Would that Imagined became Real?

Cheri hides things, big and small, real and imagined.

She squirrels away tokens she finds walking home. Pretty, plastic gemstones from crushed rings, a soldier figurine, a cigarette butt. Though these aren’t big, she knows where they are and can exercise control.

Cheri hides bigger things lamentably real, too. Pretty, bluish bruises from crushed arteries in her arm, circular burns from a cigarette butt.

Things Cheri hides that she imagines are more frightful to her than painful scabs and scars. These scare her to the brink of telling someone, revealing retaliatory fantasies. But so far, she’s kept them to herself.