The Sun Chasers

• Rosie Doyle, Grade 7, Mackellar Girls Campus
• Short Story
• 2014

2nd in the 'The Text Generation 2014' competition

How long has it been?
How much can I stand not seeing you?
I feel so hollow without you here.
I trudged along the flooded pathway, hands buried deep in my pockets.
People shove through the crowds, a sea of umbrellas flowing down the street.
It’s been raining as long as I can remember. Dark clouds have always blocked out the sun.
People push through the crowds that rush down the pathways.
The dull colour of grey is everywhere: the sky, city and people.
The sun was once worshipped as a god. That god has now left us.
I feel someone brush my arm, and automatically look to my left, expecting her to be there beside me.
Another businessman walks by.
Why did you have to go? How much longer do I have until I see you?
The girl I loved so dearly left six months ago.
Chasing the delusional dream of seeing the sun once again.
Why did she join them? A group searching for the non-existent.
Tears run down my face, but it is just the rain.
I feel a terrible emptiness since she left.
I hate how feelings destroy me. I miss you.
I look up at the sky, rain falling heavily on the city streets.
I turn a corner and briskly walk down the empty street.
The rain falls on the street and washes away the dirt. But the rain doesn’t wash my troubles away.
I rest against the wall and glance at the singular figure in the alleyway.
I brush my soaked hair out of my face.
I sometimes think I see her. But it’s just a shadow of my memory.
I look across the street to see a figure dressed in a white hooded cloak.
A cloak embossed with a picture of the sun.
I promised myself that I would find her one day. That day is yet to come.
The figure takes off her hood, blond hair cascading down her shoulders.
Her gaze meets mine, one blue eye, one green.
This time it is not a shadow of my memory. This is her, the day has come.
“Is it really you?’’ I ask. She nods, and gracefully walks towards me.
“The Sun Chasers do exist” She says. “You always said that they were a myth, and I told you that I would prove you wrong.”
I have so many questions to ask. Is it my fault that you left?
“Can you stay?” I ask. She shakes her head.
“We are so close. I cannot abandon them now” She replies.
Birds fly freely without a care, despite the storms and rain.
Unfortunately, the people are not the same.
“Can I join you then?” I ask. She pulls up the hood of her cloak.
“If you want to join us, then find us” She says, before disappearing down the street.
It may not be soon.
But I have made a promise to you.
I will love you forever, and I will see you again.