Short Story: Second Draft
Name: Tabitha Colon Requesting Freedom
Rose felt the soft, brown floor beneath her shoes. She closed her
eyes, took in the smell of leaves, rainwater, and animals. She opened
her eyes, with her head up, facing the bright orange sun gleaming down,
right over the light blue sky. The sky was clear; no clouds in sight.
Trees outlined the long soil path ahead. The trees had perfect green
leaves, with glowing brown bark. Rabbits ran around the green grass that
also outlines the soil path. Roses were sprinkled across the green
valley on each side of the path. The bright red roses almost seemed
unreal, how beautiful they looked. There was nothing beyond this...the
path seemed as if it would just keep going. The rabbits then ran into
their rabbit holes. The wind started to blow, and the leaves started to
blow with it. The leaves of the trees made the sky ahead look green...to
see the sky, she would have to look up, or sideways. Rose had never
seen such scenery. Even in her dreams...nothing can ever equal to how
happy she was at that moment. Compared to her old home, this was
paradise. This was finally freedom. What she was used to was near
darkness. Grey. Black. Surrounded by a crumbling wall. No windows, just a
tiny hole for slight light, and air. The door was steel. The air was
stuffy, dusty, grey fog surrounding her. She was trapped. Her captors
were stubborn, irresponsible, nonsensical humans. She had only heard
about the town that was outside her little box. Everything was
mainstream. Store vendors were greedy goblins, only looking for money,
rarely ever to help someone...or having a good business. Everyone
worshipped evil. They looked forward to money, inanimate objects, and
rebellion, never life. With all of these stories she heard, she was
happy to be in her box. She wasn’t like the others. Thats why she is
stuck here. She can’t leave, like she wanted to. She has no money, and
now no friends or family. How was she going to get out of this horrible
town? This place is for people who settle for less, or people who get
lazy, and evil people looking for trouble and drama, or they just can’t
afford anywhere else. She even hears gunshots from her little hole in
the wall. It’s pretty scary for her to live in this little box, in the
middle of an evil town.
On one of those foggy days, her friend who works in the hospital, “L”
came in. She has long black hair, and is very tall. She is also very
fit. She tries to work out as much as possible to keep safe in the town.
She usually wears grey or black clothes to fit in. Her makeup is
dark...eyeliner and dark lips...to seem like “one of them”. She is
actually a good person, though. She was one of the people who are
required to check up on cells to make sure the people were alive. Nobody
knew, but L was actually a good person. She was just pretending to be
evil, to blend in, so that she wouldn’t be locked up and she works here
so that she can help these people. She had been trying to find a plan so
that if they get enough people locked up here, she can let them loose,
and the good can conquer the evil. L brought the girl a warm meal, which
they only get on fridays. Meals were the only way she would be able to
tell what day it was. She never knew what time it was, but the actual
day was good enough to stay sane.
“So, hows the plan going? Has there been a spike yet?” She asked L.
“Sort
of. Not enough, though. We have to keep getting the word out to
pedestrians, but we have to do it carefully. Two of our men were already
locked up by asking the wrong people if they wanted to change the town.
Don’t worry girl, this can’t go on forever. Bad guys never win.”
She put her head down to her knees.
“They did this time.”
L looked at her...feeling bad yet determined to not let her think that way.
“You
have to keep thinking positive, thats the only way to survive. You
can’t keep thinking negative, or you really will never get out of here.”
“I know, but its so hard when you are surrounded by so much negativity, its starting to grow on me.
“You can’t let the evil take you. Just know that you would make your parents proud if you got out of here alive.”
She
watched as L left the room and left her in darkness again. L’s comment
made her feel much better. She really did know that this plan had to
work. She always heard riots outside, eventually they were all taken in,
but they can’t all fit in this place. They have to stop this some time.
Hopefully in her lifetime.
The riots had started to get more consistent. Less gunshots, less
evil, she had heard from L. The plan might actually take action soon,
she said. A long week after she talked to L, someone else walked in her
cell. It was a doctor. She was taken aback because L was the only person
that sees her.
“Where’s L?”
“Who?
I’m Dr. Left, I’m here to make sure you are alive and well, we aren’t
here to starve and kill people in here.” Rose became confused.
“No, L is supposed to come to my room. She always gives me food and all, where is she?
“Forget her for now, you won’t be seeing her anymore.”
