Chelsea the Cheese Girl

A story inspired by Jack Stauber's song “The Ballad Of Hamantha”

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On the day of her birth, the doctors were to stare in shock. It truly was something they'd never seen before, except on one other account. The little girl was so different from what anyone had ever seen before, but she was truly amazing. A rare, sad, and a quite scary disease indeed. The little girl had been born with a big triangular slice of cheese where her head should have been. She had two big eyes and no mouth, flowing brown hair, and rosy cheeks. Her name was Chelsea.

Growing up, Chelsea wanted one thing from the cruel world, and that one thing was respect. All around her, people were treated so nicely. Kids in school respected the teachers, parents respected their kids, and kids respected each other. But no one respected Chelsea. Her personal space was constantly invaded by kids poking and prodding her face. People openly talked about her, saying she was a freak and a weirdo, asking their parents what was wrong with her, only for them to rush past whispering not to stare. Chelsea didn't let it get to her or at least didn't show that it did. She tried her hardest to make friends and show people she wasn't any different from them. Sadly though, for Chelsea, she would never get the chance she deserved. The story starts on a rainy day.
 

On the first day of school, Chelsea pulled on a deep navy sweater and a flowy skirt to match. She even put some makeup on, a special kind that works on her creamy skin. She got her things together and made her way to her father's car. Chelsea was raised by her father, as her mother didn't survive her birth. Her father was a sweet, simple man with a cheesy taste for humor. He dropped her off at school, giving her a reassuring smile while she closed his car door and stared at the big school building. She inhaled the smokey city air and exhaled, taking it all in as she began to walk up the steps and into the long hallway leading to different classrooms. The hallway that would usually be bustling with sound had never seen such silence at Chelsea's arrival. Kids started in awe and confusion, marveling at her strange complexion. A couple of kids laughed, though most started to whisper while others tried to hide their piercing stares. Chelsea felt like she was walking down a fashion runway but wearing rags and messy off-colored makeup instead of gorgeous poofy dresses with the perfect blush shade.

 

The school day was painstakingly long, each class seemed more judgmental than the last. Even though she had met her teachers in advance, they still seemed shocked upon her arrival. A group of students had tripped her, a rowdy older boy tried to grab a chunk out of her face, and two pretty, popular girls threw spitballs and their chewed-up gum at her and her things. Finally, the lunch bell rang, and Chelsea was free to be alone. She sat alone in the corner of the cafeteria, a small sketchbook in hand as she didn't need to eat with her head being food. Her light sketches filled the books with swirls and pretty faces that she wished she could see when looking in the mirror. She let out a sigh, or what would have been a sigh if she had a mouth. A small tear slid down her smooth cheek as multiple pairs of legs approached her, and she quickly wiped it away. Chelsea looked up at the three people who had joined her in her loneliness. It was three of the girls who had been harassing her all day. She tilted her head as to ask them what was up. The middle girl pointed at Chelsea's arms, and her two brainless minions went to grab her by the arms. Chelsea kicked and thrashed but couldn't scream. The girls laughed hysterically whilst dragging Chelsea's resisting body to the door of the cafeteria leading to the dumpster. The middle girl threw open the door and pointed for her friends to toss Chelsea into the pile of garbage that hadn't been handled in weeks. They threw her into the smelly, slimy bags and slammed the heavy cafeteria door shut, knowing it would lock from the outside. As Chelsea fell into the bags of piling trash, she hit her head on the corner of the dumpster, a chunk falling from her head to the ground. Her big eyes blinked, her vision fading as she passed out into a black abyss. There, her limp cheesy body sat for hours, nobody even noticing she was gone. She sat, unconscious until the smell of fresh cheese from Chelsea's face wafted out from the dumpster for neighboring animals to take as an invitation to feast. Wild opossums crawled out from behind the dumpster and holes in the walls around the alleyway. The smell entranced them, and they began to feast on poor, little, cheesy Chelsea's head. They hissed and scratched, destroying Chelsea and anything she had left in her.

 

As the shining day faded to a dark evening, her dad who had been searching for her for hours, finally found her with her destroyed face in the dumpster alleyway. He had called the police, but they didn't take it as a big deal because it hadn't been 48 hours yet. He ran to her, falling to his knees. What little of her face remained, he tried to piece back together. For how tough of a man he was, he cried harder than he knew to be possible. And Chelsea was to die with her one wish never coming true. She never got the respect she deserved.