(no subject)
The lemon-yellow sun shone down fuzzy through the bright and cloudless sky. Sarah looked around the empty, yet noisy park in a daze. Everything was out of focus pastels, plain and little texture: baby-blue sky melted into the lime-green field.
A clack rang out.
She turned and was suddenly greeted by a roaring baseball game, everyone with a dumb stare pointed at a gigantic moon of a baseball coming towards her. It shrank to normal as it seemed to roll down to her. She pulled inward, holding her apparently gloved hand up as if giving traffic direction to a tiny round car. Sarah watched as the ball traveled through her mitt and bounced through a hole in the chain-link fence.
The roar of the crowd suddenly turned to a chant. "Sarah! Sarah! Sarah!"
Sarah heaved herself onto the soft grass, stretching her arm as far as she could, through the hole in the fence, grasping at the baseball that was both a mile away and just out of reach. A disquieting unease bubbled up from deep inside her. If she couldn't get that ball, if she couldn't make that perpetual baseball game, the cherished American pastime, keep going, all would be lost and it would be her fault.
Fear gave way to desperation. She stretched even harder, but gravity seemed to lose it's grasp on her and she started floating. It felt amazing. Sarah immediately forgot about the baseball game, the ball and even the park. She just dissolved into the rising sensation as the sun caressed her face with warmth.
As she realized her eyes were closed, she felt a calloused hand pet her head. And again. And again. Daddy was home and was stroking her face as she slept. Sarah never wanted this to end. She never saw her father anymore. Mom said he is always busy in the city with his job. Still, she would rather not see him until tomorrow if only this moment, right now, would last forever.
The blood flowed warm to her face and, despite herself, a smile curled at the edge of her mouth. Sarah spent the next moment fearing her father noticed. His hand rested heavily on her head. Chapped lips placed a tender kiss on her forehead, and a drop fell on her hand.
The bed rose with a creak. She sensed her father walk toward the door and cracked open one eye. He just stood there looking at her, a tall, slightly hunched shadow stretched across the doorway, scratched his face, and walked out.
The next few minutes were excruciating as she wondered when she would see him next. Even the next morning seemed like forever. She lay there in thought, in the dark, alone until invisible hands pulled her down. Down into another unreal dream. Another dream that presented her with serenity. Serenity that she twisted into crushing pressure. Barely breathing, she silently sailed through another night.
A clack rang out.
She turned and was suddenly greeted by a roaring baseball game, everyone with a dumb stare pointed at a gigantic moon of a baseball coming towards her. It shrank to normal as it seemed to roll down to her. She pulled inward, holding her apparently gloved hand up as if giving traffic direction to a tiny round car. Sarah watched as the ball traveled through her mitt and bounced through a hole in the chain-link fence.
The roar of the crowd suddenly turned to a chant. "Sarah! Sarah! Sarah!"
Sarah heaved herself onto the soft grass, stretching her arm as far as she could, through the hole in the fence, grasping at the baseball that was both a mile away and just out of reach. A disquieting unease bubbled up from deep inside her. If she couldn't get that ball, if she couldn't make that perpetual baseball game, the cherished American pastime, keep going, all would be lost and it would be her fault.
Fear gave way to desperation. She stretched even harder, but gravity seemed to lose it's grasp on her and she started floating. It felt amazing. Sarah immediately forgot about the baseball game, the ball and even the park. She just dissolved into the rising sensation as the sun caressed her face with warmth.
As she realized her eyes were closed, she felt a calloused hand pet her head. And again. And again. Daddy was home and was stroking her face as she slept. Sarah never wanted this to end. She never saw her father anymore. Mom said he is always busy in the city with his job. Still, she would rather not see him until tomorrow if only this moment, right now, would last forever.
The blood flowed warm to her face and, despite herself, a smile curled at the edge of her mouth. Sarah spent the next moment fearing her father noticed. His hand rested heavily on her head. Chapped lips placed a tender kiss on her forehead, and a drop fell on her hand.
The bed rose with a creak. She sensed her father walk toward the door and cracked open one eye. He just stood there looking at her, a tall, slightly hunched shadow stretched across the doorway, scratched his face, and walked out.
The next few minutes were excruciating as she wondered when she would see him next. Even the next morning seemed like forever. She lay there in thought, in the dark, alone until invisible hands pulled her down. Down into another unreal dream. Another dream that presented her with serenity. Serenity that she twisted into crushing pressure. Barely breathing, she silently sailed through another night.