"Hope is a waking dream." -Aristotle
Dear Diary,
My choice has been made: bell. The beautiful, rusty bell that sits on the front counter in the store. The bell that made me emerge from the back room to encounter a beautiful man. The bell that saved me from doing something I would've never lived to regret. For as long as I can remember, my mind has been plagued by dark thoughts. An ever-prominent fog that clouded any and all good. But his bright, white smile cut through the darkness and filled my mind with light. His startling, green eyes filled my stomach with butterflies. His tall, muscled figure brought a rosy color to my cheeks. And unlike any other customer, he saw me. He didn't look at me, he looked through me. He saw my soul. And I could see the pity in his eyes at what he saw. A broken girl. That's why he smiled at me. That's why he gave me a tip. That's why he is the first customer to ever say, "Have a great day, Twila." That's why he came into the store everyday for 2 weeks after he first rang that bell. He is why I put away the knife. He is why I truly smiled for the first time in a long time. He is hope. Hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel. That's why today I mustered up the courage to ask him his name. Elijah Graham. Simple yet complex. Poised yet casual. Normal yet extraordinary. He made me feel happy. A feeling that has grown to be foreign to me. Now I wonder if I will ever know him well enough to let down my wall and share this happiness with him one day.
Until next time,
Twila Jones
YOU ARE READING
Diary of the Lost Twila Jones
Short StoryTwila Jones comes from a dark, difficult past. She manages to escape it, but it comes back to haunt her at night. Until one day she meets a beautiful stranger, Elijah Graham, who comes to her shop in Grand Lake, Colorado. Sparks fly and the nightma...
