Shattered Glass | Teen Ink

Shattered Glass MAG

February 19, 2009
By DarkenedStarlight BRONZE, St. Louis, Missouri
DarkenedStarlight BRONZE, St. Louis, Missouri
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

He slowly turns the pliers in his hand, curling the wire around itself. With one last squeeze, the next piece of his beach glass mobile is complete. It sparkles as he holds it up to the sun and translucent brown, blue, and green dance across weathered skin.

The soft sound of clinking glass echoes through the workshop. The small room is furnished with a table and a folding chair. Older mobiles hang from the ceiling, moving slightly from side to side. A 25-year-old fan sits in the corner, blowing softly, ruffling the pages of the book emblazoned with a cross that sits on the corner of the table. One framed photograph stands next to the book. It is of a younger man – brown bottle in hand, arms around a smiling woman – grinning into the camera on a picturesque beach. The photograph isn’t there for happy nostalgia. It is a reminder of what he has lost and what he still has to gain.

He pushes his wire-rimmed glasses up his nose and settles into the worn folding chair. He sifts carefully through the round-edged beach glass, looking for the right piece to attach next.

The browns and greens shine back into his eyes. He can still identify the color of glass that each beer brand used for their bottles. This green is for Hefeweizen, this brown for Budweiser. He wonders, as he always does, if these well-washed shards are from bottles he himself carelessly threw into the ocean.

The mobile is for his granddaughter, Andi. Her brother, Gordon, has a similar one – well, he does if Melissa hasn’t thrown it out. He wouldn’t blame his daughter if she had. She has every right to still hate him. She has every right to ignore his existence.

In his daydreams, the lovingly crafted mobiles hang over the cribs. Melissa and her husband might hate them but decide that the children need something of their only living grandparent. Melissa might use them as a lesson: never touch glass bottles; the stuff inside is pure poison.

Another piece is firmly attached, and he checks his watch. His meeting is in an hour. They are going to play cards. His wife loved cards. Every time they play at a meeting, he is reminded of how she had begged him to go to a meeting, to talk to someone, to call his brother, to play chess with Melissa, to take Max hunting for shells, to walk the dog on the beach, to feed the cat, to do anything but drown himself in a brown glass bottle.

He finds another piece of beach glass and carefully inserts a wire in the small hole, threading his past and tying it in a mobile to hang over his granddaughter’s bed, so she might know some day that he never meant to hurt anyone.



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This article has 154 comments.


on Jan. 23 2011 at 9:04 am
Niya_Smilees GOLD, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
13 articles 0 photos 21 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Live in the moment because reality hurts."

I loved this , it was really good :]

on Jan. 21 2011 at 1:49 pm
paige.ward BRONZE, Dexter, Michigan
3 articles 0 photos 5 comments

Favorite Quote:
I'm not random you just can't think as fast as me.

Amazing so touching.

on Jan. 1 2011 at 1:55 pm
WynterPage95 ELITE, Monticello, Arkansas
164 articles 8 photos 76 comments

Favorite Quote:
"It's better to burn out than to fade away..." -Kurt Cobain

My family is made up of alcoholics so, this does hit home a little bit. I have been affected by alcohol's negativity so this does touch me. It was absolutely beautiful, thank you.

on Jan. 1 2011 at 12:30 am
DannyKid33 PLATINUM, Pleasant Hill, California
34 articles 2 photos 81 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Don't ever let the media tell you what to look like. You're beautiful the way you are. Stay beautiful, keep it ugly." - Gerard Way.

This was absoutely amazing. My older brother is an alcoholic so this really touched me. Thank you for writing this :')

J.C.Evans GOLD said...
on Dec. 30 2010 at 4:19 pm
J.C.Evans GOLD, Westland, Michigan
14 articles 50 photos 53 comments
This is the most beautifully written piece of work that I have ever read!

reenay_95 GOLD said...
on Dec. 10 2010 at 3:00 pm
reenay_95 GOLD, West Lafayette, Indiana
16 articles 0 photos 86 comments

Favorite Quote:
You can't see the stars if you are always looking down.

this was so sad...

