Sunnyvale H.S

12

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The hallway was empty apart from the pictures and certificates that lined the walls.  

Grace sat at the end of the hall, outside Harry's office. She had been fiddling with her phone, messing with the buttons and deleting photos to cure her boredom. 

It had only been about 5 minutes, yet Grace was the most impatient person. 

She flicked her mute button on and off repeatedly, sighing. The double set of doors at the end of the hall opened, yet Grace didn't look up to view who had walked in.  

A mug fell onto the floor beside Grace's foot. She looked down at it and bent over to hand it to whoever it belonged to.

Her eyes quickly scanned over the cup, a pained expression replacing her neutral one from moments ago.

The cup was yellow and black, pictures printed onto it. It read:

'Summer 09, Sunnyvale centre' 

"Thanks hun. I don't know what I would do without my lucky  cup ha." 

She looked up quickly to be met by a familiar face. 

His beard was scattered across his chin, the black hairs poking out. His skin was olive and tan, contrasting to her pale, white skin. Her eyes trailed to his, to be met by a pair of pink glasses.

"Gracey? Is that you baby?" He stood in front of her, a shocked look on his face. 

She was astounded, her mouth opened wide as she stared at the man in front of her. A sharp stab shot through her as she looked at him, memories of childhood holidays and birthday parties and school days came to mind. 

"Kelson?" 

He smiled extending his arms, his bag dropping to the floor. 

"I can't believe how grown up you are."

He took her into his arms and held her in a tight hug. She wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, and shut her eyes. For a terrible second she thought he might fade away, disappear from her arms if she didn't hug him tight enough. 

"I missed you so much Kelson."

He stroked her hair as she breathed heavily into his chest. She didn't want to let go of him, fearing he would disappear for good. 

"I missed you too Gracie. God I haven't seen you in so long." 

They pulled apart and she smiled weakly. She didn't feel like smiling at all. Her heart felt heavy, and she was the happiest she had been. This man raised her to be a strong woman. He changed her from the person she would have been if she was raised by her mother alone. 

"I can't believe you're here. I thought you left us long ago," He said as they separated. 

"I did. I came back and I was hoping you were here, but you were gone by the time I rejoined."

"Yeah. I've got a few problems to deal with. How is the new doctor? Is he nice?" 

Grace nodded, a small smirk appearing on her lips. This was probably the only 5 minutes since she had met him that she hadn't thought about him. 

"Yeah. He's lovely. I think we are really making progress." 

"I'm proud of you Grace."

"I just wish you could be here."

He pushed his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose.

"Me too doll. But I can't unfortunately. I have some adult problems to deal with."