Struggles Of The Orphaned Homeless

• Lauren Ashley, Grade 9, Rowville Secondary College
• Short Story
• 2016

Excellence Award in the 'Top Secret 2016' competition

Hidden amongst dark growing shadows lies a small insignificant and worthless, little fourteen year old girl. Like thin glass that worthless and insignificant life has finally begun to crack, her soul divided into fragments of shattered memories now gone.
Time passes and the shadows begin to gradually move away unintentionally uninterested. Through their movements, her struggle to feel the incandescent warmth of the sun, her star, decreases. Yet for another day, her special star greets her with the love she doubts she deserves but desperately longs to have once again. A love stolen by death; now her only family, the sun gaily smiles upon her with assurance that her life will improve, that when time is ready she'll have something more to live for.
She trusts in her stars warmth, in hope she languidly manages to pull her head off the near-glacial concrete. Slowly she turns her petty little head as her curious eyes and mind absorb all the mysterious and unknown sights within her vision. Heavily she inhales, waits, then consequently exhales. With every breath, her nose attempts finding a scent better than the piles of pollution stretching out towards the receding horizon.
Time continues to pass as the young, insignificant feeling girl yearns for the slightest taste of aliment. Her dirt covered hands tiresomely dig through her worn plastic bag containing her collected scraps of admired possessions. "Ah huh!" she cheers as she reveals the newly found murky looking slice of bread. Subsequently, she wipes away the excess off her food and takes a bite; taking one single slow bite at a time knowing that she might not be so lucky again in her following days.
Looking above she notices a glowing spectrum of glowing roseate colours and vibrant hues of orange, amber and scarlet. When looking up high, ongoing thoughts of wonder and admiration come to her mind: she is optimistic yet doubts she'll be able to stay another season. The sun fades away along with the horizon of rubbish gradually.
Yawning in exhaustion, she shivers from the icy winds that brush against her emaciated body covered in goose bumps on that winter evening. She realises that tonight will be colder and harder than previous days, but nevertheless she tries to stay warm enough.
After one last look above, she peacefully lays her head down back onto the concrete one last time.
"Goodnight, goodbye," she whispers.