Understanding

Short, Short Story

Laura's eyes are shining.

She laughs softly.

“I read somewhere that laughter is close to crying”

“Yeah?”

“Like now,” she wipes her eyes with the back of her hand, “crying with laughter”.

She pauses to blow her nose before continuing.

“Stupid memories...” Laura trails off as she tries and fails to throw her scrunched up tissues into a bin on the far side of the room.  “It was funny though wasn’t it?”

There’s another pause in the conversation until she looks up prompting a reply.

“Yeah, it was funny, the way your mum was looking around. She was so confused”.

Laura's laugh returns.

“She asked me who I was talking to and I said, ‘There’s only the three of us in here… me, myself and I.’”

“Then she asked you which one you were talking to…”

“I was talking to myself.”

“You really should try to kick that habit.”

Laura's grin broadens as she turns to the emptiness beside her.

“You know I can’t. You’re the only one that understands.”

Author's Note

I appreciate ANY feedback. Thanks! :)

Reviews

[Kristan A. Mohammed]

This is so wonderful. I truly believe that a person's best friend and the most confidential confidant is your own self. I like the way you began the story by misleading the reader into thinking that there was actually someone else in the room. The fact that she was able to laugh so much and make it appear to be so real is just proof of how real and true her internal friend was to her. You really accomplished a lot in just a few lines. I really enjoyed reading this. Great job. Stay inspired.

[Jacob Clifford]

The only people who can ever really know us is ourselves. Despite being so brief and sparse, this story tells a huge tale. This is incredibly insightful and powerful.

[emmajoy]

Few words from me, this is near perfect a short story as read for ages!

That said, i need to say why... starting with the end.. it makes sense, whether considered normal or not.. what the heck it doesn't matter. You've also built up some tension between the opening and the finish. Last of all... Laura is announced and she's already a vital part of this story.

[barleygirl]

I admire a writer who can pen a little vignette like this which is mostly dialogue & which tells a mostly complete story about some little aspect of life. I like the discussion about laughing & crying being so similar -- nice observation about life & thought-provoking. After the scrunched-up tissue remark, I sorta wanted to see a little more of how this fail turned out. I'm not crazy about the use of an old cliché: "me, myself, and I" . . . but you worked it into your message in an interesting way.

[Francisco]

A surprising argument. The reader attends a conversation to discover at the end of the story that Laura is talking with herself. Moreover, the conversation revolves around the custom of Laura of talking with herself, and worry her mother about it. This does not justify the conclusion that this is Laura herself.
A wonderful piece. Congratulations!!!

[Dusk]

such a powerful concept in such a short read; beautifully done! :)

[Vernika]

This is like a whole lot of emotions jumbled up into a ball and shaped into one single story! Overpowering feelings of emptiness, realization and self love strike you at once. A simplistically wonderful story. Very well written Andrea! :)

[Ana]

Whoa. I like how you said laughter is close to crying, because that's SO true I think. Very interesting the way you dropped it that someone could either be there and they're invisible, or someone could not be there and it's just all in the girl's head.

[LastMonth]

Like a kick in the stomache.
Leaves you with an empty feeling of yourself.

You know what's amazing? I think that.. Maybe not half, but at least a quarter of the people feel lonely in some capacity. So many people that feel alone, yet almost none of them wish to seek out these other lonely people. We're all secluded in our own little patches, frozen by anxiety.

You wrote a thought invoking little bit.
Yes, it's short.

But you know what?
Sometimes less is more.
Thanks for the story.

[Centipedle]

Talking to yourself can be a blissful escape. I know I do it a lot sometimes.

[Usman Muhammad]

Very complicated story, had to read it few times, but after i understood it there was a meek smile on my face. Well done, you very intelligently mislead the reader by making gim think that there was someone beside her in the room, but Me, Myself and I explained everything in the end. A nice way to crack a story in few simple words, keep writing. Stay blessed