Happiness Comes With A Price

• Charlotte Oliver, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2021

I tick all the boxes for the happiness criteria.
I have a home with a working heater and air conditioner. With multiple beds and blankets that give me comfort.
I have access to fresh water sources and clean food.
I come from a loving family that is not troubled with money issues.
I have a wide range of friends that all care for me and I for them.
I have access to entertainment whenever I desire it.
I live with beautiful scenery.
Not all people have these things.
And I am truly grateful for all of these things. I really am. I am not a liar.
And I do feel happy, I promise you I do.
But I do not always feel happy. The feeling is not always there.
It will sometimes escape my grasp, and I have to follow it until I grab it by its neck.
I do not know why this happens or why it happens so often.
Well, sometimes I do know why. The loud noises, the looks, the whispers, the ignorance, the esteem. It gets too much for my happiness and I have to let it go, I can no longer hold on.
Other times, and weirdly most of the time, I do not know why my happiness runs away.
It is there one moment, bright and shiny and warm.
Then something happens, something that I cannot identify.
And my happiness is gone with a flash, I didn’t even see it jump out of my palm and rush away before I can spot it.
At those moments, I don’t bother tailing it.
It will only come back once my sadness and anger have finished feeding on my emptiness.