Shoelaces

Shoelaces lead to a place you’ve never been.  They’re the soft kind, the kind you used to tie in circles when you were a kid.

You would make a small loop, just big enough to round your neck, and leave the rest hanging off the end. Someone once grabbed that string, bounding behind you like an obedient flying snake. They  grabbed the end and pulled and you fell backwards. You could have landed on your knees, but probably you fell to your back, maybe even banged your head. Your mind was spinning as you looked into the mirror and pulled off that shoelace and saw the dark red mark it left around your neck.

You might remember the head-spinning sensation of staring into your torn up neck when you’re all grown up, clutching a rope and watching yourself in that same childhood mirror.  Why you came back to this house of your youth, you won’t quite know, but it feels sickly right.  Your eyes will be sunken and you’ll imagine how that red sore on your neck will look when you’re even paler and your eyes are even more sunken and that thin red circle around your neck isn’t so thin because this time it wasn’t just a shoelace.  And this time you won’t fall, not all the way.  You won’t land on your knees or your back or hit your head. This time you will float. You’ll float all the way to a place you’ve never been.  And for a moment, you might imagine that it was an old shoelace carrying you away. 

Reviews

[alreadyrousseau]

Hannah, I kind of love this. It's so dark, but it's somehow sweet at the same time, kind of like Pon and Zi, but less cute & more serious. You should make a character out of this! I wish it was longer.