Glasses


Mary waltzed up to her front door. She opened the door, and heard the same exact noises she heard pretty much every day. The sound of her mother and her older sister, Nicole screaming at each other in the kitchen. Different profanities that Mary was used to hearing at this point.
Both Mary and Nicole learned the “mature” adult language at a young age, as their parents were going through a divorce. This forced Mary to grow up sooner than most kids at her age. She saw things in a different way than other people did. If an adult were to talk to the 14 year old, they might think she’s in her twenties. In school, kids would make fun of her large glasses. They would call her, “four eyes,” and throw her books around, playing keep-a-way. But Mary moved past these things.
Mary’s maturity also made her a bit ignorant at times. While everyone else completed an assignment in class, Mary would stare out the window, with a deep, focused gaze. She would completely forget homework assignments, and not care. She was a quiet girl, and a bit of a mystery.
Nicole, however was a different story. She would sit alone in her room for most of the day, blasting music throughout the house. It was not hard to tell that inside of Nicole, something was broken. She did not have the same intellectuality that Mary had, despite the fact that she was three years older. Sometimes, she didn’t show up to school, as she was bullied and teased also, about the exact same glasses that her sister had. But mediocre vision was pretty much the only thing that Mary and Nicole had in common. Other than that, they would argue whenever they came in contact with each other. Mary, through all the teasing, bullying, and emails from teachers, always seemed at peace of mind. Nicole was always whining complaining, looking for the next thing.
Mary slowly walked up the stairs, trying to be quiet, avoiding the daily, “How was school,” question from her mom. But luckily, she was too engaged in her fight with Nicole to notice her child.
Unlike most kids, who would watch t.v., play video games, or call a friend after school, Mary would do one of three things. Read, walk down to the local pond and sit there, or stare out her bedroom window. She loved the big window view in her bedroom. It was one of the reasons she loved that house when she was moving in 2nd grade. That and she would get her own room, away from Nicole.
Just as Mary picked up her new book, she heard a scream come from Nicole, and she heard her storming up the creaky stairs. Mary quickly hopped out of bed, ran over to her door, and shut it. Just as she closed her door, Nicole walked past, and Mary heard her murmur the words, “Nobody cares.” Mary felt the tension swirling through the house. She decided that she wanted to go to the lake. She slowly crept down the stairs, as she didn’t want to irritate her already angry mother.
“Hey Mom, I’m going to the lake,” Mary said as she got to the bottom of the stairs.
“Oh, uh, okay, how was school?” replied her mom.
“Fine Mom,” she stated, not bothering to mention Julian Randolph “accidentally” knocking her lunch onto the floor. She began to walk to the door.
“Oh, alright bye,” called her mom.
Mary knew that her deep down, her mother loved her, but she didn’t really feel as if her mom was that important in her life. Her mom never really gave her any reasons to believe in her. In 3th grade, she forgot about Mary’s orchestra concert. In 5th grade, she didn’t show up to her chorus concert. In 7th grade, when Mary won her school’s creative writing contest, she didn’t even bother to tell her mom, because she didn’t want another heartbreak over s.he didn’t mind the walk, as long as she didn’t run into any of her classmates. She used to read on the way to the lake, but reading and walking didn’t exactly mix well, as she constantly bumped into people going in the other direction. Instead, she would think about old memories of her and her family. Mary could remember pretty much everything from beyond two years old. She would walk by the local playground, and see her young self being pushed on the swings by her dad. She’d walk past the old softball field, and see herself getting slammed in the arm by a wild fastball: the first, and last time she ever played sports. By the time all of the memories were swirling around in her brain like bees in a beehive, she was at the lake.

Her mom used to prohibit Mary from going to the lake, as she was worried that if anything bad happened, she couldn’t contact her. That was the only reason Mary ever got a cell phone. Other than going to the lake, she really had no use for it. The only texts she ever got were from her mom, telling her that Nicole was picking her up from school, or she would be home late from work. Her mom constantly suggested that Mary could download books on her phone, but reading a book on a device did not do justice the way that books did for Mary.
