One shots

Written on the walls

I was listening to story of my life when the video inspired me. Then I remembered two movies and felt it all hit me. I based the library room partly off the image and partly off the library in Meet Joe Black. I hope you enjoy this.

"Dance as though no one is watching. Love as though you have never been hurt before. Sing as though no one can hear you. Live."- Unknown.

The door was still the same shade of brown. Two gold doorknobs leading into the house. A house that stopped feeling like home for the past two years. Two years since it happened. Two years since she had returned home. Two years since Freddie felt like it was home. Tears flooded her vision making it blurry to see. Her lips trembled in sync with her hands. Her heart thrummed rapidly against her chest so hard she thought it would rip through her chest, it was suffocating her. Her breathing shook, as the slightest sound of a slowly dying soul escaped her.

She clutched the cool metal, twisting to let the door open with a deafening click. The door creaked opened to the dead home. Her knees shook against each other, barely holding her up. A hand flew to her chest to keep the tears and panic attack at bay. She was being stupid coming back. Now was her chance to walk away, to let him go. To let him live.

Not a single thing was left out of place. Fresh flowers sat in the vase on top of the table near the door. The bowl held his keys. Their jackets and shoes lined the hooks and rack. Her mirror looked newly polished. Their pictures hung up on the wall towards to kitchen and along the wall up the stairs. Yet the house was dead, with no one in sight. And her heart unbearably hurt.

The keys fell with a clatter, the sound echoing off the walls. She silently let her bag fall as the tears finally fell in silence. The pain in her heart too much for her to stand. Falling to her knees she cried with all her might. She sat there until she felt like she had nothing left. Yet they still freely fell. Exhausted from feeling dead she picked herself up. Her throat was dry and her ears rang. Her face dry from the endless falling tears. Wrapping an arm around herself she let the other trail across the wall.

The walls were smooth. Cold underneath her fingertips. She watched every photo, every memory fresh in her mind as if it was yesterday. Every single one free from dust. Why? It was her only question. Why did he keep it all?

Walking to the basement, the man cave she stopped at the bottom of the second last stair. There was no sign of the living.Returning up she let her feet carry her.The kitchen was spotless, leading into the living room. Her favourite music albums and books lay comfortably on the coffee table. Her vase filled with the fresh flowers. Her favourites. And small fairy lights danced around the windows. She sucked in much needed air. Walking out the door to her right she walked towards the stairs.

The silhouettes of foolish teenagers growing together danced on the walls. Each one coming to life. It ended with the perfect image. Of a smiling couple, a wedding dress and tears of happiness. She felt sick thinking of what was once. Of what she had done in this life or a previous one to deserve this. They had found each other after time apart. And fate cruelly had drawn them apart again.

Upstairs looked uninhabited. The rooms were empty. Beds made, sheets crisp and freezing cold. Windows wide open the net curtains dancing in the wind. She shivered from the isolation. Towels hung where she left them. Their counters held every last thing from the last time she was here. Not a single thing moved as she relived through that morning. It felt like she had never left. Like that night wasn't the night to shatter her heart and kill her soul. She gasped focusing on her breath, not realising she was holding hers. There was only one place left.

Her nerves were at their peak. Her cheeks flushed as her heart fluttered. Why couldn't she forget him. Her steps were slow. Her heart in her throat. Her palms sweaty despite feeling cold. There was only one place he could be. She felt sick to her stomach. Grabbing hold of the brass doorknobs, she pulled the doors apart.