“The Line”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.

Erma Bombeck

Laughter looked across the room. He let out a small sigh; Pain just looked so miserable today. Laughter wished, more than anything, to comfort Pain, to help her see that life was good.

But he couldn’t cross The Line.

The Line started at one side of the room and ended on the opposite, splitting the room exactly in half. Laughter despised The Line. Or, rather, he disliked The Line as much as his little heart could; Laughter wasn’t built for hatred.

Beside Laughter, Comedy was performing a new play for Humour. Although the two got along, they often got into disagreements over who was better at their job. That’s where Laughter came in. He judged Humour and Comedy every day, all day.

That is, when he wasn’t staring across The Line at the others.

Pain and Hurt were sitting on opposite sides of the room, knowing the other was feeling down but doing nothing to comfort the other. And Tragedy… Tragedy’s eyes were flickering between Pain and Hurt, the despair clear in his expression.

Laughter straightened. That was it. He had to do something.

He took a step toward The Line. Immediately, he began to feel a weird tingle in his body. He ignored it.

He took another step, then another, right up until his toes were touching The Line.

He stared directly at Pain, trying to catch her eye. Eventually, he did. His heart almost crumbled right then and there, seeing the hopelessness on her face.

But he stayed strong. He refused to lose the joy in his heart. He refused to lose himself.

He beckoned to Pain, begging her to come join him.

Finally, she did. Slowly, she made her way to The Line.

Laughter held out his hand, his fingers just barely traversing The Line. The tingling intensified, starting at his fingertips and working its way up his arm. Still, he refused to move, imploring Pain to give him her hand.

Hesitantly, she reached out. Their fingertips touch.

And The Line vanished.

Final Comments: I feel like the idea developed more and more as I went along. I’m not sure if I’m completely happy with how I communicated it… But here it is!

Overall Rating: 😣