City
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Walking down the dark street with the broken lights and graffiti on the walls, she liked to think she was different. Swooping across the wet concrete, searching for prey, a person she could glare at.
No one else is out this late, so all she can do is remember. Eyes lose focus, steady steps lose direction. She is no longer on the street, but on the river bank. Sitting beside the water polished stones. Like her, they have been worn by a strong current.
"Where were you?" she asks the river. "I needed someone, and you were gone."
She remembers his hands first, big, holding hers, helping her over the huge rocks by the water. His voice, telling her how special she was.
"But I wasn't special. You left anyway."
She can't remember his face.
She does remember his leaving though. The night, more silent than it had ever been. She lay awake, knowing something was wrong. Was it her fault? She had always been hard to love. Too stubborn, picky, impatient. Then it came. The demanding percussion of footsteps on stairs. Punctuated by two slams. The front door. The car door.
She hears it now in her head. Awakened by the memory of the sounds of loss. Thud, thud, thud. Slam. Slam.
Eyes snap into reality. She might never find him again. even if she comes out every night for the rest of her life. Her cold sarcastic self laughs as the possibilities float away.
Back in the present, trees loom ahead. She stops walking and looks. Wind animates the branches, they sway, waving arms. She raises her hand, then snorts. The trees know nothing.
A vagrant appears, across the road. He is not disturbed by the cold and shouts a greeting. She shivers and walks on. Pays no attention to the man.
Up in the sky, stars dot the black, tiny pinpricks of light. She is dependent on the stars, they are constant. A car alarm goes off, and she decides to give up, hating herself for it.
Walking back down the road she came, she knew she was just like any other kid who had lost a father. Stumbling clumsily across the wet concrete, searching not for a person, but an answer.
But no answer is out this late, so all she can do is make her way back to the lonely, dark city.
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I knew when starting to read that this was going to have a surprise ending. But I still didn't expect it, lol. Providing it was meant to be a surprise.. of course.. anyway, +1
Assignment or not, take another plus vote. Death of a parent is a sensitive subject whether you've had to cope with it or not, and you wrote about it beautifully. The images were peaceful but dark...the river on a cold night. I like how you saved stating the reason for her grief till the end of the piece.
Cant really make any comment that would build on those above. So I'll just say that this is a brilliant peice of work, and you deserve a pat on the back for your skills.
I think this deserves another '+'
:P