When Mary arrived at the lake, she headed straight for her favorite bench. Mary was always a “go with the flow” type person, and was not stubborn about many things. But when it came to that bench, it was probably her favorite place in the world. She would sit on that bench, and no other bench at the lake. If the bench was filled, she would stand. Whenever her mother asked her what the big deal was about the bench was, she would reply with, “I don’t know,” or “I just like it.” But no matter how many times Mary denied that there was no reason for her liking the bench, there was a huge reason. Mary pictured herself, as a three year old. She would take small chunks of bread from her mom and dad, who sat on that bench, sprint over to the lake, and chuck them into the water at the hungry geese. Then she would run back, and repeat the cycle over and over again, until she didn’t have any bread left. Meanwhile, six year old Nicole would climb all over the tree directly across the lake from the bench, as if she was a monkey. A tree that would forever be known as Nicole’s tree in her family. Most importantly, were Mary and Nicole’s parents. While Nicole was playing on her tree, and Mary fed the geese, Mom and Dad would sit on the bench as a couple who loved each other. They weren’t two individuals who refused to get out of the car just to say hello to one another. They were one happy, married couple, and the four of them were one big happy family. But that was the only memory Mary had of one big happy family. Her parents got divorced, and Nicole isolated herself from the rest of the world. So Mary kept what was left of the broken pieces. The bench, the lake, and Nicole’s tree, which was now old and decayed, and was pretty much guaranteed to snap if a big storm hit.
Mary sat quietly on the bench, reading her new book, The Glass Castle. When she picked up a book, there was no stopping her. The longest it had ever taken for her to finish a book was a week. She would read for hours straight at the lake. When she wanted a break, she would put down her book, and just think. For Mary, it was the perfect combination. She would stay at the lake as late as nine o’clock. She would bring a flashlight for her walk home, and as a reading light.
This night was one of those nights where Mary was planning to stay at the lake late. But it was also rare, because it was a night where instead of reading a lot, she was doing more thinking. She was thinking about life in general. School, family, even the kids who bullied her, which she rarely thought about.
Just as Mary was picking up her book again, a strong wind came blowing through. At first, it was just a small breeze, but it quickly turned into strong gusts. She could barely hold her book, they became so strong. She then heard a couple of loud bangs. She looked over, and she saw branches flying off of Nicole’s tree, and hitting the ground like thunder. Mary felt as if someone in China could hear the branches. But then came the loudest bang of all, as the trunk toppled over, and fell into the lake. Nicole’s tree was in the water. The wind gusts died down, but a couple of minutes later, Mary heard an ambulance. The sound of an ambulance was one of her least favorite, because she knew somewhere out there, somebody was hurt. She figured somebody got caught in the storm, and was injured in some sort of way.
Mary looked at her watch, and it was only quarter to eight. She began to get up from her bench. She wanted to walk around the block. With Nicole’s tree lying in the lake, Mary picked up her book and began to walk away. She wondered how Nicole would react to the collapse of one of her childhood memories. Mary figured that Nicole would act like she didn’t care, but deep down, there would be a hint of sadness. Mary, as usual, was deep into thought, but was suddenly interrupted.
Her cell phone rang, and she grabbed it out of her back pocket. She recognized the number as her mother’s. What does she want? Mary thought. She answered it. “Hey. What’s up?” Mary asked. There was no immediate answer from her mother, but then, Mary was able to hear sobs. Her mom was crying through the phone, and Mary couldn’t understand her. “Mom, what? I-I can’t understand you!” Mary yelled through the phone. But through all the sobs, Mary heard her mom say two things: “Nicole”... “Come home.”
Mary felt something drop in the pit of her stomach. She glanced back at Nicole’s tree, lying in the middle of the lake. Then, she started a full sprint towards her house. She did not stop, no matter how out of breath she was. Mary wasn’t a traditionally fast runner, but she looked like an Olympic sprinter with the way she was running. Her brown curly hair bounced and the wind blew it into her face. Mary couldn’t ponder all of the thoughts running through her head. What if Nicole got hurt... What if she hurt someone else. It was too much to handle. Within 15 minutes, she could see her house. But what she saw made her wish she lived somewhere else. It was a worst case scenario. There were ambulances and police cars. As she got closer to the house, she saw something that surprised her even more. It was her dad’s dirty old black pickup truck. She made it to her driveway, and she overheard a few words of a conversation between two cops.
“Face down,” “No pulse,” “Bottles of medicine.”
Mary ran to her front door, but she was stopped by a police officer.
“Sorry, you can’t come in here,” the cop stated.
“No, you don’t understand, I live here.”
The cop then looked at her with a pitiful look. He looked shocked, with a mix of fear and sadness in his eyes. Without saying anything else, he opened the door. When she walked in the door, it was not who she expected. Not her mom. Not Nicole.
“Dad?!” She exclaimed with a shocked look. “Where are Mom and Nicole?”
“They’re at the hospital, sweetie,” he responded.
Mary began to panic. “Wh-What? Why? What’s going on?”
