I live in a small town of less than 200. Which means we don't have trash pick-up, meaning we have to haul our own trash. Which is cool. Wednesdays and Saturdays, for three hours each day. Times change with the season, early in winter, later in summer. Easy stuff.
July 23 - A Saturday, meaning trash day - I woke up a bit late and was in a mild hurry to fetch all the trash in the house. I was wearing a pair of flats as I attempted to race through my yard and toss the stuff in the bed of the truck. We have an abundance of sticks in our yard, thanks to the crazy weather we've had off and on for a few months and the large pecan tree. I miscalculated my step and trapped a stick between the top of my right foot and the ground.
I literally attempted to impale a stick on my foot. I chunked the trash in the bed of the pickup and hobbled inside, bleeding all the while. Attempted to wake my darlin' husband (who had just gotten off a 10+ hour night shift from work), but that didn't work. He sat up, stared at my foot -"Oh my god, you're bleeding!" "I'm fine, just, I need you to take out the trash"-, I shouted at him, hobbled my way to the bathroom (dripping blood all over my house), and tried to not only wash off all the blood but not pass out while doing so (which was hard to do, just saying). (Oh, since he wasn't fully coherent when I 'woke' him, he wound up not doing anything other than falling asleep again. He felt bad about it later, so I forgive him.)
Spent several days with my foot wrapped up, trying not to bleed any more, and attempting to sleep.
For those who don't know, I have... The best way to describe it is "hemophobia", the fear of blood, but that's not quite strong enough to describe what I feel. So, I spent nearly a week attempting to see something other than blood cloud my dreams or even in the darkness that lay behind my closed lids.
I spent an entire night on the couch with the lights on and watching "Phineas and Ferb" so that I could get some sleep. After that, I took to listening to music.
It was suggested that I write down something, as I am a "writer", to help alleviate some of my nightmares and what-not. That's how I came up with this little blurb. And it actually helped. So, have a product of my nightmares and my accidental idiocy.
Blood - An original story by Julie Lynn Thorpe (C) 2016
The color is not red so much as crimson. And yet, that is still not quite the right hue.
Nearly everyone has seen it at some point or another, the color of life, the color of death.
Ruby. Garnet. Cherry. Scarlet.
All the same color, but not quite.
Gather enough of it and it’s more of a wine or perhaps a good merlot. Sangria’s even a good choice.
It is the color that I see when I close my eyes and attempt sleep. It is the color that haunts my dreams and rare waking moments, reminding me of something I’d rather not recall.
Jam is a fun term and blush is far too light. Brick is the wrong hue and apples come in too many shades.
Shock filled my vision, filling it near the color of clouds before a storm. This darkness threatened to take me away and make forget.
It is not rose, not quite candy-colored. It is not the lipstick worn when feeling particularly empowered and sexy.
Not when it runs down your foot, between your toes, and onto gravel, onto hardwood, into carpet.
I could turn my pecan, caramel, cinnamon floors into a beautiful mahogany, but I’d rather not collect so much.
A beautiful color, really, if it came from another source: a gem, a flower. The color as the sun sets behind the horizon. But it’s not.
I can taste the pain: golden fire, biting chartreuse, bitter ash.
They make my stomach roll and my eyes water. I cannot stand for fear of falling over.
Currant is most likely closest, though berry is not far off.
The color is all of this and more.
I suppose the color I am looking for is simply called blood.
Figured it was a bit more fun with a visual. Those are all of the colors listed above in the story. Thanks for reading.
I'm a sucker for comments and critics. Let me know what you think down in the comment section below! Thank you for reading!
(If you find you have a desire to share this elsewhere, PLEASE PLEASE let me know first. I have shared it in a couple of places, so I know it's out there already, but for the love of all that is holy, ASK ME to share this. I'll probably give it the okay, but I'd like to know where you're sharing it and if you're going to give me proper credit for it. It is my work after all. Thanks! :3 )
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