It is 7:42 AM on a Thursday morning, and an old woman sits in a church, praying. A wide brimmed red hat sits next to her on the bench, unfit for the cold weather outside. A tall, dark haired teenage boy walks into the curch, searching for something. When he sees it, his heart almost stops.
Jack stares at Bella's uneven handwriting, written in crayon, right on the wood of the frame. No Ice Today was a sign she had written in seventh grade, and no one knows what it means. She would turn it over randomly, with no pattern, severl times a week.
Bella kept her sign in her parents' living room, right next to the fire place, and nobody ever asked any questions.
But now it's leaning against a stain glass window in a church, next to a green rock. Jack can feel his head about to spin, so he puts his hand out to stop himself from falling.
He wonders, why? Why is Bella's sign, the one no one could ever decipher, in a church that she never went to? It doesn't make any sense.
Jack runs his fingers through his hair and turns around, looking for someone, anyone in the church. He sees the old woman, now staring at him, and locks eyes with her.
"Please," he says. "Why is this here?" Her expression softens, and she gets up from the bench. She walks towards him with a surprisingly strong stride, putting her hand on his shoulder.
"Did you know Irabella?" asks the old woman, her brown eyes searching his.
"Yes," Jack's voice cracks. "She let me call her Bella,"
"She gave me the sign the day before she died," Jack almost cries. Before she died. The words ring through his head and he coughs into his arm, his throat suddenly itchy.
"Do you think--" his voice gives away, so he starts again. "Do you think she planned it? To die, I mean?"
The old woman looks at him as he stares at the sign. She takes her hand off his shoulder and laces her arm through his, taking his left hand in both of hers.
"Did she plan to die the way she did?" She pauses. "I don't think we'll ever know.
The old woman holds Jack's hand as he finnaly cries.
Wow, it's utterly amazing what people can make with such a simple picture of a window and a sign that says "no ice to day". Good job to whoever wrote and imagined this story.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit to two things here: I felt disturbed after reading. Sad, as if I were peeking into some dark corner of a strangers mind and poking in their business.
ReplyDeleteBUT, I loved how you took the story into such a "moment" that it was in present tense! I almost cried (granted Im quite sensitive :P) and all I really have to say is great job!!
-Cynthia