The girl in the yellow dress

She spent her nights shifting around, waking up to pure darkness and cold air, no one seemed to bother caring for her existence. She always woke up with the stench of loneliness, her dark hair covering her bed and her dark eyes blinking into the atmosphere. Mornings seemed so forced, dragging out of bed and not wanting to be awake with the fear of collapsing. She had little to no sleep before sunrise and repeated the same routine of waking up with a migraine and swallowing pills to feel better, she was an awful sight in the morning, she held back true tears as she looked in the reflection,  as she blinked her sleep away she watched the sunrise as she ate a bowl of sweet strawberries. She bandaged her arms as she saw the blood dripping down again, she sighed and just stared at the sun. 

She carried her exhausted body up to her room to slip into a yellow dress, she decided to spend her day having fun. She got no messages all day but decided she didn’t care much. Though the feeling of loneliness never went away, not even her lover had thought to message her about how she was feeling. She braided her hair with two yellow ribbons and decided she would head on to the library to purchase books. She tiredly dragged her feet to the place as she was still blinking away sleep. The sun in her eyes made her way more tired than she had been. She chatted with the librarian as the lady showed her an endless supply of books. She bid her goodbye and walked her way home.

She got home sweating from the heat as she put everything away and started tidying up the thoughts of how disgusting she was and decided that if she were to ever disappear she’d want everyone to remember her as someone as sweet as all the strawberries she eats.

She decided she would spend time with her family, she spent some time in the pool with her brother as they splashed around, and she seemed to have a really good time enjoying the time with her brother more than she should. Then she spent her time talking with her mom and stepdad. She hugged the both of them tight, surprising the two as she never did hug them. The texture of her bandaged arms didn’t phase them. 

After it was dark she sent everyone she knew an I love you text just for the finisher of the day she didn’t care whether or not they would respond or even see she just felt like it was the least she could do. She slowly slipped back into the yellow dress as she showered away the chlorine from the pool. She checked that everyone was asleep and slowly snuck out to the beautiful night, she reached a tall bridge making her way up, and looked down, she started to tear up as she undid the braids from her hair letting the ribbon fly away into oblivion, she kissed the air with her last breath as she undid the bandages from her arms revealing ratched scars on her wrists, she was looked into the night sky, remembering her life as it was, she longer had to bother anyone with her pained existence, her suffering that made everyone else ignore her till she broke. She smiled, whispering to the air “You’re welcome” as she jumped off, finally disappearing for good. 

The next few days her phone blew up, her family was worried looking high and low for her, her body was found in the water below the bridge, it was cast everywhere. People who no longer spoke to her sobbed as if they cared about her existence. She no longer had to beg for attention, everyone who ignored her was in grief, her family was broken but now they were complete, her lover was empty but now was free, her friends were in pain but now can leave her behind in peace, and the others were to continue to act as if she never existed. 

They took one look at her body as she was buried with the flowers of luck and prosperity which seemed ironic, but even in her death she still redeemed beauty as she wore the same yellow dress.