Short Fiction
Shards of Hope
My Message
As I look back, I see the dark corners of your faded pink bedroom await you, where you curl up for solace, or cower for safety.
I see your broken body, smashed to pieces, like your unicorn figurine that you bought with birthday money. I remember you gazing at the enchanting movement of light. Each cut shining luminous pink and blue, warm and comforting, before he threw it on the floor as punishment.
I hear words that hurt more than anything. Ones that shattered your dreams to shards, leaving you fragile, brittle, floating on jagged edged clouds, hoping to catch a gust and soar to your favourite place. Your one and only holiday. Soft sand under bare foot, large lime walls of splendour, and salt drifting from the lapping shore. The ingredients of clarity tempered to perfection.
As I look back, I see you sitting at your window, for hours it seemed, watching other children play.
Hello
The word written in your breath faded in frosted camouflage.
I know this word always struggled to leave your mouth. It struggled to reach out and touch people, to turn their heads to see you. Shame. Your sunshine would have lit their lives for eternity. Magnified by your feathered brushstrokes of beauty.
What cuts me most is remembering the colourful flower of your youth wither. Your bright eyes glaze with each etching on your once clear surface. Each engraved mark telling a different story.
As I look in the mirror, I see the unicorn figurine. Bigger, wiser, but still with your infectious, youthful smile. Heavily scarred, but now with large wondrous wings. Wings that will carry you far and wide, give you strength and wisdom, show you love and life. So keep smiling, stay strong. It will be okay.
I see he whose arms will wrap around you. He who’ll retrieve your slipper from the ball.
I hear clinks of champagne flutes, and binding words. Healing words that you will allow yourself to trust. For this man will be mesmerised by your light, a brilliant pink and blue, shining your shared path.
As I look in the mirror, I see the precious gift you’ll nurture. From the size of a small marble to a warm bundle of innocence.
You will teach her to see through facades.
You will encourage her to break barriers that may restrict her.
You will hold her close. For your biggest fear, her being harmed by splinters of life’s rough edges, will ache every part of your existence.
As I look into the distance, I see him with his new family.
He who can now face his reflection, where it was once found only in sacred bottles.
He who now only pours words of hope and discernment from the vessel of redemption.
As I look into the distance, I see his tilted head. A moment of thought, before he sighs and moves forward.
Just know, you will find enough peace to forgive him.
Alas, the distance is where you shall keep him.
