Malicious Memories

• Umamma Asif, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2020

If I had known that some secrets could tear a family apart, crush a sister’s heart, kill innocent souls and betray parents trust-I would have never done it!

Drops of warm blood and tears tip off the edge of my nose, into the icy sink below, burning my wounded face. I traced the cuts and bruises with my smoky, burnt fingers, slowly, as I reach my stomach-it grumbled. My cheekbones and rib-cage were sticking out, as if in a war with my skin, tearing me apart. I stared at my reflection in the mirror. I felt like someone was pulling at my veins, muscles and bones-ripping them apart. The pain was excruciating. I grabbed my short, filthy hair, pulling it side to side like a tree in the wild wind, screeching, squeezing my cheeks with my dirty, razor sharp nails. Drops of bright, scarlet, sleek, metallic blood slowly teared at my skin, oozing out, finding its way to my mouth.

Weeks had passed since my parents left to drop Bianca to mental hospital-my innocent, adopted sister. Those nights Bianca roared at me, chocked me until I suffocated. She hit everyone. Mom, dad and herself. I made her insane, by telling her who she was-an orphan. It was my fault. I’m heartless. The thought echoes in my head as the picture frames on the walls haunts my soul. Shaking tremendously, the abrupt feeling of my heart being speared away comes shooting back at me, the broken glass pieces piercing away at my feet.
‘CRASH!’ went the sound of the frames as they hit the tiled, frosty floor. The waves of pincer-like pain keep pummelling my brain as my body was dragged down, down onto the inky, cold depths of my ocean floor, choking me. ‘RIPPPPP!’ As I shredded the photo, slowly. The vibes it gave were heart-wrenching. I lay on the isolated ground. Glass stabbing me, but the pain was numb, for I had experienced too much to suffer from a carpet of glass shards, as I watched hours fly by, as I yelled in misery and agony.

‘COME…BACK…WHAT...HAVE…YOU…DONE…TO…ME….come…back…coe...ba…co….’ tears streaming down my cheeks.

They weren’t going to listen. It was my fault, and this regret would kill me…Slowly. I closed my eyes, breathing heavily, as I dragged myself to the balcony, gripping a slim shard, leaving a trail of moist, sticky blood as I peered over the railing.

They died in a car crash Janet. They aren’t coming back, because of you Janet. You’re heartless Janet-Heartless.

I climbed on top of the railing, trying to keep my balance. Brought the shard to my left wrist and dug it-slowly-into my swollen corpse. The pain erupted through my spine. Shaken, I lost my grip and fell.

I remembered teasing Bianca–as I saw the ground coming closer, like an asteroid seeking revenge, the wind slapping my face-not realizing, what I had become-an orphan-I closed my eyes as the last words barely escaped my lips.

‘I’m sorry…I’m heartless’–regret had finally killed me.