Hi, everyone! I hope you are doing well. I hope all your mixing dreams over this year have aided you. This year has been pretty good for me storywise. I have solidified what mediums I use as well as created a Patreon account, which at the moment you can subscribe to for free. Now, onto my essay "Stickers on Scars." See you in April! I grew up with eczema on my arms. Orangey cuts stung my skin and red bumps crowded one another. At night, I wore socks on my hands and decked lotions on my arms to stop myself from scratching. At school, well-meaning friends barked at me to leave my pick-marks alone. My parents watched, disappointed, as every morning, I came to breakfast with more blemishes. It wasn’t until later that my view was trembled. I was working at a summer camp when a child noticed the abnormalities on my skin. Instead of simply asking what caused those scars, the child placed sparkling stickers on each of my injuries. Then he said, “Now they’re stars.”
I wish that those stickers had fixed everything. That I immediately stopped injuring my skin and instead peered at my body with acceptance. While the picking did not cease, the child’s words clung to my thoughts. How could a bruise become a star? After all, the stickers the child had placed were gone by the time I came home. Left abandoned on concrete. Still, I yearned for an answer. I feel like the day hiding the stars. On mornings that I wake up with white and red speckling my arms, I adorn long-sleeve shirts. I know my cuts still linger and I itch them through the cotton every now and then. In the evenings, when the stars glitter far over my head, again, I see my wounds as I change into pajamas. These marks are not beautiful. They are not stars that leave during the day and return at night. They are scars, burdened with pain impossible to banish. But maybe, I wonder as the boy’s words trickle into my mind, it’s my perception that needs the most assistance. Maybe it is my body that is the star hidden under my eczema. I am the one who needs to simply let it shine.
0 Comments
|
AuthorI'm Darcy Ridge, creating stories that all revolve around family and identity in a myriad of ways. In the past, I have shared multiple stories and published a novella online. You can find me on Wattpad and many other social media websites. They/them [Image Description: black background with the words "Social Justice and Mental Health Resources" in white in the center /end ID]
Click image for a list of social justice and mental health resources. Archives
August 2020
Categories
All
|