How To Find What You Came Here For

Welcome to the worlds that populate my brain!
The short stories you find here are the product
of a vastly overactive imagination
powered by coffee and M&Ms.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Love Or Money



“Not everyone can be bought,” she said.

Mark frowned and rubbed his forehead, where a headache was brewing.

“Gloria, that’s not what I’m doing and you know it.”

Her thin shoulders rose and fell and her gray eyes tracked away from his to scan the tiny kitchen.  Her leg was jiggling as she sat, rattling the dirty dishes stacked haphazardly on the sticky surface of the table.

The restlessness, the jerky movements, the inability to make eye contact: he’d lived with her schizophrenia long enough to know what they meant.  Mark sat at the table, careful to move slowly.

“Gloria, we’re worried about you.”  He linked his hands and rested them on the table, ignoring the likelihood that his suit would be irreparably stained by whatever coated the table.

When she just stared at the far corner of the room, he continued, “We just want to make sure you can get your medication.”

She jerked at the mention of her medication, and a quick grimace contorted her face.

“Is...is there a problem with your medication?” He fought rising frustration when she didn’t respond.  “You can talk to your counselor.  Maybe there’s something else they can suggest?”

Her eyes flashed briefly to his, and in that moment he caught a glimpse of the Gloria he used to know. 

The older sister who told him stories in the dark to help him fall asleep, who’d made up games to entertain him on long car rides. 

He remembered her laughing encouragement as he pedaled away without training wheels for the first time.  And only a few minutes later, her gentle hands were smoothing a Band-Aid over his scraped knee while tears rolled down both their cheeks.

That person had been stolen away. 

It was the memory of the person he remembered that compelled him to keep trying.  It was the memory of the sister he’d worshipped that nourished the hope that someday they’d find the perfect blend of treatment and medication that would bring her back for good.

“Gloria, I’m not trying to bribe you into doing something you don’t want to do.  I want to give you money for your medication, so you can feel better.”

“No, you want to control me.” Her voice was sullen, and she picked fitfully at her fingernails. “You want me to be someone else.  Well I’m not someone else, I’m me, and you can’t buy a different me!”

Mark winced as she shoved away from the table and stormed to the bedroom to slam the door.  The snick of the lock carried clearly across the small apartment, the all-too-familiar ending to an equally familiar conversation.

He let the money fall onto the table and walked out.



This post is my response to a prompt from Write On Edge - we were supposed to write a story of 450 words, beginning with: "Not everyone can be bought," she said.  And ending with: He let the money fall onto the table and walked out.

Thank you for stopping by, and please let me know what you think!

14 comments:

  1. How sad! But so very realistic. Well done.

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  2. Enjoyed reading - didn't expect the twist of schizophrenia in the story.

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  3. Cool! I'm here from Red Writing Hood.

    This reminds me of Marge Piercy's dystopian WOMAN ON THE EDGE OF TIME.

    Realistic dialogue and great description.

    Did you really do that in under 450? Wowzers!

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    1. Exactly 450 words! This story got some major surgery and a little massage so it could fit the word requirement. It's so hard to cut, but it does usually make a tighter story all the way around, so it's worth it!

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  4. How sad; trying to help someone suffering through mental illness can be so hard and draining. I think you captured that really well: the dirty house, the misread intentions.

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  5. Really well written...I enjoyed it. Visiting from Writing on Edge.

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    1. Thank you for visiting and commenting Ami! You're welcome back any time!

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  6. Aww... heart-breaking, truly. What a well crafted scene, the memories were just the right level of detail, as was the mention of his worry that his suit might get stained. :)

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  7. this was so well written. It flowed beautifully and you captured very realistic emotions and reactions.

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  8. That's so sad, but I'm sure it happens all too often. I loved the detail of his memories of her from their childhood together.

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  9. Very real. I've known several schizophrenics, and this hits home.

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  10. So sad. I'm sure, though, too often true.

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