Her dad just sighed. “It’s Nicole, she, she-.” He couldn’t finish his sentence, and began to get tears in his eyes. Mary was shocked, as she had never seen her father cry before. Only scream and yell...a lot. Her dad was unable to speak. Instead, he handed her a slip of paper, with Nicole’s handwriting on it. Mary began to read it inside her head.
Dear Mom, Dad, and Mary,
If you are reading this, you know that I’m not with you anymore. I’m in a better place. In the past few months, I have slipped into a dark place; a place that nobody has bothered to pull me out of. Not you, Mom. Not you Dad. Not even you, Mary. Nobody needs me, and I don’t need anybody else. Therefore, I have overdosed, and I plan to leave this world. Just because I’m not with you physically, doesn’t mean I’m not with you in your heart. I love you all, but I can’t handle this place anymore.
Sincerely,
Nicole
Mary threw the letter on the ground, and stormed out the door. She didn’t run, she didn’t cry. Instead, she did something that she had not done since she was an infant. She let out an eir piercing scream. All the police officers turned, just as Mary became light-headed, and lost consciousness.
The next morning, Mary woke up in her bed. She looked at her alarm clock, and it was only 5:30 in the morning. She tried to fall back asleep, but there was too much going on inside her head. She knew that there was only one place where she could clear it.
She put on her coat, and began to run towards the lake. Not walk: run. Once again, no matter how tired she became, she did not stop running until she got to the lake. When she arrived, she saw something that shocked her. On her bench, looking the same exact way they did when she was three, were her mother and father, sobbing next to one another. Nicole slowly crept over to the bench. She did not avoid them. She did not run. Instead, she walked right up to that bench, and sat right in between the two. No words were spoken.
Mary, who never cried during the divorce, who didn’t cry when she was whacked in the arm by a baseball, and who never cried through all the harassment she took at school, sat on that bench, and cried for the first time in a while.
She looked out over the lake, and saw Nicole’s tree, which had fallen along with Nicole. She took off her glasses; the one’s that were identical to Nicole’s. “At least we still have some piece of her,” Mary uttered, clutching the glasses in her hands. Her mom and dad both smiled, then let out more sobs. Mom, Dad, and Mary, were sitting on a bench, together. Mary figured that somewhere up in heaven, Nicole’s younger spirit was swinging like a monkey on her tree, which she had brought to heaven with her. Things were as far as they could be from perfect. But for the first time in a while, she didn’t feel alone. Glasses


Mary waltzed up to her front door. She opened the door, and heard the same exact noises she heard pretty much every day. The sound of her mother and her older sister, Nicole screaming at each other in the kitchen. Different profanities that Mary was used to hearing at this point.
Both Mary and Nicole learned the “mature” adult language at a young age, as their parents were going through a divorce. This forced Mary to grow up sooner than most kids at her age. She saw things in a different way than other people did. If an adult were to talk to the 14 year old, they might think she’s in her twenties. In school, kids would make fun of her large glasses. They would call her, “four eyes,” and throw her books around, playing keep-a-way. But Mary moved past these things.
Mary’s maturity also made her a bit ignorant at times. While everyone else completed an assignment in class, Mary would stare out the window, with a deep, focused gaze. She would completely forget homework assignments, and not care. She was a quiet girl, and a bit of a mystery.
Nicole, however was a different story. She would sit alone in her room for most of the day, blasting music throughout the house. It was not hard to tell that inside of Nicole, something was broken. She did not have the same intellectuality that Mary had, despite the fact that she was three years older. Sometimes, she didn’t show up to school, as she was bullied and teased also, about the exact same glasses that her sister had. But mediocre vision was pretty much the only thing that Mary and Nicole had in common. Other than that, they would argue whenever they came in contact with each other. Mary, through all the teasing, bullying, and emails from teachers, always seemed at peace of mind. Nicole was always whining complaining, looking for the next thing.
Mary slowly walked up the stairs, trying to be quiet, avoiding the daily, “How was school,” question from her mom. But luckily, she was too engaged in her fight with Nicole to notice her child.
Unlike most kids, who would watch t.v., play video games, or call a friend after school, Mary would do one of three things. Read, walk down to the local pond and sit there, or stare out her bedroom window. She loved the big window view in her bedroom. It was one of the reasons she loved that house when she was moving in 2nd grade. That and she would get her own room, away from Nicole.
Just as Mary picked up her new book, she heard a scream come from Nicole, and she heard her storming up the creaky stairs. Mary quickly hopped out of bed, ran over to her door, and shut it. Just as she closed her door, Nicole walked past, and Mary heard her murmur the words, “Nobody cares.” Mary felt the tension swirling through the house. She decided that she wanted to go to the lake. She slowly crept down the stairs, as she didn’t want to irritate her already angry mother.
