30: My Sun

"He's coming."

The raspy whisper held such fear in it that Alden froze in his place.

Everything had been such a blur. Looking back, his memory could only provide him with hazy bits and pieces of the beginning - the raspy-voiced woman pulling him by the hand, the dark figure advancing towards them from behind, the bruising force by which the woman shoved him with, and the stuffy heat of the closet.

"WHERE IS HE?!"

He remembered hugging his knees inside the closet.

"I don't know."

"I SAW HIM! WHERE DID YOU HIDE HIM?"

"If I knew," The woman began, strength slowly rising from her quivering voice, "Do you really think I'd tell you where he is?"

There was a strained pause...

...and then a loud, resounding slap.

He remembered trying to fit his little head into the cracks of his tightly conjoined knees and shivering uncontrollably as he vainly tried to drown out the sounds of violence with his voiceless crying.

"TELL ME WHERE HE IS!" Slap, slap, slap. And then POUND. "TELL ME!"

Mouth thankfully pressed on his legs stifled the scared sob, and the gift of memory chose to remember only what was necessary.

He remembered her whimpering, sobbing... but not wailing.

There had been wailing, but it had not been hers. That much he knew.

He remembered slick liquid finding its way inside his little sanctuary, but he didn't realize then what, or whose it was.

The door of the closet burst open, and for the first time, he remembered seeing the light of day.

Alden raised his hand to shield his eyes from the searing sun rays and kneeled down to the headstone on the grassy mound. Lovingly, he brushed the stray grass the wind had blown in, and read the inscription for the nth time in fifteen years.

For the life you gave and let live.

He patted the headstone for the last time and lay down the bouquet of sunflowers.

He stood up and walked away; with a sad smile and a silent thanks to the woman who had once saved his life.