Blue-Berry: A Short Story
By: Jennifer Gutierrez
The Walker family is an average three-member family and there is a single teenage daughter, Ella, who is a senior in high school. She's sitting at her desk in her bedroom struggling to work on a school assignment, but her thoughts continue to shift in a million directions. As the minutes go by, Ella’s concentration is progressively warped similar to that of the white noise from a radio. Unexpectedly, a force thrusts Ella onto her feet and causes her to overthink everything in her life from as early as she can remember to her future. She walks back and forth yet she cannot seem to find a solution to the thoughts swimming across her mind. One after another, she feels unruly of her mind.
She abruptly stops and sits down on her carpet wearing her pink-rose printed onesie pajamas and she's barefoot. "This can't be happening to me. Why can't I focus on work?" Her thoughts were skipping as if someone had a remote control and kept changing the channel every two seconds. Pictures popping in and out of her thought process as if a time bomb were ready to explode!
She begins growing worrisome and does not know how to control any fragment of emotion taking over her. She felt like a tea pot getting ready to whistle. However, she could not pinpoint the issue. Why couldn't she? Everything was off course and it all began nearly 10 minutes before. At once, she begins to feel a combination of tingles and a slight numbness on her toes. Taking a small glance at them, she sees a small blue spot on her right pinky toe. She ignores it and sits on her chair again to work on her project,
"Okay now, I need to stop wasting time and get this project done. This is such a big part of my grade. I need to get into Brown. This is my only chance. But what if I don't?" Her palms begin to sweat profusely, "I’m going to go crazy!" Ella mumbles. Ten minutes later she finds herself shuffling sheets of paper. She walks back and forth in her tiny room looking pensive, wiping the sweat off of her forehead and jumping up and down as if she were preparing for a boxing match. Approaching her desk, she picks up her pen to design the project details. She begins to think about her parents and how they have been so focused on their careers. Her dad works until 10pm every night and never comes home for supper. Her mother works part-time and takes care of the household.
Now, Ella can only daydream about a trip her and her family took, which took place about 5 years before. She reminisces about that moment and cannot let go of it. Then she wakes up into the present moment, "Enough! Concentrate Ella, concentrate!" She takes a glimpse at the clock and it reads 9:48pm. She hones in on her work and is determined to finish the assignment and head to bed. Then, she drops the pen and while bending over to pick it up, her eyes become fixed.
Ella falls back onto a floor pillow, shocked and afraid about what she has just seen. Her feet are as blue as fresh blueberries, but as scary as the boogieman, an invisible man who parents always frightened their children with so they could go to sleep. Her natural pale skin being taken over by such a strange color becomes not just mind blowing, but terrifying at once. She begins thinking whether or not she’s going to die. Ella runs for the door, but her door won't open. She pulls and jerks it in every direction.
She’s stuck. “Mom! Dad! Help me!” She screams over and over again.
However, they take turns responding to her on how she should finish her homework and quit playing games. "You don't understand, my feet are turning blue. Open the door! Get me out of here, I'm scared!" Ella sobs and grows desperate. She takes a glimpse down at her feet wishing with all of her might that it isn't real. Unfortunately, the blue skin continues rising up past her knees. All of a sudden, she hears a click on her door. She dashes towards it and leaves her room.
Rushing to the kitchen, she sees her mom in the most relaxed manner almost covered up to her neck in the same blue tint Ella is halfway smothered in. Ready to say something to her mom, Ella's words shrivel into nothingness and disappear. She is speechless and stoned faced at her mom's unbent demeanor. That moment of silence feels louder than any other noise she has ever heard before. She observes Mrs. Walker for about a minute. Before Ella dares to let out a word, she witnesses her mom's body completely mutate into the blue-berry color. She takes a step back, scared to see what happens next. Her mother continues cooking as if nothing happened. In a soft whisper, Ella hesitantly asks her, "Mom, are you okay?" Stirring some soup on the stove in a dull clockwise manner, she turns around at a snail's pace, "Of course, why do you ask?" At that moment, Ella sees the right hand that her mom is mixing with grow about 20 centimeters in less than 5 seconds. "Mom, what's wrong with your hand?" Her mom ignores her and keeps tending to the pot as if Ella never spoke. "Finish your homework dear, dinner's not ready." Her voice begins sounding raspy and flat. Ella grows paranoid, starts hyperventilating and holds her chest with unease. "Are we dying? Why isn't anyone noticing the problems I'm seeing?"
