Stuck in the Middle with You
By: Scott Leonardi
Tags: Humor, Creative Writing, Creativity, Short Story, Fiction

Julie loved the outdoors.

She relished the fact that she got to spend every day soaking up the sun and she loved nothing more than a refreshing spring rainfall to cleanse her spirit and inflate her sense of purpose.

She was very aware of the cyclical nature of the world and her place in it. All of the best parts of herself worked in unison without much effort on her part. It felt as natural as anything to be completely in tune with one’s desires and abilities. Doubt and disconnect had never entered her mind. She couldn’t conceive of a life so dark, nor would she desire to.

Sweet as candied smiles, she offered a handful of help to anyone who needed it. Ne’er was a one to turn down her naturally gifted expression when looking directly into such invitingly bright eyes.

One would be forgiven if, for a moment, one’s hands seemed to have a mind of their own when catching sight of her. She had nothing if not a vibrant magnetism coursing through the fiber of her figure. An attribute she couldn’t help, but of which she was fully aware and she leaned into it with confidence.

At the peak of her enriching potential, she could sense a shift in her life’s direction. The time was coming for her to move on towards a distant calling. She felt deep within her a destiny she was meant to fulfill, and she had always been keen on the suggested complexities of the world around her.

She lovingly invited the struggle and personal triumph of combining the best parts of herself into a unified sense of being. She was already so beloved by so many, that for her to evolve in such a way as to help the lives of countless others even more easily could have been seen as an otherworldly miracle. An absolute saint, she was. The comfort and relief she provided to innumerable people was not only appreciated, but revered the world over.

Soft in her presence, delicate in her handling, Julie spread herself as far and wide as her abilities would allow her. Although, through it all, there was the faintest sense that something wasn’t quite right. She had never felt this sort of instability before the fuss of her leaving home.

Before, she had always felt in her place; established and settled. Now, although she felt she had succeeded in reaching her potential, she was beginning to feel as if this was only a potential. One of many possible others. She felt something in her was being held back. Suffocated, even.

This feeling wouldn’t leave her, she just couldn’t shake it. It haunted her daily until it eventually consumed her thoughts entirely. She could think of nothing else.

Fraught with anxiety and an ever-growing sense of distress, she became withdrawn. She no longer felt the self-assurance she once did. She felt as if the world had dissected her and placed her in a glass cabinet like a dead butterfly — identified, categorized, and put on exhibit for a proper gawking.

Julie’s entire outlook on the world had become one-dimensional, a belief that no matter how hard you try, you will be used and forgotten. Over and over, more and more will be taken from you, and taken for granted at that.

It felt as if it would never end. Julie’s bubbly nature, normally bursting with positive sentiment and sweetness, was starting to deflate. It felt out of her control and she didn’t know what to do about it.

Then she saw him.