Just Another Story

Taylor Seville sat in front of her computer, a cigarette dangling from her lips, and her mind at a blank. She didn’t know what to write and her publishers were expecting another book. She tried to scroll through her mind when something popped out at her. She’d heard somewhere that you should write what you know. Taylor didn’t know much besides pain. A pain that left her numb, even now.

Annie, her cat, rubbed up against her leg wanting attention. Taylor took a final drag from the cancer stick before snubbing it out in the ashtray beside her. She ignored the cat and she eventually got the message and went to find something else to play with or maybe just to take a nap.

Taylor wished life could just be that simple, the only decision you make is which toy you’ll play with. But being a human in the real world was hard. She reached for another cigarette from the dwindling pack when her cell phone beeped. She swivelled around in her chair and nabbed it from the small table behind her.

Hey, it’s Rob. We met at the bar last night. Want to hook up later?

Taylor chucked darkly before deleting the message. She knew it wouldn’t end up good. It would turn into a mess; bringing her even farther into the personal hell she was in. It would be like Danny.

---

“C’mon, Danny! Wait up!” Taylor shouted as she ran after Danny. She lugged the picnic basket as they ran down the beach. Danny threw off his shirt and his sandals were soon after leaving him in his swim trunks. He ran into the water. Taylor laughed and then the weight of the picnic basket was too much and she fell down onto the soft, hot sand. She didn’t care though. She was too happy.

“Hey there, beautiful,” Danny said as he made his way out of the water. He was blocking the view of the sun and there was light surrounding him. Like a halo on an angel because in a way he was Taylor’s angel. Her saviour.

She was abused by her drunken stepfather. Then she was rescued from some boy in her high school that never seemed to look her way before. At least not until he got a glimpse of the bruise on her arm. He helped her in ways nobody ever could and they escaped together. At the age of twenty four she knew that this was the man she was going to die with.

“What are you thinking about?” He asked, lying down on the sand next to her. Taylor thought she should go get the towels but she shrugged it off and cuddled closer into his side.

“About us,” she smiled staring into his ocean blue eyes. He smiled and ran a hand through his wet, inky hair.

“Good. That’s one thing I never want you to forget about,” he mumbled, leaning in to press a kiss to her lips. She kissed him back, tasting the salt from the ocean on his lips.

“I won’t, I promise.”

She basked in the sunlight for a while when she heard a car pull up to the beach with the radio blaring. She immediately knew who it was.

“Fuck, not her,” Danny muttered. Taylor sat up and saw the cherry red convertible and the tanned blonde female who emerged from it.

“Tay! How are you doing, lovely?” Nicole Johnson squealed in her high-pitched voice. Taylor smiled politely. She was glad to see Nicole because she was her friend. Danny didn’t like her. She didn’t know why.

“I’m fine, Nicole. Did you bring anything with you?” Taylor asked, moving away from Danny and closer to her friend.

“You betcha, baby! Party later. You in?” Taylor smiled at the question and nodded. She was always down for a good party. Especially if there was alcohol involved.

The sun started to go down and the party started. Bodies grinding as loud music blared. Danny didn’t like it at all and he wanted to get out of there. He scrambled through the bodies until he found Taylor who was leaning against a table for support. She was so drunk that she could not hold herself up anymore.

“Come on, Taylor, we’re out of here,” he hissed, grabbing her arm. Taylor swatted it away and giggled.

“Aww, Danny. Have a drink, you’ll feel much better.” She leant over to reach the cooler to grab another drink when she felt Danny grab her by the waist and heave her over his shoulder.

“We’re going. Now.”

“Let me down, Danny!” She screamed, hitting his back with her hands. He didn’t bother with her. Just opened the car door and shoved her inside. He got into the driver’s side and started driving away.

“Danny! I wanna go back!” She cried. At the last minute she grabbed the steering wheel and tried to turn the car back around.

---

She couldn’t remember any of that night at first but slowly it all came back to her, piece by piece. She hadn’t been charged with anything, thankfully. Every day, though, she felt more and more responsible. She knew she was going to die with this guilt. The guilt of killing her one true love. She hadn’t give up the drinking though. She figured drinking herself to death was a good punishment. She also cut ties off with all her former ‘friends’. It was just her and Annie now.

She wrote a book. It was supposed to be fiction but in reality it was true. She took all of her pain and put it in that story.

She remembered the text message from the guy at the bar and gave a sarcastic chuckle. He was doomed to be just another story.