Broken

Broken is best described as what happens when someone loses it so completely that they realize just how far gone they are. We meet Macy, a teenage girl in her bedroom who begins to have a tantrum because she has done something wrong and people downstairs are whispering about her. In an attempt to drown out the speaking, which deeply upsets her to the point of screaming and stomping, she takes several steps in order to drown them out. And this is where we begin to see that something is wrong with her.

"I slammed shut my door, reaching for the golden lock. I fingered it. It was gone, broken, dangling down." At some point her lock has been broken, and as the story continues, it seems that someone probably broke it to keep her from locking her door anymore. "My stereo was taken away, along with my computer, because... because why?" Here, we see that for some reason, her stereo and computer have been removed from her room. Oddities in themselves, but the fact she cannot remember why they have been gone, and the fact she looked for her stereo before realizing it was gone, hint that something far more sinister is at work inside her mind. This becomes even more obvious as she begins to look for ways to drown out the screaming as her parents try to open her barricaded bedroom door.

Broken appealed to me on many levels, from its unique, almost sing-songy writing style as it was revealed that something was deeply not right in Macy's mind. Stories that feature mentally damaged characters have always intrigued me, but this one by far is one of the best. ladyschrei has captured the fractured mind of a young woman perfectly and has allowed us to see directly through her eyes as she experiences a breakdown and attempts to rationalize her behavior. Anyone who is intrigued and interested by this topic should definitely give this story a read and commend its wonderful author for her excellent work.