This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/Justhegirlnextdoor on 2023-08-10 04:44:14.
Little pink shoes. Little pink shoes with frayed laces stared back at me from the mat in the hallway…
“Mommy!” Eloise yelled, her big brown eyes peering up at me, pudgy little hands yanking at my shirt. “Look how pretty they are! They’ve even got glitter on the side!” she gushed, twirling in the hallway and giggling, her little curly pigtails bouncing to and fro.
“You look beautiful, my little petunia!” my husband chirped, racing down the hallway to snatch her up and spin her around.
“I’m not a petunia!” she giggled, her little arms reaching up to wrap around his neck and smash a big kiss to his cheek.
A small grin slowly melted across my features as I watched him wink in my direction. When I’d asked him to pick her up a pair of shoes for preschool, I’d hoped he would get some nice, neutral tennis shoes. Something that she could wear with just about every outfit. These were the complete opposite. They were very pink and very sparkly…
“But it was exactly what she wanted,” he said, as the both of us got ready for bed that night.
As I strolled over to the bed to where Mack was sitting, I crossed my arms and looked at him, my brows creased. “I know it’s what she wanted, but it’s not what she needed.”
To my surprise, instead of getting frustrated with me, Mack did the complete opposite. He always knew how to handle me, and right then, I couldn’t have been more thankful.
“Marcy,” he said, his voice smooth and soft. He reached for me, my body like putty in his hands as he tugged me into his lap. “Don’t worry about the shoes-”
“But we can’t afford-”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll work some extra hours and we’ll get her another pair.” His voice, and the way his arms wrapped around me, lips buried in my hair as he spoke was indescribably reassuring. He always had a way of doing that.
Mack’s lips graced the side of my head as he tucked back a strand of my hair. “We always find a way.”
I leaned into his embrace and let out a breath, slowly nodding my head. He was right. No need to worry.
Sitting near the bottom of my staircase, I took a swig from the bottle of whiskey in my hand and glared back at those stupid pink shoes. Some angry part of me wanted to snatch them off the mat and throw them across the room, but another much larger part of me just wanted to sit there and sob, drowning myself in alcohol and hoping it would numb the pain.
“Mommy?” Eloise questioned, her brows raised.
“Yes El?” I said, as I folded the laundry.
“Daddy wanted me to ask if we could order a pizza tonight?” Her little tiny hands played with a string on one of the towels as she waited for me to answer.
We hadn’t gone out to eat in a while. Money was tight, but surely a pizza wouldn’t hurt. Maybe if we just drove over there, it would save me from paying a delivery fee too…
“You know,” I started, turning to her with a smile. “I think that’s an excellent idea. Why don’t we go out tonight though? Sit down at the restaurant?”
Eloise shook her head excitedly as she jumped up and down, her little pink shoes lighting up each time she landed. Not only were they pink and glittery, they also lit up. This was one of her favorite things about them.
My smile only grew as I watched her scamper down the hall. A few seconds later, I heard heavier footfalls - Mack. Her little hand was wrapped in his, her feet moving 100 miles per hour as she practically dragged him into the room.
Mack glanced up at me and smiled. I smiled. Eloise smiled. Trip to the pizza parlor it was.
Large, hot tears slid down my cheeks as I choked back a whimper. My breath caught in my throat as I exhaled shakily. Snot coated my upper lip as I crawled across the hardwood over to the mat. I wish we never would have left to go get pizza that night.
“Mommyyy!” Eloise sang from her carseat. “Can you turn up the radio? I can’t hear my favorite song!”
Mack and I looked at each other curiously, both of us breaking out into a fit of laughter when we realized it was some old 2000’s song. “El,” I started, wiping the tears from my eyes, my hand slapping Mack’s shoulder in the process. He only laughed harder as I said, “Where in the world did you even hear that from?” My eyes softened when I turned in my seat. Her face lit up as she giggled, kicking her feet. Her plain, brown tennis shoes didn’t suit her like the pink ones did. My hand reached out to tie one of her laces that had come undone when she suddenly got quiet, her eyes as wide as saucers.
