Short Story Collection

Mom? Dad?

"The autumn wind blew the black smoke through the sky. Daylight broke through the clouds of smoke and ash and fell on the flames. Sirens blared and a mother screamed for her daughter, though she was old, she fought hard. The mother clawed her way through the crowd and fell to her knees in front of the burning house. Children ran to the elderly lady and threw their arms around her. The roof collapsed with a wave of heat and ash. Fire fighters ran out and continued trying to put out the flames. More emergency people ran in and out of the house as it smoldered. A medical team rolled out a body, then another. The children turned their attention from the beloved elderly to the bodies being taken away. A young boy departed from the crowd and began to walk towards the house calling out softly at first, 'Mom? Dad?' The little boy began to run towards the house as people from the crowd wrapped their arms around him, trying to stop him. 'Mom! Dad!' The child shrieked as he clawed at their sympathetic embrace. Now free of their grasp, the little boy raced through the charred entryway. 'Mom? Dad?' He walked through the house, still hopeful. 'Mom? Dad? Where are you?' He checked the final room and walked out of the house. The crowd fell silent and watched in distant horror and sympathy. The little boy, still hopeful, called out one last time, 'Mom? Dad?'" The old man rocked back and forth in his squeaky chair with his hands neatly folded over his growing stomach. With an unending gaze out the window and a raspy breath in, and a steady cough into a kerchief, he continued, "Some say the little boy never completely recovered from that day, others say his hopeful cries still echo through the burned out house. 'Mom? Dad?' As for me, I know the little boy lived a good life. At least, that's how I remember it."