Short Stories

15. Hope

She came and sat down next to me. We were both sitting on the swings in the garden. Two pretty little girls, swinging in the cool evening breeze.

We were just the same. There was no difference between us. Except one. Only one.

She looked at me and said, "I'm in pain."
"So am I." I whispered back.

See, we both were the same.

She said, " I told mommy that it hurts."
"So did I." I replied.

Still the same.

She looked stopped swinging and said, " Mommy asked me where it hurts."
"She asked me too." I whispered again.

But this was the last of our similarities.

She looked at me in the eye and said, " Mommy gave me a medicine for my pain."
I stared back at her and said softly, "Mommy told me to get over it. It's all in my head."

Tears came out of her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. I wiped them off her face and said, "Hey, just because I'm sad doesn't mean that you have to be too."

She looked back at me firmly and said, " I don't care what mommy says. I'll take your pain away. It's not in your head. I'm there for you."

I clasped her hands in mine and we started swinging again. Two little girls. Just the same. Except for one tiny difference. One had a physical pain. And the other, an emotional one. Both were just as serious as the other. But only a few people understand that.

One tiny word with not a so tiny emotion - depression.