THE GIRL _________________ The teacher was a writer who had done well. She had her poem on a poster, she tacked it to the wall. The girl was only 18 and had not done well. The girl was a girl who liked the latest boyband. The girl was a child. It seemed to the teacher that this child wasn't doing enough.
Unbeknownst to the teacher, the girl had been writing her whole life. She'd been jotting down stories like nobody's business.
The girl was sure as hell not impressed with the poster - she was sure as hell not impressed with the teacher. She was impressed by how the teacher's daughter had pulled down her pants in the "Fine Arts" hallway and shown the girl the cherry tattoo on her ass. It seemed the class did not seep through the umbilical cord.
THE WOMAN
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The woman, who had only recently become a woman, had married. She'd married a man very old for her. At 19 she had married a man who was 58.
Somehow she told herself, "I'm attracted."
Somehow she'd convinced herself to sleep with him.
Whatever the woman's reasons were, she wasn't in love. Oh she though it was love, but love doesn't give you nervous stomach ache every day. Love doesn't make you wanna pull your small intestines out and use them as rope to get back to him. Years passed; still convinced she went on believing. After the little girl had been brought to them, and they had adopted the small black haired, green eyed, Russian four-year-old girl.
The little girl spoke no English. She only knew to hide behind the woman and to ask for water. A year passed. The woman heard her say "Mama". The girl said "Daddy". She and her husband were overjoyed.
SIX YEARS LATER as she sat in her bedroom, her husband and stepsons came into the room as group and told her she had to leave.
A month later she found out her marriage had been dissolved after four years. Her husband had been seeing his ex-wife for the last three years. Or at least she thought he had - she was sure it had been the whole time.
ALONE
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I have always been alone somehow. Even if someone has been near me or been there, somehow, in my heart, I've always been alone.
In high school, sitting there, thinking. Thinking. Thinking I was not a good writer. Thinking.... I could sing very well at seventeen. Maybe even better now. I've always been somewhat vain about my voice. I never got a solo in choir.
I never got praise in Creative Writing.
And he never actually loved me.
The End