Sticks and Stones and Words That Hurt (Fiction)

Sticks and Stones and Words That Hurt

She got tired of the way they stared, stared as if they were looking through her not at her.

It hadn’t always been that way, once upon a time she had been mis ma popularity, the one everyone wanted to be like.

Once upon a time she had been head cheerleader, and she had the attitude to prove it.

Now she was the one who was different, not miss perfection.

An accident, the accident that had taken her ability to walk, took something far more valuable, it had taken her self esteem.

Some still treated her as if she were the same person she was before, more often than not, it was the very ones, she used to make fun of.

Crystal was starting to see what it was to be the one that was teased, she had teased relentlessly, not knowing or caring how she hurt others. She now understood that she had been wrong.

She remembered that old childhood taunt, sticks and stones may break your bones, but words could never hurt you.

What a lie, words could pierce you, could bruise your ego, could break your spirit in a way that hurt more than any amount of words.

Words were a weapon, she understood that now.

She was treated either like she was invisible or broken, despite the fact that she was neither. The accident it had opened her eyes to what truly mattered, and she set out to right a wrong, or a thousand wrongs, she lost track of those she had hurt.

Being a mean girl, hadn’t been cool, it had been stupid, there was no better way to put that.

Looks faded with time, as did popularity, and sometimes in an instant a life change, no one at fault, just a tragic accident, that could kill you, but instead ended up saving you.

If she had continued with the life she had lived before the accident, she would have died, if not physically, she would have become dead inside, and that was not something she wanted to be.

She had been wrong to treat others the way she had, and now she understood why.

Crystal was strong, but not everyone was, the stories of those hurting themselves over the way…