Abandoning Shoes

Photo Credits: Zvaella

Scuffed and bruised by creases in the toes.  Edged with dried dirt from running through the muddy rain.  She took them off so she could run to catch the train.  She realizes her wet, shoeless toes are cold now that the train is clacking and clanking away down the tracks.  Before she reaches in her bag for her shoes, she realizes they are gone.  The red shoes she wore to her eighth grade graduation.  They perfectly complimented her dress; white with red flowers.  The same red shoes she wore under her long black dress to her first Homecoming dance.  The shoes she wore to her cousin’s wedding and her sister’s graduation.  They walked with her into Winter Ball her junior year and even danced at prom.  It’s miraculous her feet never outgrew the red shoes.

They accompanied her through her high school career, yet she somehow managed to abandon them.  A symbol of her childhood left like a bubble gum wrapper tossed nonchalantly into the trash.  She pushes the memories of ceremonies and dances from her mind and concentrates on imagining her future.  The train lugs her along, foot by foot, mile by mile, pulling her closer to a new life.  She contemplates the poetic symbolism of losing her shoes on the day she leaves her past behind to embark on a new life in college.

Exiting the train, she imagines a pair of red abandoned shoes, mentally wraps her past in a neat little box, and places it inside her shoes.  She wanders toward a destination of promise…

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2015/05/19/photo-challenge-61-red-may-19-2015/