Rose felt infuriated and began to feel her stomach turning.
“NO! WHERE IS SHE!?”
“Now, you have to calm down. I don’t want to have to take you to solitary confinement.”
“WHAT?
THIS ISN’T AS CONFINED AS IT GETS? I’M IN A FREAKING BOX. I CAN’T
BREATHE. IF I WANT TO TAKE IN FRESH AIR OR SOMETHING, MY WINDOWS IS A
HOLE THE SIZE OF A PENNY! THIS ISN’T FREAKING SOLITARY CONFINEMENT?
WHAT, ARE YOU GONNA TRAP ME IN A TINY ROOM WITH SHARP SPIKES ON THE
WALLS?! HUH?!” Rose yelled, and she stared hard at this “Dr. Left”.
The
doctor calmly looked at a person nearby, and he walked out. Then two
people came in. They told her to calm down, and that this doesn’t have
to be hard. She gave in, and they quietly escorted her to a thin, dark
hallway. They threw her in a even smaller room. There wasn’t even a hole
to breathe through.
“Now,
we are only going to keep you here for today, people who stay here
longer than that usually don’t survive.” The two people said.
They
looked at each other and smiled as they closed the door. It suddenly
became pitch black. She didn’t know where anything was. Instead of
panicking, she decided to just sleep through it. She had wondered where L
was. Was she captured? Why didn’t she come? Did she get out? All this
wonder was enough to make her fall asleep.
She woke up to the light of outside. Someone opened the door. It was the doctor again.
“Now are you ready to calm down?”
“Now are you ready to tell me where L is?” She responded.
“She is dead. They shot her during a riot. She deserved it, all of you people do.”
Rose
widened her eyes. This news...it couldn’t be. How could they...is the
town out there really that bad? The girl was devastated inside, but now
that L is gone, she thought, maybe she could take her place, and finish
what she started.
“I
don’t care. Maybe she did deserve it. She was always nice to me. This
town has seemed to grow on me, so I don’t even think I belong here.”
Rose said, trying to hold in her tears.
The doctor seemed impressed.
“Well
then, I see you have made some progress. We’ll take some tests on you
and, maybe you will be getting out today! How long have you had mixed
feelings?”
“For about a year already. All the good I tried, its stupid, you know?”
The
girl was so relieved and happy that she would be able to get out. She
had almost forgotten how sad she was a second ago about the death of L.
It was a good death, unlike most of the people in this town. This plan
will work. She is thinking positive, but at the same time, negative.
What a strange mix.
The next day, after all those dreadful tests, the girl took her first
steps outside since she was 11. She is 14 now. The sky was grey and
gloomy, everything seemed so sad and evil. This was not what she was
expecting. Everyone was wearing the same ugly clothes. Everyone was
blasting the same r&b, rap, and pop music. She really couldn’t stand
pop. When she looked around, she spotted the goblins at each and every
street corner, and every store. She noticed dark figures inside liquor
stores. Signs of stars were marked everywhere. This place really did
turn evil. The only thing that can get worst than this is people start
killing people. As soon as she thought that, a gunshot went off. She
swung her head around to look for the gunman, and saw only a dead body
laying on the floor. Nobody acknowledged him, and the people who did
were teenagers making fun of how he couldn’t defend himself. The girl
tried not to look scared, worried that people would say something, so
she just went walking on calmly, as if she would see that everyday.
Nobody knew that this normal girl had so much fear inside her. She just
walked the streets, noticing how bad this place really is. She came to a
halt as two girls came up to her.
“Are you lost?” they asked.
“Um...why are you asking me? Why do you care?”
“Uh...no...no I don’t care...just...don’t tell the officers alright?”
“Did you work with L?”
“Oh thank god! You aren’t not evil...”
“Shhh! Don’t say it too loud!”
“Sorry, I am just so happy to see someone else. I can’t find L.”
“She...she
died...in one of those riots. She was a good friend of mine. I just
came out of the...asylum. She used to come and bring me food, and would
tell me about the colony and the plan she had. Are you a part of the
colony?”
“Oh dear, I am. Come, we’ll get you looking normal.”
“Thanks...uh...why don’t I look normal?”
“Your hair is crazy, your clothes are dirty, and your shoes are so 3 seasons ago.”
“I don’t care about shoes being in style anymore.”
“Well, everyone else does, so you better listen to us.”