Whenever Ella is in much doubt there is one person who is always her hero and she knows he will spot and fix the issue at hand. She sprints to the family room screaming, "Dad! Dad!" Mr. Walker is locked into his tube watching the football game. Not only is he focused on the game, but he has also turned completely blue, that blue-berry color they all share and his head size is double the average person's head. Ella notices that the images of the game are entertaining to Mr. Walker and astonishingly they seem to be traveling from the tube to his brain as waves feeding his mind. "Dad, what's wrong with you. Why is your head so big." Unaware of her worry, "Nothing's wrong butterfly. I'm just watching this great game here. Are you done with your project?"
She walks in front of the tube to block his view and anxiously blurts, "Look at your body, dad!" Don't you see what's happening to you? You're blue and your head!" She tries to touch it but she's too disturbed.
Mr. Walker looks at himself and contrary to Ella’s agitation, unfazed he accepts himself as he is, "This is normal Ella, what’s the problem honey?" Ella kneels in front of him, "Daddy, this isn't the person you are. "Why are we like this now?" Dad looks straight as if looking through Ella and focuses on the tube, "Life isn't perfect. This is just where we are at the moment." The sound of his voice was more dreary, similar to his wife's.
Refusing to accept her dad's flat words, she jumps up and hurries out of the house shouting, "I'm leaving. I can't live like this!" Soon after Ella walks out, her mom marches behind her at a slow but military-training type of speed while holding a pot with her left hand and stirring the soup with her giant right hand. Calmly, but in a stern voice Mrs. Walker says, "Get your homework done honey. This is an important project." Dad takes his electronic tablet with him to keep watching the football game. Catching up with his wife and his big cranium, he walks and chants to his daughter, "This is just where we are right now, Ella. Life isn’t so simple anymore." Her parents' voices seem creepier and creepier to her as each moment runs by. They are entranced in zombie-like mentalities. So, Ella runs incessantly until she finds herself waist-deep on a muddy lake. She looks around. She see herself covered in blue-berry. With little time to walk out of the dirty water, the ground she is standing on collapses. Mr. and Mrs. Walker stand at the edge of the lake, repeating themselves as Ella fights to get out, but it's too late. She is gone.
On a sunny Saturday morning, a young woman wearing a smoothly pressed white uniform knocks on the door to a room.
She fires out, "Wake up sunshine. It's time!" When the nurse opens the door, she blurts "Good morning Ella. Today is your last day, are you ready to go home?" Although drained and sluggish, she nods with slight enthusiasm.
A few minutes later, her parents walk in. "Good morning pumpkin," Mr. Walker remarks in a cheerful tone. Mrs. Walker walks up to Ella and gives her a bear hug. "How do you feel?" Ella cracks a smile, "A bit tired and confused, but I'm okay." Now the she's ready to go home, the nurse brings in a wheelchair and helps Ella sit down. "Mom, dad? What happened to me?"
The Walkers look at each other then at her. "You were so stressed about a project that you had a nervous break down, you collapsed in the kitchen and spent three weeks here."
Ella was shocked yet alleviated that it was all a bad dream. Her mom notices that Ella is barefoot and has damp feet. Mrs. Walker asks the nurse, "What happened to my daughter's feet?" The nurse explains, "She must have been sweating because her feet have been getting soaked every night for the last five days." When Ella looks down, she sees a blue spot on her right pinky toe. Nervously and disturbed, she cries out, "Mom, mom, what's that on my toe? No, no, no, not again! She grabs onto her mom's blouse and hides. Mrs. Walker interrupts her and goes to her avail to remove it and examines it closely. "It's okay. It's okay honey. It's only a piece of blueberry." "Blueberry?" Ella was shocked and somewhat alleviated. "Oh, I have to tell you about a terrible nightmare I had.” Her dad looks at her then at Mrs. Walker. “Don’t think about that now pumpkin, just think positively.” Ella agreed and asked, “Hey, can we do something fun and different than the usual today or tomorrow?" Her dad accedes, "Absolutely, want to go to the lake?"
Ella, petrified shoots a big no at him. "How about going to that new theme park up the road and having dinner at a nice restaurant instead?" Mom and dad reply in unison, "Sure!"