“Hey Mom, I’m going to the lake,” Mary said as she got to the bottom of the stairs.
“Oh, uh, okay, how was school?” replied her mom.
“Fine Mom,” she stated, not bothering to mention Julian Randolph “accidentally” knocking her lunch onto the floor. She began to walk to the door.
“Oh, alright bye,” called her mom.
Mary knew that her deep down, her mother loved her, but she didn’t really feel as if her mom was that important in her life. Her mom never really gave her any reasons to believe in her. In 3th grade, she forgot about Mary’s orchestra concert. In 5th grade, she didn’t show up to her chorus concert. In 7th grade, when Mary won her school’s creative writing contest, she didn’t even bother to tell her mom, because she didn’t want another heartbreak over s.he didn’t mind the walk, as long as she didn’t run into any of her classmates. She used to read on the way to the lake, but reading and walking didn’t exactly mix well, as she constantly bumped into people going in the other direction. Instead, she would think about old memories of her and her family. Mary could remember pretty much everything from beyond two years old. She would walk by the local playground, and see her young self being pushed on the swings by her dad. She’d walk past the old softball field, and see herself getting slammed in the arm by a wild fastball: the first, and last time she ever played sports. By the time all of the memories were swirling around in her brain like bees in a beehive, she was at the lake.

Her mom used to prohibit Mary from going to the lake, as she was worried that if anything bad happened, she couldn’t contact her. That was the only reason Mary ever got a cell phone. Other than going to the lake, she really had no use for it. The only texts she ever got were from her mom, telling her that Nicole was picking her up from school, or she would be home late from work. Her mom constantly suggested that Mary could download books on her phone, but reading a book on a device did not do justice the way that books did for Mary.
When Mary arrived at the lake, she headed straight for her favorite bench. Mary was always a “go with the flow” type person, and was not stubborn about many things. But when it came to that bench, it was probably her favorite place in the world. She would sit on that bench, and no other bench at the lake. If the bench was filled, she would stand. Whenever her mother asked her what the big deal was about the bench was, she would reply with, “I don’t know,” or “I just like it.” But no matter how many times Mary denied that there was no reason for her liking the bench, there was a huge reason. Mary pictured herself, as a three year old. She would take small chunks of bread from her mom and dad, who sat on that bench, sprint over to the lake, and chuck them into the water at the hungry geese. Then she would run back, and repeat the cycle over and over again, until she didn’t have any bread left. Meanwhile, six year old Nicole would climb all over the tree directly across the lake from the bench, as if she was a monkey. A tree that would forever be known as Nicole’s tree in her family. Most importantly, were Mary and Nicole’s parents. While Nicole was playing on her tree, and Mary fed the geese, Mom and Dad would sit on the bench as a couple who loved each other. They weren’t two individuals who refused to get out of the car just to say hello to one another. They were one happy, married couple, and the four of them were one big happy family. But that was the only memory Mary had of one big happy family. Her parents got divorced, and Nicole isolated herself from the rest of the world. So Mary kept what was left of the broken pieces. The bench, the lake, and Nicole’s tree, which was now old and decayed, and was pretty much guaranteed to snap if a big storm hit.
Mary sat quietly on the bench, reading her new book, The Glass Castle. When she picked up a book, there was no stopping her. The longest it had ever taken for her to finish a book was a week. She would read for hours straight at the lake. When she wanted a break, she would put down her book, and just think. For Mary, it was the perfect combination. She would stay at the lake as late as nine o’clock. She would bring a flashlight for her walk home, and as a reading light.
This night was one of those nights where Mary was planning to stay at the lake late. But it was also rare, because it was a night where instead of reading a lot, she was doing more thinking. She was thinking about life in general. School, family, even the kids who bullied her, which she rarely thought about.
Just as Mary was picking up her book again, a strong wind came blowing through. At first, it was just a small breeze, but it quickly turned into strong gusts. She could barely hold her book, they became so strong. She then heard a couple of loud bangs. She looked over, and she saw branches flying off of Nicole’s tree, and hitting the ground like thunder. Mary felt as if someone in China could hear the branches. But then came the loudest bang of all, as the trunk toppled over, and fell into the lake. Nicole’s tree was in the water. The wind gusts died down, but a couple of minutes later, Mary heard an ambulance. The sound of an ambulance was one of her least favorite, because she knew somewhere out there, somebody was hurt. She figured somebody got caught in the storm, and was injured in some sort of way.
