A Daughter's Hope

• Sharon Lai, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2015

A mother’s love is pure. It is for this love that sends a dove flying through a dense, unventured spruce forest that is hidden with darkness and secluson, which is followed by unforeseeable predicaments that are rendered by the unfailing question of life. She braves the biting cold that tears through her skin. Unconditionally she forces her way through unforgiving branches that refuse to give way. The light that filters trough the treetop fades. Relentlessly she swoops deeper into darkness. Darkness that forbids purity. Darkness that shades goodness. Darkness that sends minds to twirl in a delirium where they are left denying reality altogether. But with each disappearing glint go hope, light manages to vicariously shine through. As her weakened wings take her further, she senses the impeding dangers that lie ahead of her. She knows well. She knows just as well. It digs into her mind into her soul. The seed sown in her mind, sprouting from the ruthless soil that clouds the truth. Tears pricking into eyes, blurring her vision. A vision that soon dims from hope. But the recollection of the faint cry of her daughter, brings her to her senses, to her predicament. But one can only take so much. The bricks tumble down and the moments of hope are wisped away before the they are grasped with reassurance. As sanity reaches her she is compelled to muster all she has with her. Her love was unwavering- at least it had to be.

Bathed in a stream of light, the other part of her lies vulnerable, weak- her daughter. It calls to her from the mossy floors of the forest. But before she could call in response, a pair of piercing, amber eyes peers from the unheard darkness just as she had known. But this time she was not going to fight, against what was right and wrong, what was meant to be. She knew far too well, everything was lost within her. Her emotions swept aside. Glances were exchanged for the last time- mother and daughter. She stared on, calm and collected, while her child’s futile struggles were gone unseen. Her daughter in the mouth of a jackal, disappearing far beyond into the darkness. It was a fleeting glance, a despairing look and gone. It was within the moment of time, she refused to let it get to her. She flew on, in need to escape, escape from the injustice done by herself. The forest engulfs her. The night closes in on her, with the trees bowing low. Trapped, trapped in the darkness of her soul- a mother’s love. A love that was pure, unshaded from troubling asperities, but the force of evil swamped her heart, divulging her fear of death. The faint line drawn between love and life was blurred. It was her love that betrayed the depth of her soul. A mother’s love that was expected. But a mother’s love is only a daughter’s hope- pure and genuine.