After this life-changing experience, Ella realized that the stress from her work and the monotony in her home tormented her concentration. Therefore, from that day forward, she decided to never let anything take control of her emotions and thoughts to that extent again, to take breaks from tough assignments and to partake in more adventuresome activities with her family.
She abruptly stops and sits down on her carpet wearing her pink-rose printed onesie pajamas and she's barefoot. "This can't be happening to me. Why can't I focus on work?" Her thoughts were skipping as if someone had a remote control and kept changing the channel every two seconds. Pictures popping in and out of her thought process as if a time bomb were ready to explode!
She begins growing worrisome and does not know how to control any fragment of emotion taking over her. She felt like a tea pot getting ready to whistle. However, she could not pinpoint the issue. Why couldn't she? Everything was off course and it all began nearly 10 minutes before. At once, she begins to feel a combination of tingles and a slight numbness on her toes. Taking a small glance at them, she sees a small blue spot on her right pinky toe. She ignores it and sits on her chair again to work on her project,
"Okay now, I need to stop wasting time and get this project done. This is such a big part of my grade. I need to get into Brown. This is my only chance. But what if I don't?" Her palms begin to sweat profusely, "I’m going to go crazy!" Ella mumbles. Ten minutes later she finds herself shuffling sheets of paper. She walks back and forth in her tiny room looking pensive, wiping the sweat off of her forehead and jumping up and down as if she were preparing for a boxing match. Approaching her desk, she picks up her pen to design the project details. She begins to think about her parents and how they have been so focused on their careers. Her dad works until 10pm every night and never comes home for supper. Her mother works part-time and takes care of the household.
Now, Ella can only daydream about a trip her and her family took, which took place about 5 years before. She reminisces about that moment and cannot let go of it. Then she wakes up into the present moment, "Enough! Concentrate Ella, concentrate!" She takes a glimpse at the clock and it reads 9:48pm. She hones in on her work and is determined to finish the assignment and head to bed. Then, she drops the pen and while bending over to pick it up, her eyes become fixed.
Ella falls back onto a floor pillow, shocked and afraid about what she has just seen. Her feet are as blue as fresh blueberries, but as scary as the boogieman, an invisible man who parents always frightened their children with so they could go to sleep. Her natural pale skin being taken over by such a strange color becomes not just mind blowing, but terrifying at once. She begins thinking whether or not she’s going to die. Ella runs for the door, but her door won't open. She pulls and jerks it in every direction.
She’s stuck. “Mom! Dad! Help me!” She screams over and over again.
However, they take turns responding to her on how she should finish her homework and quit playing games. "You don't understand, my feet are turning blue. Open the door! Get me out of here, I'm scared!" Ella sobs and grows desperate. She takes a glimpse down at her feet wishing with all of her might that it isn't real. Unfortunately, the blue skin continues rising up past her knees. All of a sudden, she hears a click on her door. She dashes towards it and leaves her room.
Rushing to the kitchen, she sees her mom in the most relaxed manner almost covered up to her neck in the same blue tint Ella is halfway smothered in. Ready to say something to her mom, Ella's words shrivel into nothingness and disappear. She is speechless and stoned faced at her mom's unbent demeanor. That moment of silence feels louder than any other noise she has ever heard before. She observes Mrs. Walker for about a minute. Before Ella dares to let out a word, she witnesses her mom's body completely mutate into the blue-berry color. She takes a step back, scared to see what happens next. Her mother continues cooking as if nothing happened. In a soft whisper, Ella hesitantly asks her, "Mom, are you okay?" Stirring some soup on the stove in a dull clockwise manner, she turns around at a snail's pace, "Of course, why do you ask?" At that moment, Ella sees the right hand that her mom is mixing with grow about 20 centimeters in less than 5 seconds. "Mom, what's wrong with your hand?" Her mom ignores her and keeps tending to the pot as if Ella never spoke. "Finish your homework dear, dinner's not ready." Her voice begins sounding raspy and flat. Ella grows paranoid, starts hyperventilating and holds her chest with unease. "Are we dying? Why isn't anyone noticing the problems I'm seeing?"
