Sad Love Short Story – Noon
Photo credit: Alvimann from morguefile.com
She stood quietly in the back alley. The sun beat down at the edge of the small brick corridor outside her back door. It was midday, noon to be exact: the time of day he would come to see her.
She wrung a kerchief in her fist and occasionally reached down to her to her skirts and adjusted it absentmindedly.
The city was alive around her. Vendors hawked their wares in the city square and people bustled about. Children played in the streets, calling to one another from doorways and windows. A small baby cried in the arms of its mother as she stood conversing with a few of her lady friends. Hoof beats echoed in the corridor but all of the liveliness was lost upon her, for she was wandering in her own mind.
A smile spread across her face as the memories played themselves through her head. She saw his face. She loved his smile. She giggled quietly, remembering the way he made her laugh. She marveled at the way he would twine his fingers through hers as they walked and lift their hands to his mouth for a soft kiss when no one was looking. She adored everything about him.
The thought of him was constantly in her conscious and unconscious mind. It was these thoughts that brought her here every day at this exact time.
She was still lost in her memories when a man passed by the opening to the corridor. He paused on his stroll as he noticed her standing alone.
“Miss?” he asked. “Miss?” he asked again, louder this time when she didn’t respond.
Her eyes slowly came into focus and the smile that lit her face a moment ago faded. Disappointment swelled in her heart. It wasn’t him.
“Yes,” she whispered. She cleared her throat and responded louder so he could hear her. “Yes?”
“I am searching for my wife and young daughter. Have you seen them pass by here? We were supposed to meet after they had run their morning errands.”
“I am sorry, but I have not seen anyone pass by,” she replied quietly, the color slowly draining from her face.
“Well, thank you kindly,” he said and with a tip of his hat he continued on his way.
She lifted the wrinkled kerchief to her face and slowly dabbed away a few tears that had appeared and escaped from her eyes.
He wasn’t coming back. She knew it, but she didn’t want to believe it. He could never come back.
She balled the kerchief with his initials in her fist and holding it sternly over her saddened heart, turned and walked through her door. Slowly shutting it behind her.
__END__
