This is for you

Susan wanted to scream. 

Up above her, the sky was  at the clearest of blues. After 3 weeks of downpour her backyard was a brown mess of drowning dead grass and half buried bottles. She took it as a sign it was time to leave. Yet now, out of nowhere, the sun came out to say hello. Mocking her escape. 

Fumbling to tie her shoes, Susan could feel the sun’s heat starting to irritate her skin. She wanted it to go away, to hide between the clouds and not pretend that it was another ordinary happy day. Where was the sun when she cried herself asleep? Where was the sun when promises had been made and then each time, broken?

Susan wiped her face with her sleeve, trying to get rid of the sweat and tears at the same time. 

She knew it didn’t matter, she wasn’t going to wait around for the constant nightmare of screaming and broken glass. 

She sat down at the bus stop, checking that that her doll and everything else she owned in the world was still in her bag. A box of Cheerios fell out and landed beside her. Leaning over to grab it she saw a small flower blossoming out of a crack of concrete. 

It’s pale color looked beautiful in the sun, and in anger she pricked it from its home. She wanted to crush it, to make it feel the pain that she felt at that very moment. 

She picked it. Then standing up, looked into the store from across the street. There in the window she saw the older brother of a girl in her class. She remembered hearing how he was going to take his sister and all her friends to the beach one day and how much she wanted to go. 

But then it started to rain. 

Now, flower still in her hand, Susan crossed the street and walked right up to the young man. He looked at her with a smile. She placed the flower in front of him saying, “This is for you.” Then she left. The flower and boy both watched her go as the sun shone brightly through the window. 

I once read an interesting story of that a person posted into the Internet. While tending to a store, a small girl walked in and without saying a word placed a flower in front of him saying, “This is for you.” Then she left. 

This is the picture that he took of that flower. I am very glad it wasn’t crushed.