Luella Penbrook by RaquelL
My name is Luella, Luella Penbrook. I live at 4524 West Clark Lane, city and state…honestly, all the other particulars are not relevant. I guess, you should know my name, that’s why I told you, but for the purposes of this story it doesn’t really matter. My name is truly not important and if you want you can use yours instead. So this story is about you, not me Luella, Luella Penbrook. This story is about you.
Luella, Luella Penbrook, oh yeah I forgot your name goes here now. So when I say my name put yours there instead. My story, now yours too is not so unique. See, we are not special. Not like those we see out there, living. We don’t live. We just exist. I guess we just survive. Day in and day out. Just the basics for us and that is it. Because that day changed us and we haven’t got back. I don’t think we ever can.
Before that day, there was once a time (once) we wanted more. There was (once) a time once when we did dream. All the time actually. Everyday dreaming about the life we wanted for ourselves. Everyday wanting more for ourselves. What those dreams are is not important anymore. They are gone. What is important to remember, is that we did it. That we dreamed of a real/better life. A real/better life that was fully lived. A better life filled with more. Not more things but more of the good embers of a better life, a full life. Love, Family, Friends, Rewards, Passion, Travel. You know, all the stuff we see others doing and we see others have, that we don’t have or do. The fire of their better lives burning bright. Those embers burning for years until the final day, then that fire goes out… death. But our fire went out a long time ago. We are still living but cold. The embers are now ashes. We walk amongst the living but we're not really here like them. We are the living flesh but hollow.
Our body is literally a tomb to a once bright and lively spirit. People visit with us and speak about the old days when we use to live like them but the time we spend together is short. See, we make the full of life feel uncomfortable. They long to leave our presence and go live and be full of alive. Their bodies warmed by the sun and their spirits lifted/free.
I think it’s our eyes that scare people the most. The haze that now lives there. Nobody's home. A walking corpse, is what we are. Does that scare you? It does me. I wish... I mean, we wish that we could change it all around and be alive again. To feel the warmth on our skin and feel the full embrace of life. All we do now is try to remember and pretend. We remember when there was a real life that had been envisioned by us. I don’t quite recall why that day it all started to change but eventually it did. And now here we are. Hollow. And alone.