Stress Fracture

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Rose grew up hearing fractures. Whenever something hit the ground, she’d hear a tiny crack. Rose once asked her friend in kindergarten if she could hear the fractures as well, but she called Rose crazy. Rose’s mother agreed. But, Rose didn’t think she was crazy.

Rose’s family was strict about grades. Her father was very successful. Rose wasn’t sure what he did, but she knew she didn’t want his job. He always looked so tired. Her mother always pushed her to be the best. When her cousin got into Waterloo, it was all her mother cared about.

The pressure only got worse. Her mother would look through Rose's work, making sure everything was up to par. The worst had come when her mother found a 91 on one of her tests. To Rose, that was a good score, but apparently, her mother disagreed. She had yelled at Rose,"The cutoff mark is 97%!".

It scared Rose. What if she couldn't reach her mother's expectations?

Final exams arrived and Rose thought she was going crazy. She heard the fracture when her pencil dropped to the floor during a 4am study session. The next day, she had a massive headache.

Rose sat at her desk scribbling answers with the utmost precision. Do it right, do it right. That was her mantra. Rose looked at the next question.

She didn't understand it.

Rose panicked. What if she lost points? Her mother would kill her! She tried to break it down. She tried to rework the problem, but couldn't she understand it. Eventually she skipped it, it was wasting time. Then she saw the next one, and the one after. She didn't understand any of them. Rose started to hyperventilate.

Rose felt a tight ball form within her chest. She was scared of her mother, of failure, of everything.

She could hear fractures. They were deafening. Why was it so loud!? The little ball inside her grew. It felt like there was a bowling ball inside, just so heavy! Just then she heard a singular fracture, followed by screams.

The ground split in between her legs and began to pull apart. She watched as all her classmates fell into the earth. She felt as light a feather, before she fainted.

Four Years later, Rose was Patient #12 admitted under the watch of every Secret Intelligence in the world. She wasn't worried about grades anymore.

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Published November 23, 2020

Written by Abinaya Balaji ~ Edited by Sara Gogna ~ Graphics by Jessica Moerman