Shadows

• Qq Wang, Grade 10, Sydney Girls High School
• Short Story
• 2011

Excellence Award in the 'Step Write Up 2011' competition

The sound of raindrops hitting the roof of the bus stop shelter created a steady rhythm to accompany an otherwise silent night. Headlights appear but abruptly vanish again as they whiz past the isolated stand, carelessly speeding and splashing dirty water onto anyone inside. It was very dark. The night is only illuminated by a lamplight a meter away that flickered every once in a while, always having trouble filtering through the heavily smudged glass and making it difficult to glimpse the girl who was sitting inside.
She didn’t move, not one bit. Only when her bus arrived did she gingerly get up. The brightness inside the bus even with its dimmed lights dazzled her as she shakily made her way towards the back, settling in a window seat just before the bus made a tight turn. She was the fourth passenger.
Now you could see her brown hair, splayed out over her tan-coloured jacket, clumped at places where it was still wet. Thick bangs joined with long lashes, and below them her eyes looked bright and red, staring unblinkingly into some distance ahead of her. The shadows under her eyes gave her a tired look, aging her smooth complexion by a few years.
“All passengers off please! Oi, you have to get off now.” A quick shiver stirred the girl out of her reverie. She hurriedly looked up in see the blood-shot eye of the bus driver, glaring at her from under thick angular brows. The girl stepped out into cold misty air, stretching from the long ride into the light blue-grey sky. She glanced up and down the road, searching for any possible shop open on an early Sunday morning, with hot food to fill her growling stomach. One hand reached deep into her jeans pocket, feeling for the change that she remembered she had left. As she withdrew her hand clasping a few coins, a slip of wrinkled paper drifted lazily onto the damp cement:
Cecelia,
Could you meet me outside the library today at 7pm? I’ve got to tell you something about that party we went to 2 months ago. You know? Janice’s 18th.
Derek x
Derek always signed off with ‘Lovin’ you’.
The girl crossed the road at a slow pace, hardly caring as a car drove by so fast right in front of her, whipping her hair to one side of her face. She walked on.