Forgotten

A Story by jldixon91

She's a shadow with no face and no name and she's just reached one of the most difficult parts of her already difficult life

Up until that moment, dying wasn’t something she had thought about. A gentle and painless way was the obvious ideal. If she had, she wouldn’t have imagined it would be this way.

She persevered no matter how difficult her situation became. Freedom was an eventual certainty that dominated her thoughts. Someday the pain would be forgotten, the fear and the memories would dissipate and she would walk out the door with her head held high knowing not returning was a choice.

But then that day came. She was free. She was also naïve.

She had never felt more trapped than she did in that moment. Her freedom induced a sudden awareness of her past and it hit her like a wave of freezing water. The promise of starting over was gone. Her freedom was destroyed by the absence of the false hope that once compelled her to carry on. Her past clung to her like an anchor and it dragged her down and down until she couldn’t go down any further. She had wounds that were invincible against time and distance.

The last nine years had changed her. She would never be the confident, outgoing person she thought she would become again. She was a shell of the person she used to be and she was scared. Nothing mattered to her any more. She was more alone than she had ever been. She was shouting and shouting but nobody could hear her. She was invisible.

Unwanted, unheard, forgotten.