Title: The Prayer
Rating: G
Genre: Introspective
Word Count: 154
The night air was cold, just as it had been on that night long ago, when he was just a boy. He remembered well how it had stung his face as he ran. The winds had howled, natural and cursed harmonizing.
Silently he sat, mentally counting off the years on the beads of his rosary. So many years ago. His own childhood screams still seemed to ring in his ears. The first calling desperately for a dead man's answer. Later, for mercy. The pain. He would never forget the pain. It had been as though he was being ripped apart from the inside out. A humorless smile lifted the corners of his weary mouth. Wasn't that exactly what had happened?
Finished with his counting, he looked up. The sun had just begun its ascent, pink and yellow fingers reaching up into the blue-black above. Another year had come and gone. He prayed for more.