Mary looked at her watch, and it was only quarter to eight. She began to get up from her bench. She wanted to walk around the block. With Nicole’s tree lying in the lake, Mary picked up her book and began to walk away. She wondered how Nicole would react to the collapse of one of her childhood memories. Mary figured that Nicole would act like she didn’t care, but deep down, there would be a hint of sadness. Mary, as usual, was deep into thought, but was suddenly interrupted.
Her cell phone rang, and she grabbed it out of her back pocket. She recognized the number as her mother’s. What does she want? Mary thought. She answered it. “Hey. What’s up?” Mary asked. There was no immediate answer from her mother, but then, Mary was able to hear sobs. Her mom was crying through the phone, and Mary couldn’t understand her. “Mom, what? I-I can’t understand you!” Mary yelled through the phone. But through all the sobs, Mary heard her mom say two things: “Nicole”... “Come home.”
Mary felt something drop in the pit of her stomach. She glanced back at Nicole’s tree, lying in the middle of the lake. Then, she started a full sprint towards her house. She did not stop, no matter how out of breath she was. Mary wasn’t a traditionally fast runner, but she looked like an Olympic sprinter with the way she was running. Her brown curly hair bounced and the wind blew it into her face. Mary couldn’t ponder all of the thoughts running through her head. What if Nicole got hurt... What if she hurt someone else. It was too much to handle. Within 15 minutes, she could see her house. But what she saw made her wish she lived somewhere else. It was a worst case scenario. There were ambulances and police cars. As she got closer to the house, she saw something that surprised her even more. It was her dad’s dirty old black pickup truck. She made it to her driveway, and she overheard a few words of a conversation between two cops.
“Face down,” “No pulse,” “Bottles of medicine.”
Mary ran to her front door, but she was stopped by a police officer.
“Sorry, you can’t come in here,” the cop stated.
“No, you don’t understand, I live here.”
The cop then looked at her with a pitiful look. He looked shocked, with a mix of fear and sadness in his eyes. Without saying anything else, he opened the door. When she walked in the door, it was not who she expected. Not her mom. Not Nicole.
“Dad?!” She exclaimed with a shocked look. “Where are Mom and Nicole?”
“They’re at the hospital, sweetie,” he responded.
Mary began to panic. “Wh-What? Why? What’s going on?”
Her dad just sighed. “It’s Nicole, she, she-.” He couldn’t finish his sentence, and began to get tears in his eyes. Mary was shocked, as she had never seen her father cry before. Only scream and yell...a lot. Her dad was unable to speak. Instead, he handed her a slip of paper, with Nicole’s handwriting on it. Mary began to read it inside her head.
Dear Mom, Dad, and Mary,
If you are reading this, you know that I’m not with you anymore. I’m in a better place. In the past few months, I have slipped into a dark place; a place that nobody has bothered to pull me out of. Not you, Mom. Not you Dad. Not even you, Mary. Nobody needs me, and I don’t need anybody else. Therefore, I have overdosed, and I plan to leave this world. Just because I’m not with you physically, doesn’t mean I’m not with you in your heart. I love you all, but I can’t handle this place anymore.
Sincerely,
Nicole
Mary threw the letter on the ground, and stormed out the door. She didn’t run, she didn’t cry. Instead, she did something that she had not done since she was an infant. She let out an eir piercing scream. All the police officers turned, just as Mary became light-headed, and lost consciousness.
The next morning, Mary woke up in her bed. She looked at her alarm clock, and it was only 5:30 in the morning. She tried to fall back asleep, but there was too much going on inside her head. She knew that there was only one place where she could clear it.
She put on her coat, and began to run towards the lake. Not walk: run. Once again, no matter how tired she became, she did not stop running until she got to the lake. When she arrived, she saw something that shocked her. On her bench, looking the same exact way they did when she was three, were her mother and father, sobbing next to one another. Nicole slowly crept over to the bench. She did not avoid them. She did not run. Instead, she walked right up to that bench, and sat right in between the two. No words were spoken.
Mary, who never cried during the divorce, who didn’t cry when she was whacked in the arm by a baseball, and who never cried through all the harassment she took at school, sat on that bench, and cried for the first time in a while.
She looked out over the lake, and saw Nicole’s tree, which had fallen along with Nicole. She took off her glasses; the one’s that were identical to Nicole’s. “At least we still have some piece of her,” Mary uttered, clutching the glasses in her hands. Her mom and dad both smiled, then let out more sobs. Mom, Dad, and Mary, were sitting on a bench, together. Mary figured that somewhere up in heaven, Nicole’s younger spirit was swinging like a monkey on her tree, which she had brought to heaven with her. Things were as far as they could be from perfect. But for the first time in a while, she didn’t feel alone. So...she put on her glasses-looked out over the lake and her life was never the same again.