JUST WORDS
by
Barbara A. Barnett

     The words huddle in the corner, cradling their scarred forms. Every second, there are new red gashes, new boils.

     "Why are you doing this to us?" the words ask.

     The young woman glances away from her computer with a sneer. She has been stringing together words and thoughts, misspelled and incoherent. She tells someone she doesn't care about appearances, all the while sitting there with one so carefully maintained—nails and lips painted black, hair striped with a new color every week, lacy black sleeves so artfully ripped in all the right places.

     "They're just words," she says. "You're just words. No one cares."

     The words hold out their tattered arms and plead to her. "We were created to help. People would understand if you let us help."

     "I don't have time for you." The girl turns back to the computer, thinking action alone should be sufficient, that she bears no responsibility for her lack of clarity. That others must work to understand her. She says she has no time for those others, yet reaches out nonetheless, desiring and shunning them in one breath. "They don't understand me because I'm different. Because they're not listening."

     "That's why we're here."

     The words reach out to her, but she glares, hisses at any suggestion that she is the one who can change her situation or cure her loneliness. The words whimper; there are so many like her.

     "Get to know us better," the words say, "and you'll be able to say so
much more, reach so many more people, find the right words to—"

     "You're not listening!" the girl shrieks, eyes wide and teeth bared, more animal than human. "No one ever listens!"

     She returns her attention to the computer, types furiously, without thought. The words cower in the corner and sob as more gashes open on their dying bodies.

© 2008 Barbara A. Barnett

Barbara is a 2007 Odyssey Writing Workshop graduate whose work tends to fall within the realm of the fantastic: fantasy, science fiction, horror, and the just plain weird. She has spent most of her professional life working for various arts organizations, from cataloging for a music library to grant writing for an opera company. In the real world, she lives with her husband in southern New Jersey. Online, you can find her and a list of her publications at her website.