Thank you for reading and sharing my daily #Storygram short stories! Be sure to subscribe to the newsletter and check out my film Portfolio!
The Story:
This is where it happened. Seeing the very same spot again for the first time in 40 years was more overwhelming than she could have imagined. The memories rolled in like a tsunami. Once they started, no force on Earth could stop them, and their current swept her away.
The street lights went through several cycles as she sobbed on the corner. Cars rolled away and pedestrians trudged onward. Their world continued, but hers had come to a standstill.
Her soul wanted to run from her body to escape the plague of pain in her heart, but there was nothing for it to grasp to pull itself free. So, she stood there, feeling the ends of every tentacle of the pain wrapping around her.
She could hear the laughter of her daughter as she skipped over the sidewalk cracks. She felt the touch of her little hand as they stepped onto the pavement. The lights had given them permission to cross. But the drink had given him a different authority that day.
When she had awoken in the hospital, her hand was still clenched, but her daughter’s hand was absent. No one had to tell her. She knew. She could tell the world was a shade darker. Her daughter’s light was no longer a part of it.
Years went by before she had another child. Now, on this day she had become a grandmother. She couldn’t explain the reason, but she needed to see it. She needed to see the place where her first child’s life ended, before seeing the life of her first grandchild.
After several minutes of sobbing, she collected her memories and stashed them away again. The hospital was a few blocks away, so she joined the pace of the rest of the world.
She found the hospital room and slowly pushed the door open.
“Oh, look! There’s grandma! You want grandma to hold you?”
She took the new baby girl into her arms. There was an obvious resemblance to someone she once knew, but she would never voice it. This, her first grandchild, is what her soul chose to latch onto, and the pain began to release its grip. They held hands and fell asleep, basking in the light of a slightly brighter world.
Think this story should become a book or a short film? Let me know in the comments below.