The Mountains
This short story was written in English class about the frustration of schoolwork. I recorded and edited myself reading it using GarageBand.
“More. I have to do more.”
“You are working really hard!! You should just accept that.”
“No. I need to do more.”
“Honey, school is only one part of your life, your friends are important too.”
Her parents and friends did not understand the frustration building inside her. The pain grew and she took the only path possible. She closed her life off to any distractions and focused only on the work placed in front of her. She completed her work over and over again, but her parents were clueless to the secrets she kept hidden inside. More homework. More Frustration. More Pain. She could not find it in herself to say “stop”.
Her room was her factory. It was crowded. Crowded with reminders of the things she had to do were everywhere she looked. She sat and produced assignment after assignment, the lists of work only growing longer. The stacks of papers just seemed to grow towards the ceiling. They filled all empty space that had been open for air, for life to thrive. The failed attempts and the waiting assignments mixed into the barricade that began to trap her. The papers cringed around her, the pressure of the books on top of them was unbearable. They were stacked so high that the windows became more and more hidden from view. Ultimately, all she could see was the dim glow from her computer as she typed. Letter after letter. E after R. R after O. O after M. There were just too many papers that were waiting to be turned in. Panic began to ease its way into her mind. It slid gently through her thoughts and stuck like glue to each one. She took a look around and saw the mountains that had truly become what kept her from the outside world. They were all around her and kept her inside with no new air to breathe or space to move. All she had left was the ceiling. She stared at the only part of the outside world she could see. It showed only the blank expression that she felt on her face. How could she get out? How could she end the cycle? There was a small chance that when she completed all of her work, she could see the corners of the room once again. To see her bed, to sleep. Sleep. How long had it been since she had truly relaxed and laid her head down? It felt as though it were another life, another girl who had lived the life she could almost remember. A life without constant butterflies fluttering in her stomach. Their delicate wings not easing the pain she felt. She was lost inside herself. Staring straight. Nothing holding her down, she fell. Landing softly on the small space in which she lived. Dreams creeping towards her one of her few escapes.
“Splash!”
Water seemed to throw her from the dreams. The phone shrilled and she began to understand the dilemma before her. She searched throughout her whole world. Freedom was calling. Those companions she had abandoned were calling her back. The phone hid, but to find her way out of this world, she was willing to ruin the organization of her mountains and search for the escape. Papers flew through the around her like birds, books fell from their perches and slammed to the floor. The mountains of books had taken shapes of buildings, the papers that had been stacked between were falling. She didn’t knew where to look. Assignments that stood, waiting to be completed floated amongst the papers and books falling to the floor in a heap. So many in number that she always had to search for the next one, although she knew there was one waiting for her. Her homework was due. It was always due, always got completed, but never went away. The mountains were trapping her. She had no way out and there was only one way way in. The shrill tone ended as her light in the dark tunnel blew away. She and her phone had played hide and seek with high stakes. The winner would be able to find their way to the world that others lived in. She had lost and fell to her fate. During what seemed like and unending day, she did her work. Loneliness was not the only thing adding pain to her life, the hunger that grumbled inside of her was stronger than a power drill. And yet, she could not take the time to stop working long enough to do something so trivial as to eat. More and more notebooks just added batteries to the drill. More and more notebooks that had hidden in her backpack had become trees resting on the mountains just waiting to help. It didn’t seem to matter anymore. Her anger had disappeared. There was no frustration left inside of her. She became only a machine. A machine that did it’s job. Nothing more and nothing less. She wasn’t a machine, her heartbeat set her apart. Though that did not continue. Her eyes had glazed over. Her expression blank, but that had become usual. Her heartbeat beat in rhythm with the books. There was nothing left. It only held the shape of girl who had tried her best. Her lifeless shell trained to keep working. It was no longer a person, only a shell, only a reminder of the loss of life that had taken over the body before there was nothing left inside.