When I was young, I saw the sun bleeding. Its red, orange, and yellow brightness painted the sky. It was bleeding. It was melting.
I was sent to the market to get some bread and milk, mom was very sick. I was six.
We lived in a very sandy area, but there was a forest not too far from the market. I loved the forest, I would use it to my advantage, by playing pretend. There are no other kids here, so I’m often alone.
I decided to take the long way back from the market, which included crossing through the thickly wooded area. A certain path I knew of, brought me up, up and up into the sky, onto a cliff, that had me dangling above the whole town. I went there whenever possible, and I’d watch the sunsets and count the petals of the Blue Passion Flowers that grew on the cliff. They only grew on that cliff. You never saw them anywhere in the town, but they were beautiful and fragile, begging to be touched.
I stopped at the cliff, and set the milk and bread down. I plucked one of the flowers from its vine and sat at the very edge of the cliff, my legs hanging over the town. My town.
The wind blew my hair back behind me. And as it changed direction it snatched the flower from my hand, and blew it away out over the town. I reached out as if to call it back to me, but it just kept going, getting further and further from my outstretched hand.
And just like that, the sky grew very dark. The lights down in town started to flicker and everyone stepped outside to see what was going on.
At that instant, it was like the sun was an artist, and everywhere else was the canvas. For its color scattered out over everything, as if reaching out to us. Calling us. Wanting to harm us.
The sky was dark red and orange. It wasn’t just bleeding, or exploding, it was melting.
The temperature then increased significantly. Pushing 106 degrees Fahrenheit.
At first I didn’t know what to do, but then it occurred to me that mom was still at home by herself, and sick.
Panicked I got up, and began to run, leaving the bread and milk behind. If I got home, and mother was alright, I could always go back to the market to get some more tomorrow. All that mattered at that time, was mother’s safety. I raced through the woods, getting closer and closer to town. The branches and thorned vines sliced my skin, and it hurt.
As I made it into town, everyone was screaming, and running in the streets. Everyone was bigger than me, everyone was older than me, was louder than me. And no one saw me. I was a little girl, in a small dress, trying to push my way through a crowd of adults 3 times my age.
I was screaming out “Mommy! Mommy!” but my voice and presence were ignored. Only one man noticed me. He was a bit older than everyone else, and had a grey beard.
He towered over me with a vicious look on his face, and simply said “Get out of my way!”
I was being shoved and pushed in several directions. And I didn’t like it.
Someone’s fist managed to find my back, and the blow sent me forward. Face first, I fell onto the ground. People trampled me, crushed me, and I was crying out:
“Mommy! I’m coming! Don’t worry! Mommy!” I was crying onto the dirt road. Dirt got in my nose and it felt like I was suffocating, as people continued to ignore my body, and step on me. And then I felt nothing.
When I got up, everything was dark. And the streetlights were out. There was no moon, but I could manage to see a bit.
I stood up, limping. No one was around.
It was cold. The kind of cold that could kill someone.
My first thought was to get to mommy. So, I pushed on, past all the stores, and into a small brick home.
I called out “Mommy?”, but I didn’t hear a voice back. So I went to her room,
And there she was, laying there like stone. Gone with the wind. Gone with the sun.
And it was at that moment, that I too realized.. I’d gone away with her, and with the sun.
When I was young I saw the sun bleeding. Its red, orange, and yellow brightness painted the sky. It was bleeding, it was melting.
And I was gone.

Imprint

Publication Date: 08-10-2011

All Rights Reserved