Her Perspective by Lauren Alexandra

- this excerpt was written as a free write activity completed for my university creative writing course. The goal of this activity is to freely create a piece of writing without controlling where it goes, how long it is, or by editing it. -

She said it might put things in perspective, if you could see the year she called reality last year. A year that started off so calm with sunlight falling easily through the trees and a cold breeze caressing her skin. Spring came with endings disguised as new beginnings. I don’t think anyone saw it coming. The idea of a ring she wore so confidently turned hot, burning her skin and igniting her worries. Why would he say that? We talked about marriage like buying groceries. Then he came along, didn’t he? Would you have been fooled by that charming smile? An older man with a hunger he couldn’t dampen. Not until she was a shell of a newly turned woman did he decide that he’d had enough. On the floor she cried, sobbing so loud it sounded like a scream.

It might put things in perspective if you could feel the ache, the hollow pain she felt then. Maybe you’d understand why she’s looking at you now, saying she can’t do this/

Like a clever killer who’s never been caught he roams free. Smiling and laughing, his life peacefully moving along. And there she sits, trying so hard to tame the storm that cuts her, throwing spoken words at her skin. Razor sharp, she’s not sure what causes her to bleed more. His words or his actions. Or the knowledge that everything changed once he got what he wanted And yet, she still lets one thought tread lightly around her mind. Perhaps he wasn’t so bad.

The word relationship is the eye of the storm and she tries to stare it down, begging it for mercy. It taunts her, hissing through frustrated men who don’t understand why they can’t have what they want.

Sinking into the wet grass she returns to herself, a dying breath which whispers around her, please see this from my perspective.