The Girl With The Doe-eyes

• Mia Saddington, Grade 8, Star Of The Sea College
• Short Story
• 2015

Excellence Award in the 'The Write Track 2015' competition

It is a known fact that everything on this earth will kill you if you let it.

Alison knew this too well. It could be drugs, alcohol, or even the Bambi-eyed girl who sits next to you in Maths class. She took a drag from the cigarette that hung from her lips. She imagined the smoke dancing in her lungs, shortening her life. But she didn’t mind. There was little purpose for her on this earth. She had nothing to gain, and very little to lose. But then Alison thought of Rosie. The girl with the brown doe-eyes who shared her Maths class. Alison couldn’t help herself from smiling. Rosie. The sweet, gentle girl. She thought about the first time they met; Rosie being new to the school, and being forced to take the only empty set which was located next to Alison. She remembered how there was never a look of dread on that girl’s face. Alison with her tattoos, and ears that were loaded with piercings, tended to scare most people away. But not Rosie. Rosie made polite small talk with Alison when she got the chance. This surprised her all the more.

She assumed she was just being courteous. That she was just well bred. And while this was true, Rosie even sat with Alison at lunch. Tried to get to know her better. This wasn’t an easy task. Alison was reserved and aloof. This, Rosie paid no mind to. She still did her best to get her to talk. And she succeeded. In the end, Rosie became Alison’s first and only friend. The only one that genuinely cared.

It wasn’t long until Alison had a little more than friendship on her mind. But she didn’t know how to go about this. She didn’t know what to do, or what to say, or how to act. She didn’t know how to make her feelings known and not scare Rosie away at the same time. With this in mind, Alison started to push Rosie away. Started to go back to her usual reserved self. Alison tried to use this as her armour. Something that could protect her from getting hurt. However, it was too late. She was addicted. Rosie was her very own Methamphetamine. She planned on weaning herself off before the addiction ended up killing her but there was no amount of weaning that could overcome the craving.

She was in love with the girl with the doe-eyes and there was nothing she could do about it.