on Dec. 10 2010 at 11:26 am
OriginalCarbonation GOLD, Naperville, Illinois
11 articles 0 photos 102 comments

Favorite Quote:
dream as if you'll live forever
live as if you'll die tomorrow

j'adore cette

c'est magnificent


MRose911 GOLD said...
on Nov. 18 2010 at 11:38 pm
MRose911 GOLD, Paradise, Utah
17 articles 10 photos 107 comments

Favorite Quote:
"No boy is worth crying over and the one who is won't make you cry." - Sarah Kane

This is absolutely amazing! Positively BEAUTIFUL! Wow. I don't know what to say. This is just.... Wow. I could picture it all, I can relate it to many close people in my life, AMAZING!! You have a gift! :)

on Nov. 18 2010 at 6:50 pm
springdance BRONZE, Hebron, New Hampshire
2 articles 0 photos 23 comments

Favorite Quote:
Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish.
Albert Einstein

Wow. That was deep. I just got a vision of this character's life before my eyes leading up to the moment this story takes place. Great writing!

on Nov. 18 2010 at 12:39 pm
skyblue95 PLATINUM, Bear, Delaware
35 articles 1 photo 40 comments

Favorite Quote:
I am paraphrasing, of course. "My only fear is that when they are turned to loving they will find we are turned to hating." -Reverand Msimangu, Cry, The Beloved Country (a book by Alan Paton)

Absolutely amazing. :) I especially liked the way it felt like I could connect with this character, even though I've never touched a drink in my life. Great job. Keep on writing!

And btw, anyone who sees this, I could realllllly use comments on my work please. Thanks :)


k4ykay BRONZE said...
on Oct. 27 2010 at 10:32 pm
k4ykay BRONZE, Lincoln, California
1 article 20 photos 7 comments
wow that was amazing keep on writing

on Oct. 27 2010 at 5:54 pm
ebony_and_irony, Tracy, California
0 articles 0 photos 11 comments
Lovely. I loved how you turned the glass bottle which he used to hurt himself into something he used to help himself.

on Oct. 27 2010 at 4:50 pm
LilMess PLATINUM, Key Colony Beach, Florida
25 articles 0 photos 11 comments

Favorite Quote:
Everything we do we are bound to repeat. Thus, excellence is not a chance but a habit.

breathtaking... beautiful... im stll in awe. speechless.. <3

Roisin GOLD said...
on Oct. 27 2010 at 12:04 pm
Roisin GOLD, Peabody, Massachusetts
10 articles 5 photos 28 comments
amazing. really, really, amazing writing.

on Oct. 27 2010 at 11:50 am
nefariouslyme, Richland, Michigan
0 articles 0 photos 72 comments
You can almost see the regret in the words on the page. I really feel like I understand this man when he wishes he hadn't been such an alcoholic. And you don't have to go out and say that he's an alcoholic, it just comes to be understood.

Elisabeth GOLD said...
on Oct. 5 2010 at 5:12 pm
Elisabeth GOLD, Nottingham, New Hampshire
10 articles 0 photos 23 comments

Favorite Quote:
"A true friend is hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget."

I liked this, I thought it had a good concept, and good emotions. Keep Writing!

WhiteShadows said...
on Oct. 5 2010 at 5:01 pm
WhiteShadows, Ocala, Florida
0 articles 0 photos 38 comments

Favorite Quote:
You've gotta work like you don't need the money/love like you'll never be hurt/
Sing like no one is listening/ and live like it's heaven on Earth.-Anonymous

Awesome. Stunning. Pure great. I love how you started the story in the middle and we had to ask "questions" but as soon as they came to mind they were answered. Coolio

on Oct. 5 2010 at 7:02 am
I think you ate turkey

on Sep. 7 2010 at 8:10 pm
diaphragm BRONZE, Tallahassee, Florida
2 articles 0 photos 86 comments
Wonderful job! LOOOVE the discriptions :D

Chloe_ BRONZE said...
on Aug. 22 2010 at 9:31 pm
Chloe_ BRONZE, San Antonio, Texas
4 articles 0 photos 43 comments

Favorite Quote:
Never underestimate the power of doing the ordinary in quite extraordinary ways.

Wow this is breathtaking and the emotions...wow