The Story of Annabelle

The Story of Annabelle: One of the Greatest Stories Ever Told.

Her name was Annabelle and she grew up in a small town that no one remembers in a state that no longer exists. She was not the most beautiful nor was she ugly. At best she was average but she had a smile that would light the room, a cliché to some but when she entered a room smiling that smile everyone’s mood brightened, if only just a smidge.

She was not the smartest of people, but she was also not dumb. She scrapped by in school with average grades, an occasional A and sometimes a D. She did not make the cheerleader squad and she did not make any of the sports teams. She tried her hand at an instrument, but upon hearing her play the music teacher swore she went deaf for a moment. Not that the teacher would admit this to anyone.

Simply, she was average with no real skills whether it musical or athletic. This however did not bother her all that much. Cheerleaders, at least the ones that belong to her school, were nothing but bitches (though to be fair she did hear rumor of decent cheerleaders a town or two over) and as far as sports went, her older brother was the athlete destined for greatness and feared the couches expecting too much of her.

She fell in love with a boy, by the name of Jim, who lived across the street. It started in their freshman year all innocent and cute, and in her sophomore year he broke her heart. In the middle of their junior year they were reunited, only to be torn apart when summer came rolling around. They had a brief thing during their senior year but as Annabelle felt conflicted about her future Jim held no such doubts and moved away. As she watched him drive away from her house for the last time, she thought back to those moments of what she could only describe as bliss, she wondered if she would ever see him again.

She stayed in that small town that no one remembers all her life. At one point, she had dreams of moving to the big city, perhaps trying her luck as an actress in Hollywood. When she graduated high school however, such dreams had deflated leaving her wondering what she wanted out of life. Perhaps she would become a lawyer or a surgeon or maybe even a teacher.

Then she remembered the time she took a sneak peak at one of her mother’s legal documents, it might as well have been her Spanish homework. She then cut her leg shaving and as a small droplet of blood trickled down her leg she remembered how much she did not like blood. She remembered too the time she spent volunteering at the local library as a tutor… well let’s just say a teacher should be able to actually teach. For much of her young adult life she went from job to job. During those years Annabelle did nothing of any real importance.

As she said goodbye to twenty-two, she found herself at the doorsteps of thirty. She had a small little house she rented. She owned a couple of pets, a cat and a dog, who were rather boring if one told the truth. Sometimes when she took a bubble bath to soak away the troubles of the day, she often wondered what her pets did when she was away.

One day as she worked at a diner just outside of town, she heard something she had not heard in years; the whispers of a ghost that had long fled the small town long ago. It was impossible, really it was. So she continued on her way to a small table, took the order, and left like she had done a hundred times before. A few more times she heard the familiar laughter and each time she ignored it until she found herself bumping into the man she had watch drive away from her house so long ago.

“Annabelle?” His eyes sparkled. “You look as beautiful as ever.”
From there the epic love story, at least if you hear them tell it, was rekindled once more. It was a bumpy start. Two years later, they were married. A small boring affair if truth be told but to her it was perfect.

A year later they had their first child. A pink little thing with the lung capacity that could rival that of an opera singer, or maybe not. It all depends on whom you ask. Annabelle was terrified of being a mother, but she would never admit this. She wanted to be a mother for as long as she could remember. Before Jim returned she wondered if anyone would be good enough to marry and the thoughts of being a mother dwindled as the clock ticked away the seconds that turned into minutes and so on and so on. But when the time came as she held her baby for the first time a strange mixture of pure joy and pure terror mingled together. What if she screwed up? What if something bad happened to her child? What if she was a horrible mother? Could she even provide for them? She was still a waitress at a diner that was threatening to close any month now, and while her loving husband was a well paid doctor, she still feared.
Annabelle would give birth to eight children.

Three years after her final pregnancy she became ill. But could a three letter word truly describe the hell that she went through? There seemed to be no true end to this illness of hers. The disease had taken hold of her body and refused to let go. As she lay on her bed, sweat dripping down her now frail body, her family came to visit her one at a time. They said their goodbyes without actually saying them, for no one really wanted to believe that this was the end of Annabelle, a wife and mother.

Then one day she was a little better. Then another day passed and she was a bit stronger until one day, in the early summer, she was all better.

Somehow, this average woman in every way battled this terrible disease and came out the victor. She lived to see the first of many grandchildren.

But with new life there came death.

The first to die was the youngest. A fierce and bright young woman who was prepared to tackle the world… that is until there was a car accident one boring November day. Her husband was the next to fall to death’s scythe due to a heart attack. And so it went until all of her children were gone. She had her grandchildren and saw them grow into fine young adults.

But life was cruel, or at least so it seemed too many of who have lived, and even her children’s children were taken, leaving Annabelle alone in a house that was too big and full of too many ghosts.

While Annabelle was sad for a time, she had memories of those she had loved. She remembered the good, the bad, and quite possibly the disturbing (as little Franky would tell you when he discovered the dangers of putting a frog in a microwave) she remembered it all.

Annabelle died when she finally reached the age of a hundred and ten. She was wrapped in her warmest blankets, a few photo albums(If you can call 30 a few) were splayed open to all her favorite memories, and several notebooks with neat and tidy handwriting filling their pages.
Somehow Annabelle had written one of the greatest stories ever told. She told the story of her life. She knew that no one would read it and no one would remember it. She had been an average student who was neither beautiful nor ugly, smart or dumb, she was just average in just about every way possible. She did however make for an amazing mother and grandmother… but if truth be told there were many of those in the world and so… she was only slightly above average there.

What is her story compared to those of the Wright Brothers? Who is she when you consider Gandhi? What of Martin Luther King Jr.?

Yet could anyone deny that she told one of the greatest stories ever told?

Perhaps… but then Annabelle had learned something. Her entire life she had been average. That is how she viewed herself. But how could someone unique be average? No one will live her life the exact way she had, no one will be able to look just like her, and no one will ever claim to have her soul.

Everyone tells one of the greatest stories ever told… they just do not realize it yet.
END.


Not sure if the theme made any sense, oh well.

I definitely don't agree with the message here. The only reason her story was so great is because you word things so well. For that, I commend you. You somehow were able to tell the story of someone pretty unremarkable without being boring.

Yeah I figure someone would bring that up. Ah well.

At least it wasn't boring.