“I just cant find any freedom anywhere, can I?”
She gumly continued on with the two girls.
All
three girls were on there way to this colony. The girl refused to giver
her name to them because she didn’t remember. She didn’t want to say
she didn’t remember, because she was embarrassed by it, so she just told
them that she wanted to stay safe and she couldn’t trust anyone yet,
and to not take it personal. The girls suggested a nickname. They all
had one. Then one of the girls suggested “Rose”. The girl loved that
name, because she had always dreamed of seeing roses again. Rose agreed.
They all arrived at this huge old abandoned building. Apparently, this
was the colony. They went inside slowly and alerted everyone that it
was them. There were about 20 people. Rose became really upset...and
heartbroken that out of this huge town, only about 20 people were still
good. A lot of people turned, she thought, and some people are still
pretending. Rose greeted them all. Three kids, fifteen adults, and four
teens, not including the new teen, Rose. The place was really big and
roomy. There were about 50 rooms. It was like a mansion here, the
perfect place to stay. How do they keep out the evil, though? Rose
decided not to think about negativity and started thinking about a plan.
They could all just walk out. Nobody was going to arrest 22 people, it
would take a long time, and we would fight. This was the perfect idea to
rise up against the evil.
Rose stood with this colony for a couple of days before they decided
to make the trip.They all went out at once, and some officers stopped
them and asked where they thought they were going.
“We are getting out of this evil!” one of the women yelled.
The
officers went after them, and tried arresting them, but they ran. They
started to scream and made a riot. More people started to come in and
scream with them. Officers were overwhelmed, and the evil was scared.
They wrecked the town, fought back officers and the evil spirits. Even
some of the officers went on their side. Rose then noticed the man who
was shot when she first came in. He was still laying on the ground,
rotting. As soon and Rose saw that, she became infuriated. She began
screaming louder, and attacked officers. Would this riot ever end, or
turn into a war? A goblin looked her way..and she became fearful. She
grabbed a chair randomly lying on the ground and braced herself for the
charge. The goblin came running as Rose swung the chair right into his
face. The goblin fell, and dissolved into the ground. Rose noticed that
this was happening to everyone. More monsters were just dissolving into
the ground, back to where they came from. The screaming later died out,
as there were no more goblins, no more spirits, no more evil. They are
cheered, and all went their separate ways to either leave or stay. Rose
wanted to leave. She invited the two girls, and they said they would be
right behind her.
Rose began to walk, and after a long time walking, she found herself
walking in the middle of nowhere. Rose felt the soft, brown floor
beneath her shoes. She closed her eyes, took in the smell of leaves,
rainwater, and animals. She opened her eyes, with her head up, facing
the bright orange sun gleaming down, right over the light blue sky. The
sky was clear; no clouds in sight. Trees outlined the long soil path
ahead. The trees had perfect green leaves, with glowing brown bark.
Rabbits ran around the green grass that also outlines the soil path.
Roses were sprinkled across the green valley on each side of the path.
The bright red roses almost seemed unreal, how beautiful they looked.
There was nothing beyond this...the path seemed as if it would just keep
going. The rabbits then ran into their rabbit holes. The wind started
to blow, and the leaves started to blow with it. The leaves of the trees
made the sky ahead look green...to see the sky, she would have to look
up, or sideways. Rose had never seen such scenery. Even in her
dreams...nothing can ever equal to how happy she was at that moment.
Compared to her old home, this was paradise. This was finally freedom.
She suddenly felt a sharp pain in her back. The pain was so
overpowering, she fell to her knees, and then to the ground. She saw
someone come up from behind her. It was one of the girls, holding a
bloody knife. Rose thought, ‘Evil will never leave this earth’, as
everything went black. Death may have been the only true freedom for
her.But she didn’t really die.She just had opened the doors to a new paradise.Her own world. Exactly what she wanted.
THE END
*PS:
I AM NOT SUICIDAL OR ADDICTED WITH DEATH, OR THINKS THAT DEATH IS THE
ONLY FREEDOM. KILLING YOURSELF FOR FREEDOM IS NOT THE MORAL OF THE
STORY. ITS JUST SHOWING THAT NO MATTER WHAT, EVIL WILL BE EVERYWHERE,
AND FOR ROSE, BEING STABBED WAS THE ONLY WAY SHE FULLY ESCAPED, SHE WENT
TO “HEAVEN”.
