by Mallory Hoffman

Created on: April 11, 2010

Novel Excerpts: Death of a Loved One

Look Up Love:

I winced at the word parents which led me to a memory flash back. The cold burned my cheeks as I made my way down the wooden steps to cut a cross the backyard. The house coming into view I had seen before. I could have sworn I had seen it a couple hundred of times in dreams. Swallowing, I watched silently as steam rolled out of the chimney to hit the cold air as tiny snow flakes began to fall from the heavens towards the patchy grounds.

Biting upon my lower lip, my hair blew in my face as I hugged my coat tighter to my body for warmth. The wind seemed more harsher this time then it ever had before. It seemed like endless minutes until I finally reached the back of the two story house. I stopped short as I noticed that the white screen door opened to reveal my father.

My breath was taken from me as I paused in my tracks to stare at him. Nothing had changed about my father: he would always remain the same to me. His moss colored eyes bore into mine as his semi-short dark brown hair blew with the wind. He still wore his deep forest green sweater that I had loved so much, his dark navy jeans and black and white sneakers he adored from Mens Foot Locker. And a beautiful smile that sank deep within my heart when I saw him. His hand beckoned me closer to him. His mouth forming words that I couldn't understand because the harsh wind seemed to carry them far away from my straining ears.

And with a rush of the wind that came in the right direction at the precise moment I heard his voice near my ear.

“Trust the long haired one—always beware the others eyes,” he chanted softly to me. I blinked as his words echoed inside my head to play on repeat. Little did I know that the words, his words would haunt me for the rest of my adolescent life. And like with every thought of the dying memory I had of my father I watched as he crumbled to ash and was forever gone.

Blinking open my eyes I stared into Professor Smith's icy blue ones who now held out a white napkin to me. I hadn't notice that I was crying until he quickly and quietly wiped my face for me. I cleared my throat and quickly looked away from him.

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