Somewhere, there is a woman, sitting in a room, three days past a
rape. Her bruises are turning purple and in a few more days, they're
going to be that greenish hue of ghouls. She hasn't looked in a mirror,
yet, but the swelling is starting to abate, and she can open her jaw
without the execrable pain. The screaming is almost entirely in her
head, now. The stitches hurting her remind her she's alive and she's not
really sure why people keep telling her that, as if that's a good
thing. She's not sure she wants to be. There's been just enough time to
get past the initial shock, the stunned chaotic business of having lost
any sense of strength in the face of the world. She has had just enough
time to be processed, and there should be a stamp for her forehead: file
# 56449A221.
Oh, people have been caring. They have
been very professionally caring. All of the people, scads of them. They
have been very careful not to touch her or move too fast. Everyone is
diligent about addressing her respectfully, using her name, always
making sure she feels like an individual. She can see it, see in their
eyes how she is now different. The opposite of the person on the other
side of the desk, where there are things like strength and weapons and
confidence.
And right now, she is finally alone, though
the moat around her has turned into an ocean, and the screaming, it just
keeps on coming. For a few minutes, not having to deal with anyone else
is good. A relief. But then there is the silence, and in the silence,
it all happens again. She cannot close her eyes, because it's all
happening. Again. She cannot talk to someone, because the screaming will
break free. Or the tears. Either may kill her.
She needs. Needs.
To be somewhere else, other than here. Other than this thing she's
become. Needs to be able to step outside of her skin for a little while.
Maybe a long long time.
She's going to go to her
bookcase and pick up something. Maybe it's something where the woman
kicks someone's ass. Maybe it's one where the good guy wins. Or the DA
is brilliant. Or the girl comes of age and has confidence. Whatever it
is, she gets to step outside of the bruises and the cuts and the broken
bones for a little while. She gets to live a different ending. A
different beginning. Have a safe place to be. And somehow, maybe, have a little hope that this thing, too, will pass.
Write a story for her.
~*~
Somewhere,
there is a man, sitting in a hospital room. His wife has cancer, and
he's been there, every day, before and after work. Except now, he can be
there full-time, since he's lost his job. He's spent days seeking help,
trying to find a way to keep her there, to make sure she has the care
she needs, when all of his benefits are gone. He's filled out more
paperwork in this one week than he's done in a lifetime, and only barely
understands half of what they've told him, if that.
He'll
try to get a second mortgage for the house. Sell off the second car,
trade his in for something cheaper. The savings--such as it is, there's
not much with two kids--is gone. The retirement will go next, and that
might last a month, at this rate. They don't qualify yet for any sort of
Medicare or help. His sister is at his house, boxing up stuff to sell.
Doing it while the kids are at school, so they don't see.
The
screaming is almost entirely in his head, now. The anger, the rage, the
helplessness. His wife's asleep, and sleep is so rare with the pain
she's in, he can't risk turning on the TV. She's been in too much pain
for him to leave the room, though.
He's
lost. He sees it in the eyes of the nurses, sees it in the eyes of the
administrator. The woman running the accounts payable office. He's
become this other thing, this person he doesn't know, and right now, for
a little while, he needs. Needs. To be somewhere else but here. Someone else but him.
He'll
slump down in the God-awful chair they have in the room, punching a
pillow that one of the orderlies found for him, and he'll crack open
that favorite paperback he grabbed on his way out the house this
morning. For a little while, he gets to be a hero. He gets to fight
crime or solve problems, save the world or save the girl. For a little
while, he gets to have hope.
Write a story for him.
~*~
A
lot of people in the industry are scared right now--things look bleak.
If you're pushing through NaNoWriMo or that draft on deadline or
beginning a new project, you may be at that part of the process where
you're feeling exhausted--or scared to begin. Writer fatigue and fear
are hard to combat in the face of a lot of bad news, and especially hard
to slug it out when it looks like the possibility of selling is
dwindling to nothing.
And this, ironically, is when we need story the most.
Story-telling
has been around for millennia for a reason--we need to connect. We need
to both transport somewhere other than our own daily circumstances and
to connect to others, to know that someone out there understands us.
Understands our fears, our desires. We need to escape, without
physically abandoning our family and friends. Stories do that. We need
the hope, the connection, the dream.
Write a story for us.
