Eleanor Clementine

• Maria Georgakopoulou, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2018

Miss Eleanor Clementine. A woman that liked her tea plain, simple and strong. No sugar or honey but just a little bit of milk to balance it out. On most days she preferred an English breakfast tea to calm the nervous tremors that made her bones crackle and her body shake, more evidently these last couple of days.

Whilst she sipped on her tea, an abandoned chrysanthemum stood alone in a dusty glass vase that had been its home for years now. The flower was withered and carried no hope, just like her life. Whenever a mockingbird came to her window seal and sung its melody of joy and innocence, she would reply in a monotonous way,
“Shoo”.

Her life was once a sunny valley of colourful flowers and chirping birds. But life doesn’t always take us where we want to go. Her turbulent past made her age significantly. Each wrinkle was placed purposefully onto her washed out, dry skin that hung over her tired but still vibrant blue eyes. Each wrinkle revealing a story just like in a game of Cluedo. Each clue, magnificently unlocking the mysteries of her past.

Her house had withstood the strong, ruthless winds but now was crippled, standing alone amidst tall, charcoal trees, of which only the silhouette could be identified. This neighborhood was once alive but now hidden underneath the souls of the forgotten. She herself had been forgotten. But the deep blue of Eleanor’s eyes had seen a lot of the unfairness, evil and injustice in the world, and even though no-one will ever discover her true story, she is sure to always remain a figure of uniqueness in this society.