He Arrived

• David Nolte, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2016

The clouds covered the sun. I was lying in bed listening to the rain bucketing on our roof. It made me think long and hard about my father. The one question that came to mind was will he return? A tear drop ran down my face, I wiped it and kept listening to the soft sound of each drop of rain.
I was disturbed by my little sister Rosy yelling “lunch time!”
My Mother had made us a salad roll for lunch. When I bit into the roll my taste buds felt like fireworks. When lunch was over I took my notepad and pencil to my room. And I drew whatever came to mind. So I drew my Father. That was the only thing I could think about. Mum came in and said “watcha drawing?” “Oh just Dad” I said sobbing. “Still thinking about him huh?” “Yeah, do you think he will come back?” I asked looking out my small window making no eye contact. “You know he will” my Mother reassured me.

A week later we were disturbed during lunch by three loud knocks on the front door. Mum and I got up to answer it. We opened it. The door made a creek. We stood there with stunned look on our faces. There was a moment of silence, Mum and I was just glancing at the figure. It was my Father, he had returned. I had so many questions I had to ask. But before I could get a word out he said “I love you”