The Lost Chapter

The first day of school was over, little Chloe was wandering the streets on a rainy afternoon. The rush hour found her lost in time and space, trying to sneak through the big people to find her way home. Tired of walking through the windy day, she sat on a bench in front a house. She wiped her hands on her baby blue handkerchief and then took a byte from the apple her mother had put in her backpack the evening before. She took another byte and chocked on it. The next moment she felt a hand on her back:

- Are you ok?

- Yes, she managed to reply. Yes, I am.

- My name is Ryan. I saw you at school today. You sit right in front of me.

- Really? Well looks like you’re always behind me… what are you doing here?

He laughed and said:

- Well, this is my house. This is where I live.

Chloe felt a little embarrassed to tell him that, in fact she was lost.

- I am Chloe and it was nice meeting you. I will see you around! She got up and without looking back she just walked into the rain again.

- See you Chloe! He shouted.


At the next intersection she incidentally met one of their neighbours who drove her home. Maybe it was the first day of school with walking into the new and unknown, maybe it was the rainy and grey day, but when she walked into the house and closed the door behind her, she had a strange feeling of restlessness, presaging that something was going to happen.
The babysitter encountered her and cheered her up, so she soon forgot everything about it. Her parents were away on a business trip and were to come back that very evening.
Ever since Chloe was born, her parents were always gone in such delegations.

After dinner, she fell asleep almost instantly on the couch in front of the TV. Hours flown and Chloe woke up in the middle of the night because of a headache. The house was total darkness and silence. Dizzy and confused heading to the kitchen to take an Advil, she drank a sip of water and snorted out the next one when her eyes rested on the wall clock showing 2 AM. It was a habit that when her parents came home they would always come to hug her before going to sleep, even if it was late.
She ran to her parents’ room, dozen of thoughts began to spin into her mind making her even dizzier. Arrived in the front of the door, she slowly rotated the knob and opened the squeaky door, her heart beating faster and faster, her eyes searching for her parents silhouettes… empty! That moment was the end of every thought, of the worry before, any sort of feeling left her completely. She tiptoed to the living room and turned on the TV. She looked at the images playing before her eyes and the more she saw she felt as if she was turning into a stone, just like the graves she was going to carry from now on within her soul, buried unfading pain that could not get through the cold stones.
With the eyes on the clock that was ticking in her arms, Chloe decided to wait until morning before she called her grandparents to tell them the news: her parents died in a plane crash. The memory of that day didn’t come without the pain, choking her just like a million bytes of apple.