little me: a short story

This little girl stands in front of me. She stared up at me with a sparkle in her hazel eyes. When she smiled, the gap between her front teeth shown. Her laughter also filled the air, it was so beautiful. It was so real.

"You're me but bigger!" She said with a smile. I opened my mouth to speak but my words got stuck in the back of my throat and I choked up. "How far did we make it in life? What is the future like?"

I knelt down so that I was eye level with her. I began to cry. I miss her. She is so innocent and pure. She does not know how cruel and invidious the world was to us. She does not know what was coming for us. She is utterly clueless.

Her arms wrapped around me and my sobs became heavy. I then wrapped my arms around her small little waist. My body began to shake as I sobbed into her shoulder. I will never be able to resemble her. She was so– beautifully indifferent and I'm so– tragically tethered. Even if I tried to get better, I will never be like her in any way.

I pulled myself together and pulled back to whip my face. I put on a slight smile as I cupped her cheeks.

"Promise me that you will not let anyone hurt you? Keep going despite them. Never ever give up either, even if things don't look so good sweetheart." I spoke.

She stared at me before nodding her head.

"I promise." She replied. I nodded my head at her and laugh a little.

"I miss you, sweetheart. You know that?" I asked. She then nods her head at me, that innocent look still in her eyes.

"I miss you too." She spoke. "Promise you'll find me when we play hide and seek again. Okay?"

"I promise." I replied, my voice cracked a bit.

"Shall we play again?" She asked.

"We shall. I will count again this time too. Ready?" I responded.

"Ready!" She said, smiling as she jumped for joy.

I covered my face with my hands and closed my eyes for good measures. I then proceeded by counting to 10. When I removed my hands away from my eyes, little me was gone. I stayed there for a bit, whipping the tears away from my eyes once more.

"Ready or not, here I come." I whispered as I began to search for her once again.

a.b.