Human

Lost & Found

Lost

A young girl, bright round eyes last seen frolicking along a sidewalk.
Melted ice cream dripping from her fingers, which tightly gripped a waffle cone,
the border filled with pink and blue sprinkles

A giant smile lit up her face as she pointed towards a puppy twice her size prancing towards her.
After a quick pet, a lick hello and a hasty good-bye
the little girl continued to skip forward, her eyes flicking back and forth as she took in the colorful world around her.

Flowers proudly sprouted from a flowerbed along the wall of a small restaurant, greeting her with a sweet scent.
Their petals an array of colors that she had yet discovered the names of

Contagious laughter began to echo about the streets as she was caught by surprise when her father picked her up and littered her cheeks with endless kisses and nuzzles.

Feet now dangling from her father's shoulders,
her eyes catch a glimpse of her mother walking beside them.
A soft smile decorated her mother's lips as she gazed up at her husband and daughter before being engulfed once again into her husband's chest
as they walked side by side
arms comfortably wrapped around each other's waists.

The little girl found her eyes drifting up towards the blue sky overhead.
Watching the shape-shifting clouds pass by her,
her body secured in the tight embrace of her father's arms,
her head bouncing slightly up and down with every step as he conversed with her mother.

At the sound of a deep laugh emitting from her father's chest,
her eyes turned towards his and she found it difficult to pull away from the way they lit up a little brighter every time he gazed at her mother.

How his smile widened into one that even she couldn't deny warmed her heart.

She could tell how much he loved her and at the age of three, she found herself silently promising that she would find someone who looked at her and loved her the way her father loved her mother.

Found

Years later, the little girl, now a young woman, barely the age of 12, finds herself staring at her reflection
the familiar light that used to dance within her orbs has dissipated into a cloudy haze.
She stares at the black dress coating her skin.

The dark fabric feels suffocating,
tight.
It feels out of place within a young child's wardrobe.
In fact, it deserves no place in a life as young as hers.

Her fingers gently tug the corner of her lips upward,
her eyes slightly widen as she takes in the new face staring back at her in the mirror.
although it wasn't natural, she hasn't seen that smile since last winter,
the smile her father had always cherished
the one she once carelessly flaunted from the break of dawn to the time the sky was littered with stars.

Such an emotion,
such an expression of joy
it now felt foreign

it felt unfair.

Within the past two years, happiness had been painfully and slowly drained out of her
Just like how the disease lingering within her father's once strong body had drained the life out of him

Now he sits 6 feet under
And she can only reminisce of those lost better days.

Hello friends!

this idea of lost and found was heavily inspired from a poem I randomly found while roaming around a bookstore one afternoon but I added my own twist to it :)

Thank you for reading!! And a special thanks to my readers who still take the time to come back and read my sporadic updates. I appreciate you more than you know :)

sending lots of love and a hug!

Mari