She looked like a doll; a china doll that had been cast away by an ungrateful child. A rag doll that had been through it all, seen and felt so much pain that the scars would not fade. A puppet of pills, the high over, strings cut and limbs left at awkward angles. Her porcelain skin was broken, dried tears and blood on her cheeks, blonde hair matted and windswept, her eyes were empty, there was nothing behind them, just the flashing lights reflected off their glazed surface.
That was when the rain began to fall. The droplets burst on the concrete around her body washing the blood away, nature trying to erase the memories. The pool of crimson around her head appeared as a bloody halo that was slowly melting. The water caused streaks to form, lines of red crept away like tears.
The bands of tape went up, yellow lines criss-crossing like a subway map, marking out the area of the police matter. A crowd had gathered to see the body and it wasn’t long before the media arrived. Flashes of white light went off as photographs were taken, exploding all around like white fireworks.
A car pulled up, red and blue lights spiralling joining the others. The door opened. Black shoes, black trousers, black jacket, black tie, as if already at a funeral. He had closely cropped blonde hair and steely grey eyes. They were eyes that belonged in the city, eyes that belonged to the world.
“Jesus.” He muttered when he saw the body.
Everyone has a supplier, now at least. Someone you can go to for your little hits. It could be anyone, a doctor, nurse, an AJD machine, dealer or a friend. It didn’t matter who, just so long as you got what you wanted, what you needed. Just one small pill could make everything better.
They were advertised everywhere, the miracle drugs. The worst were the television commercials, the ones that encouraged usage on children. A wife at home with two young ones and daddy doesn’t come back, that was the typical scenario. The children are beside themselves and mother doesn’t know what to do so, she slips two pills into their food and instantaneously they forget about their father, continuing their lives as if nothing had ever happened.
The slogan varied, changing from “Turn that frown upside down” to “Something for a rainy day”. It didn’t matter what they did, how they advertised it, once you had a taste of perfection and the worry free life you were hooked, why would you settle for any less?
He pulled out a pill tray from his jacket pocket. One would do it. The orange circle popped out onto his hand. He stared at it briefly before cocking back his head and swallowing it.
The body was being removed. The blood washed away. The unknown girl, now a limp doll, a mess of broken bones and shattered beauty. The body bag zipped up and closed finally over her snow white face. The door shut quietly as he got into the car. He gazed out the windscreen lost in the beginnings of his drug, the rain forming spots on the glass, distorting and magnifying the scene in front of him. The droplets merged and the lights burned through them, everything was now a kaleidoscope, pixelated colours.
A scene best forgot. A bird that could not fly. The girl with the broken wing.
YOU ARE READING
A Broken Wing
Romance"It was just a little pill. What could go wrong?" A world on the brink of chaos. A world balanced precariously on a knife edge. All it takes is a little push, one bullet is enough. On a planet where the population is seven billion one life seems rel...
