Disclaimer: As usual, I own nothing. I am in no way related to Higher
Ground.
Author's Note: I guess I'm in a vignette mood. This is my second one in two days. Anyway, this one is about Scott. Please r&r!
Forever Came Too Soon
There had been a time when love could conquer all. No matter what the problem was or what had started it, love was there to save the day. If he had scraped his knee, he couldn't feel it. If he got in a fight with a friend, love would make it better. If the world were ending, he would not see the Earth crumbling or the stars falling. Love was always there to protect him.
He recalled a family vacation when he had been nine. They had gone to a sunny place, with a breathtaking beach of white sand and crystal blue water. He couldn't remember where it had been, because at the time it hadn't mattered. He had been happy, and that happiness clouded his memory, enabling him only to remember the good parts. He had watched his parents strolling along the beach, hand in hand, as the salty waves lapped at their feet. Later that night, as his mom tucked him into bed, he looked up at her with his bright blue eyes and asked a question he could never forget her answer to.
"Do you and daddy love each other?" The question was one of innocence, asked only because he knew the answer and found it a comfort in contrast to the dark that would come when the light was extinguished.
"Of course, honey." His mother smiled down at him.
"Forever?" He prompted.
"Forever." His mother replied, making brief eye contact with her husband who sat at the coffee table, reading the paper.
The boy, so innocent and clueless to the cold world around him, smiled broadly before snuggling down into the blankets. Soon, he was fast asleep, dreaming of love and happiness. The kind he thought his parents would share forever. Little did he know, forever would come to soon.
He didn't catch onto the hesitation in his mother's eyes until now, nine years later, as he replayed the conversation in his mind. She had glanced at her husband with a look of something other than love. What was it? Scott strained to look closer in his mind. Regret? Guilt? He couldn't quite put a finger on it. All he knew was that that vacation had marked the end of that love, and the beginning of a world of fighting and yelling. Those same arguments would be the ones that convinced his mother to pick her career over her family. Or, more precisely, art over love. But what was art without love?
Watching his parents at his graduation, Scott looked more closely at their smiling faces. They sat next to each other, putting on an act for him. An act that made the lie his mother had once told him hurt that much more. Watching them in cold silence, he couldn't help his mind from wandering back into those happy days once more.
Had the waves lapped up his parents' love and carried it out of reach, to be lost in the cold darkness of the raging sea?
He would never know, because forever had come to soon.
Author's Note: I guess I'm in a vignette mood. This is my second one in two days. Anyway, this one is about Scott. Please r&r!
Forever Came Too Soon
There had been a time when love could conquer all. No matter what the problem was or what had started it, love was there to save the day. If he had scraped his knee, he couldn't feel it. If he got in a fight with a friend, love would make it better. If the world were ending, he would not see the Earth crumbling or the stars falling. Love was always there to protect him.
He recalled a family vacation when he had been nine. They had gone to a sunny place, with a breathtaking beach of white sand and crystal blue water. He couldn't remember where it had been, because at the time it hadn't mattered. He had been happy, and that happiness clouded his memory, enabling him only to remember the good parts. He had watched his parents strolling along the beach, hand in hand, as the salty waves lapped at their feet. Later that night, as his mom tucked him into bed, he looked up at her with his bright blue eyes and asked a question he could never forget her answer to.
"Do you and daddy love each other?" The question was one of innocence, asked only because he knew the answer and found it a comfort in contrast to the dark that would come when the light was extinguished.
"Of course, honey." His mother smiled down at him.
"Forever?" He prompted.
"Forever." His mother replied, making brief eye contact with her husband who sat at the coffee table, reading the paper.
The boy, so innocent and clueless to the cold world around him, smiled broadly before snuggling down into the blankets. Soon, he was fast asleep, dreaming of love and happiness. The kind he thought his parents would share forever. Little did he know, forever would come to soon.
He didn't catch onto the hesitation in his mother's eyes until now, nine years later, as he replayed the conversation in his mind. She had glanced at her husband with a look of something other than love. What was it? Scott strained to look closer in his mind. Regret? Guilt? He couldn't quite put a finger on it. All he knew was that that vacation had marked the end of that love, and the beginning of a world of fighting and yelling. Those same arguments would be the ones that convinced his mother to pick her career over her family. Or, more precisely, art over love. But what was art without love?
Watching his parents at his graduation, Scott looked more closely at their smiling faces. They sat next to each other, putting on an act for him. An act that made the lie his mother had once told him hurt that much more. Watching them in cold silence, he couldn't help his mind from wandering back into those happy days once more.
Had the waves lapped up his parents' love and carried it out of reach, to be lost in the cold darkness of the raging sea?
He would never know, because forever had come to soon.