A Boy

• Leyla Richards, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2017

This story is about a boy who felt heartbreak and pain. He felt more pain than what most grown men would feel in their entire lives. He was strong and refused to stop believing in all that he loved when it seemed as if he had lost everything. He found out that the hardest thing in life is letting go of those who love us. The most amazing thing about this boy is that he was only three when the terrible accident happened.
It was a lovely sunny day, when everything seemed perfect. But looks can be deceiving. A young toddler wobbled around the front garden of a house, a puppy following, nudging him when he stumbled. The boy’s father watched from the front porch smiling as he saw his son. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out still smiling at the child. “Hello?” he answered and paused to listen. The look of happiness on his face disappeared as a tear rolled down his cheek. He pocketed the phone before he sank to the floor and started to sob. The child, who had stopped toddling around the garden, paused and waddled over to his father, sensing something was wrong. “When is Mummy coming home?” he asked, sure that his mother would be able to make the problem better. His father picked the child up and held him tight to his chest, tears streaming down his face. He hugged him for so long that the child started to squirm in his arms, impatient to get free and see his mother. “When is she coming home?” he asked, his eyes wide and innocent. “There’s been an accident. She’s not coming home right now.” His father replied, his voice full of sorrow. “Then I’ll wait for her.” The toddler promptly sat down on the front porch, staring out past the front gate. “We need to go inside, it’s nearly bedtime.” But the child looked up at his father, imploringly and the man just sighed, a sigh full of anguish and walked inside.
The boy sat there for hours watching the gate, sure that his mother would return. The puppy padded up and licked the tiny child’s face before sitting down beside him. When the father walked back out to the doorway he saw something that made the tears start to trickle down his face again. The boy sat with his head leaning against the puppy’s, waiting for someone who would never return. The boy’s father crept out and picked the boy up. This time he didn’t protest. He looked up at his father, his eyes full of sadness and understanding. His father carried him all the way into his bed. The puppy bounded up on to the bed and snuggled down. As the boy’s father closed the bedroom door, tears started to trickle down the child’s face.