It was almost as if time stopped. And then…
White-hot, searing pain.
The sound of my little girl screaming.
Mack gasped.
Glass shattered.
Metal crunched.
Silence…
I gripped her little pink shoes in my hands, curling up into a ball and hugging them to my chest. The overwhelming amount of grief that wracked my body made me feel like I was suffocating. My chest shook, and my breaths faltered, and my sobs turned into wretched screams of complete and utter agony.
“Marcy?” The EMT repeated, his voice level and calm. “Come on, Marcy. Stay with me now. We’re almost there.”
Pain exploded from every nerve ending in my body. Everything was too loud, and too hot and too bright. My mind felt fuzzy and my mouth was so dry. I was drifting in and out of consciousness, my eyes gazing up at the man in front of me before I slipped into the dark.
Sadness gave way to anguish and anger quickly took over from there. I wrenched myself from the mat, standing on shaky legs, my hands betraying me as they threw the shoes across the room. They landed in a heap in the hallway, lighting up the second they hit the floor. A new wave of tears washed over me, and I crumpled to the ground, my hands yanking and pulling at my hair as I wrestled with the onslaught of emotions coursing through my system.
Mack’s old sweatshirt was stained with snot and mascara as I wiped at my face. I’d been wearing it for a week straight, and when I buried my nose in it and realized that I couldn’t smell his all-too-familiar scent, I ripped it off of my head and threw it over next to the shoes.
“Marcy Barnes?”
My eyes jolted over to the doctor, a clipboard in his hand and a police officer at his side.
“Where is my baby?” I asked, my voice frantic. “My husband…Please tell me…”
The doctor glanced at the officer, a grim look on his face. My heart monitor started beeping off the charts as I tried to lift myself from the bed.
“Mrs. Barnes,” the doctor started, “I need you to calm down.” His hands were quick to ease me back down before he motioned towards the officer.
“If you’re okay to have a guest, Officer Blaire here would like to have a word with you.”
I nodded, watching as the doctor performed a couple of routine procedures before he decided that I was stable enough to be alone.
“Officer Blaire, if you need anything,I’ll be right down the hall.”
And then, the door was closed. And the officer was by my side. And his eyes looked like he had witnessed something that would change him for the rest of his life. My heart clenched as I waited for what I already knew, but didn’t want to accept.
“Marcy, I’m really sorry to tell you this…” His voice wavered a bit, cracking in a strange way that only meant one thing…
“Your husband and your daughter passed away at the scene of the crash.”
Disbelief washed over me. He had to be wrong. No… They were just in another room. They were okay. Everything was okay.
A single tear rolled down his cheek, but he was quick to swat it away before clearing his throat and saying, “it was a drunk driver. A head on collision.” He paused for a moment and then choked out, “I’m so sorry… There was… There was no way…”
I screamed. I screamed and screamed and screamed. I screamed for so long that a nurse came in with a needle and before I knew it, I was out.
Staggering back over to the staircase, I took another swig of whiskey and instantly wanted to puke. I was becoming the very monster that took away the only two people in my life that meant anything. Frustration simmered within me, bubbling over into rage once again. With a death-like grip, I held the neck of the bottle and bashed it on the ground. Shards of glass flew everywhere, my hand and my wrist instantly bleeding.
Blood poured down my wrist in thick, crimson rivulets before gushing down my fingertips, leaving a trail of it on the floor. Staggering, I tried to hold onto the banister of the stairs before I collapsed. As I crawled over to the hallway, my vision blurred in and out of focus. Blood continued to flow, smearing all over the hardwood. I was losing way too much of it way too fast.
But that’s when I saw it. Out of the corner of my eye, something lit up the hallway. Ignoring my lightheadedness, I dragged myself closer, and stopped dead in my tracks. That’s impossible…
Little pink shoes. Little pink shoes with frayed laces stared back at me, the lights on them flashing over and over and over.
“Eloise?” I uttered, my mouth barely able to form the words. Exhaustion clung to me like cigarette smoke, and before I knew it, I’d passed out.