Melanie Matters

So I've got another short story to finish for Thursday. This time, this one is going to be much longer than 750 words. Not sure how I'm going to get it done, and edited by my brilliant editor, when I have so much work to do this week. Contemplated dropping a course and focusing freed-up time on every other course.

Bah!

An excerpt from the first short story I ever submitted for publication (oh how much I've learned and how far I've come along):

If anything can be said of fate it is that we are all bound to the same end: death; common, vile, deceptive death that knows only harm and sorrow; its blade poison and its shield impenetrable; its master the void of eternal damnation. But whether it is to Heaven that we go once our weary bodies give, or that we simply cease to exist, only the dead truly know. Does that comfort you? It cannot, but we continue on. We live each day with the knowledge of death looming in our subconscious, at the back of our thoughts, buried under the myriad tasks we undergo to keep the fire of our lives burning. Sometimes it envelopes us and springs forth like a cold wind on a hot summer’s day. It is then that we question, fear, neglect. It is then that we imagine a perfect world after life; worlds we hope exist and worlds that we believe in so blindly that we defend them to whatever end. Without this we break like the snapping of a twig in a harsh storm: to be blown away over the earth -- away from home, from comfort.

But believe what you will about life and death for it does not change the fact that Melanie Matters is dead and will always be dead.

She was an angel unto the world as any who knew her could tell you. Why then did she deserve death? Is it that to exist one cannot be as she was: holy, free, nature’s purest bud?

Melanie was loved, as most are loved, by her family and her friends. She was a gentle soul who imparted onto all she knew ideals of peace and happiness. She cared for others as equally as she cared for herself; yet she always strived to give more than she could. She was a devoted activist, a loyal friend, a loving daughter and a gracious lover. But that was ripped from her – she was ripped from all that she knew and knew her in turn. Her death came about commonly: a car accident; the driver was drunk and sped through a red light, slamming into the side of her car. Melanie died instantly. Blood filled the street and sirens raided the air. The driver lived on, however, and was sentenced to a couple of years in prison: a rich man with a greedy lawyer.

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Until next time, internet, have a great night!