking of what she would do to be herself. She knew it wouldn't be easy coming out of her shell to people, but Lucy was determined to do it, and she knew that she could. Today was going to be the day everything changed for the better.