Hazel’s eyes are tiny diamonds, watching gray skies weep over the sleepy valley. From her room, she crafts an idealized version of her life.
Re-imagining her life, she storyboards it on a faded legal pad. In her revision, she decides against her ex-husband Ethan.
She decides that he won’t beat her. She won’t wind up in detox after passing out on her front doorstep. She prefers this new version.
This story has Grant’s soft brown gaze catching her before Ethan can. His gentle kiss sweeps her from Ethan’s hard arms, into a good life.
Unfortunately Grant never worked up the courage to do much of anything, disappearing into her memory. She wishes he hadn’t run off to school far away.
Glancing out her sterile hospital window, she watches rain soak into the ground, becoming new life. She can feel it nurture the ground.
When they release her back into the world, her shattered form will mend itself. She can feel it. Her chrysalis stage will be complete.
She can never be a butterfly now. As a moth, her wings will be bent and tattered, but at least she’ll be able to float above her past.
(Originally a sequential story released on Cloudburst Twitter)
: andy l. kubai : writer : 