Sara wandered the streets of the deserted town.
Entering the abandoned, yet, somehow, still immaculate church, an overwhelming sense of emptiness made her cry.
“Why’s she crying, Mommy?” Daryl asked.
“She thinks there’s no one here, sweetheart.”
As the ghosts passed by, Sara experienced a warmth that dried her tears.
My friend, Laura, comes up with the best prompts, usually a picture she has taken or a story from her own travels. This story is based on one of those experiences.
A heart touching piece.
Thank you, Dascha. As always, you have captured so perfectly what it felt like to wander through that emptiness. So many times, I've explored the ruins of ghost towns or dilapidated and vandalized old buildings and I can't help imagining what it felt like when they were brand new. An aside that is a condition of only children that I know but can't explain although it did help to have some diagnosed condition to pin it on... we imagine everything, even inanimate objects, as having feelings. Maybe it's too much time playing alone, they become our playmates. Anyway, that's how I felt in that town. I felt the joy and excitement of the first folks to move in and then the sorrow of the last ones to leave. And I wondered if the old church missed them and was waiting for the day they came back. Thankfully I managed to shake it off and did feel the simplicity of the moment but, as I said, you captured it perfectly. Well done!