The Lost Girl (Complete)

Prologue

The sky was filled with dark clouds and the endless rain just served to announce to the world that this was a day of darkness, one where sunshine and gentle breezes just did not belong.

The wind was so cold that any outside felt chilled down to their bones and the howling seemed to build dread within their hearts. It was not a day to be in a grave yard but Celestia had no choice.

She actually almost found it fitting. Her mother's life had been a maelstrom of darkness and the event her final rest seemed to be heralded by some higher force.

Looking down at the sign which would soon be replaced by a headstone, Celestia couldn't help but wonder what she had done to deserve her life.

She had loved her mother but it hadn't always been returned. In fact, the only time that Marie Sorenson had ever acknowledged her presence in the two-storey home on Sunnyvale Court was on pay day when she would hold out her hand and wait for her barely eighteen year old daughter to hand over seventy percent of her weekly wages.

Marie had always made sure to let her know that their life, their relationship was better than what had been between her own mother. A woman who had died years before Celestia was even a thought.

Drugs, Celestia shivered. It had been the downfall of too many people and after years of prolific abuse, it had finally claimed the life of the only person she had left.

"Miss, would you like to say a few words?" A male voice asked, startling her as she finally looked away from the flowerless casket and that lonesome sign which already stood at attention on the edge of the hole where Marie would shortly be laid.

"I'm sorry," She murmured, her fingers tightening around the handle of her umbrella. "I don't have anything prepared."

The old priest smiled, "Just say what is in your heart child. What you never got to say before she passed."

She nodded jerkily and stepped forward to lay the tips of her fingers over the wood, "I'm sorry I wasn't there to stop you or at least make sure that you weren't found too late. I'm sorry that I couldn't be a better daughter. I really did love you, Mum, and I hope that you're in a better place. Goodbye."

She stepped back and lowered her head once more as the priest said the final prayers, laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and walked away to be lost amid the fog and sleeting rain.

"Goodbye, Mum," She whispered again before she too back towards the entrance of the graveyard and the bus stop.

Only the wind filled her ears, the silence of the world behind her saddening as the only person Marie Sorenson had floated away in a dress too big for her and the weight of a thousand sorrows dragging her down.