Ficlet: Grey Days
Title: Grey Days
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, the rest of Cardiff
Rating: G
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: January in Cardiff is dreary.
Word Count: 387
Written For: paceisthetrick’s prompt ‘any, any, another grey day in the city,’ at
fic_promptly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
January in Cardiff and everything is grey; the buildings, the sky, the dirty snow kicked up by passing cars. It’s the same as yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. Nothing seems to change.
Even the people in their winter coats and hats and gloves look as grey as the world around them, and as tired of the endless repetition of dull, grey gloom that seems to pervade everything.
Christmas is over, decorations taken down and stowed away until December. Everyone is back to the daily grind of work and school. The snow that had caused such excitement when it had first fallen, crisp and white, making everything look new and clean, has become just another nuisance. The whole of Cardiff trudges its way through one day after another, wishing it was spring already.
Ianto slipped and slid his way across the Plass, heading for the Tourist Office, thankful that even the Weevils seemed too depressed by the cold weather to venture out of the sewers. Trying to chase one in the current conditions would be tantamount to suicide; one slip and you could break your neck. He was still thinking gloomily about the hazards of ice and snow when unexpectedly, the sun broke through the leaden clouds and for a few brief moments, the world turned into a riot of colour, bright golden sunshine creating a cascade of sparkling glitter across every icy surface and making the Plass look like a magical fairyland.
Everyone stopped in their tracks, shielding their eyes and looking around as if waking from a long sleep. It only lasted a few minutes before the clouds blocked out the sun again, making the sparkles vanish as if they’d never existed, but when it was gone, everything seemed different. The people stood up straighter, their scowls replaced with smiles, and instead of shambling silently along like a bunch of tired zombies, they called greetings to each other, exclaiming over the unexpected vision of beauty in their grey world.
Winter still held Cardiff tightly in its grip, but that brief burst of sunshine had been like a promise of better days ahead, lifting spirits and giving everyone a sense of hope. The grey days wouldn’t last forever. Head up and smiling, Ianto set off again with a spring in his step.
The End