(no subject)
The Bus
By Cindy Gregerson 2005
She walked out into the road alone and got hit by a bus. She was ignorant of roads and buses before that time. No one explained to her the damage that could be done by going into the road alone. She knew other people had survived crossing the road. She did not understand how such a thing could happen to her.
It took a very long time for her to recover. During her recovery, she was constantly reminded that everyone knows you don’t walk into the road alone and everyone knows you can get hit by a bus and suffer irreparable damage. Despite their intentions, this slowed her recovery.
As she began to take tentative steps again, she became extremely frightened of what other things everyone else knows. If she had been so wrong to think she could cross the road alone and so stupid as to try and accomplish something for herself, were there other things that everyone besides her knew? Her fears began to grow. She was sure there was a bus on the other side of the front door. She knew that she would suffer great pain if she wore the wrong clothes or spoke at the wrong time or took the wrong job or tried to learn anything new. She was afraid to breathe. She feared the simplest decisions. She had been so wrong and it had cost her so dearly. She dared not listen to her own voice, and it began to fade away.
She let others lead the way. She did some things that she had done before-they were safe, tested. She never dared to walk a path that someone had not already deemed safe. She expected nothing better, nothing for herself.
The bus killed her many years later, without ever hitting her again.
By Cindy Gregerson 2005
She walked out into the road alone and got hit by a bus. She was ignorant of roads and buses before that time. No one explained to her the damage that could be done by going into the road alone. She knew other people had survived crossing the road. She did not understand how such a thing could happen to her.
It took a very long time for her to recover. During her recovery, she was constantly reminded that everyone knows you don’t walk into the road alone and everyone knows you can get hit by a bus and suffer irreparable damage. Despite their intentions, this slowed her recovery.
As she began to take tentative steps again, she became extremely frightened of what other things everyone else knows. If she had been so wrong to think she could cross the road alone and so stupid as to try and accomplish something for herself, were there other things that everyone besides her knew? Her fears began to grow. She was sure there was a bus on the other side of the front door. She knew that she would suffer great pain if she wore the wrong clothes or spoke at the wrong time or took the wrong job or tried to learn anything new. She was afraid to breathe. She feared the simplest decisions. She had been so wrong and it had cost her so dearly. She dared not listen to her own voice, and it began to fade away.
She let others lead the way. She did some things that she had done before-they were safe, tested. She never dared to walk a path that someone had not already deemed safe. She expected nothing better, nothing for herself.
The bus killed her many years later, without ever hitting her again.