Thank you for reading and sharing my daily #Storygram short stories! Be sure to subscribe to the Newsletter and check out my film Portfolio!
The Story:
Going for an evening jog is how I shove the day’s problems out of my mind. They’re fat and weigh me down, but when I’ve jogged far enough, they quit trying to keep up. I leave them panting on the side of the road, while I enjoy my new lightness.
The subdivision I live in borders a large stretch of undeveloped land teeming with wildlife. At the pile of gravel blocking cars from entering the uncharted landscape is where my worries are usually cast aside, if I feel like letting go of them all.
I see the pile of gravel on my right as I jog my route, but I hear a rustle in the bushes behind it. Wildlife fascinates me, so I decide to investigate. Maybe it’s only a rodent of some kind, but I have my fingers crossed for a deer.
Making a few steps to the top of the pile, I look down on the other side. Definitely not a deer.
Staring back at me is a hideous creature lying down in the grass. It is covered in something that resembles petroleum. I think it’s probably an animal that was somehow doused in crude oil, until it begins speaking in a gargled voice.
“Take us back,” it pleads.
“Take us back, please. How will you solve them without us?”
The creature begins to slither up the pile towards me, still on its back. I scream and run down the side I came up. Now, it is on the top looking down at me.
“Solve what?” I ask, trying to hold back my panic.
“Your problems. Don’t you even remember us? We are your worries. You abandoned us.”
Looking at my worries, I finally understand why they always feel so heavy. They are so disgusting that I can’t imagine holding onto the few that I have chosen to keep.
It slithers at me again, much faster this time. Knowing what I must do, I cast off my remaining concerns, which fall from me like slimy teardrops. When they collide with my other worries, the creature collapses, too heavy to pursue me anymore.
I realize this is the lightest I have ever felt in my life.
Think this story should become a book or a short film? Let me know in the comments below!