Crossroads (A Collection of Short Stories)

The Dark. The Cold. The Chill.

The air was chilly for it was almost time for the snow to fall, and in a dark alley, a small figure can be seen. If one will look closer, he will notice that the figure was a small child, a girl. The girl was shivering for the clothes that she was wearing were not fit for the weather. It was a good thing that she saw a blanket on the sidewalk and used it as a makeshift cloak. She looked around but saw no one, for all the people were in their homes feeling the warmth of a fire that the girl currently craved.

The girl choose to walk towards the dark alley hoping that she will find some sort of shelter. After a short while, she stopped walking. In front of her was an abandoned store, its windows full of crack and its paint almost fading. The girl looked through the window and saw that there was nobody inside. She went to the door, hoping that it will be unlocked and when she turned the knob, she felt delighted for the door opened.

Inside, the abandoned store was surronded by many shelves and some of them contained different kinds of toys. There were cars, dolls, robots and stuff toys but none of them held her interest. She wandered around the toy shop and she was suprised when she saw a wooden table. It wasn't the table that suprised her, it was the thing that was on it.

The girl walked closer to the table and stared at the bowl of soup. She sniffed it and it smelled divine. So she sat down on one of the wooden chairs and grabbed the procelain bowl. It was still quite hot which made the girl wonder about where it came from but her thoughts were quickly replaced by her hunger.

She placed the bowl to her cracked lips, for there was no spoon in sight, and tasted the soup. It was the most delicious soup she had ever tasted! While she was eating the soup, something caught her eye. It was a puppet, and it was placed in front of her. When she was done eating she quickly got hold of the puppet.

The puppet looked amazing because it still looked brand new. The girl spent many hours playing with it for it also made her forget about the coldness she was feeling. The puppet suddenly moved on its own and it signaled that the girl should close her eyes. The girl obeyed, for it was the first time that she had ever seen a puppet move on its own.

Then suddenly she felt something pierce her chest.

The air was chilly for the snow had finally fallen and at the end of a dark alley was an abandoned toy shop. In the toy shop was a wooden table and if one will look closer he will see two puppets.

Two puppets that looked brand new.