Whenever Ella is in much doubt there is one person who is always her hero and she knows he will spot and fix the issue at hand. She sprints to the family room screaming, "Dad! Dad!" Mr. Walker is locked into his tube watching the football game. Not only is he focused on the game, but he has also turned completely blue, that blue-berry color they all share and his head size is double the average person's head. Ella notices that the images of the game are entertaining to Mr. Walker and astonishingly they seem to be traveling from the tube to his brain as waves feeding his mind. "Dad, what's wrong with you. Why is your head so big." Unaware of her worry, "Nothing's wrong butterfly. I'm just watching this great game here. Are you done with your project?"
She walks in front of the tube to block his view and anxiously blurts, "Look at your body, dad!" Don't you see what's happening to you? You're blue and your head!" She tries to touch it but she's too disturbed.
Mr. Walker looks at himself and contrary to Ella’s agitation, unfazed he accepts himself as he is, "This is normal Ella, what’s the problem honey?" Ella kneels in front of him, "Daddy, this isn't the person you are. "Why are we like this now?" Dad looks straight as if looking through Ella and focuses on the tube, "Life isn't perfect. This is just where we are at the moment." The sound of his voice was more dreary, similar to his wife's.
Refusing to accept her dad's flat words, she jumps up and hurries out of the house shouting, "I'm leaving. I can't live like this!" Soon after Ella walks out, her mom marches behind her at a slow but military-training type of speed while holding a pot with her left hand and stirring the soup with her giant right hand. Calmly, but in a stern voice Mrs. Walker says, "Get your homework done honey. This is an important project." Dad takes his electronic tablet with him to keep watching the football game. Catching up with his wife and his big cranium, he walks and chants to his daughter, "This is just where we are right now, Ella. Life isn’t so simple anymore." Her parents' voices seem creepier and creepier to her as each moment runs by. They are entranced in zombie-like mentalities. So, Ella runs incessantly until she finds herself waist-deep on a muddy lake. She looks around. She see herself covered in blue-berry. With little time to walk out of the dirty water, the ground she is standing on collapses. Mr. and Mrs. Walker stand at the edge of the lake, repeating themselves as Ella fights to get out, but it's too late. She is gone.
On a sunny Saturday morning, a young woman wearing a smoothly pressed white uniform knocks on the door to a room.
She fires out, "Wake up sunshine. It's time!" When the nurse opens the door, she blurts "Good morning Ella. Today is your last day, are you ready to go home?" Although drained and sluggish, she nods with slight enthusiasm.
A few minutes later, her parents walk in. "Good morning pumpkin," Mr. Walker remarks in a cheerful tone. Mrs. Walker walks up to Ella and gives her a bear hug. "How do you feel?" Ella cracks a smile, "A bit tired and confused, but I'm okay." Now the she's ready to go home, the nurse brings in a wheelchair and helps Ella sit down. "Mom, dad? What happened to me?"
The Walkers look at each other then at her. "You were so stressed about a project that you had a nervous break down, you collapsed in the kitchen and spent three weeks here."
Ella was shocked yet alleviated that it was all a bad dream. Her mom notices that Ella is barefoot and has damp feet. Mrs. Walker asks the nurse, "What happened to my daughter's feet?" The nurse explains, "She must have been sweating because her feet have been getting soaked every night for the last five days." When Ella looks down, she sees a blue spot on her right pinky toe. Nervously and disturbed, she cries out, "Mom, mom, what's that on my toe? No, no, no, not again! She grabs onto her mom's blouse and hides. Mrs. Walker interrupts her and goes to her avail to remove it and examines it closely. "It's okay. It's okay honey. It's only a piece of blueberry." "Blueberry?" Ella was shocked and somewhat alleviated. "Oh, I have to tell you about a terrible nightmare I had.” Her dad looks at her then at Mrs. Walker. “Don’t think about that now pumpkin, just think positively.” Ella agreed and asked, “Hey, can we do something fun and different than the usual today or tomorrow?" Her dad accedes, "Absolutely, want to go to the lake?"
Ella, petrified shoots a big no at him. "How about going to that new theme park up the road and having dinner at a nice restaurant instead?" Mom and dad reply in unison, "Sure!"
After this life-changing experience, Ella realized that the stress from her work and the monotony in her home tormented her concentration. Therefore, from that day forward, she decided to never let anything take control of her emotions and thoughts to that extent again, to take breaks from tough assignments and to partake in more adventuresome activities with her family.
-The End-
© 2014 Jennifer Lee Gutierrez
