Heart Of Hope

• Alyssa Diment, Grade 7, Asquith Girls High School
• Short Story
• 2017

2nd in the 'Write Here Write Now 2017' competition

Crimson specks rose steadily from the path in the wake of hurrying footprints. The little demon inside his stomach raged against its lonely state, beating in time to his fading heartbeat. His legs ached, barely supporting his weak body. The road stretched on, shadows dancing in the haze.
Figures emerged from the dust, sitting beside tables. Village people, working to support themselves, working to survive. Although their life was pitiful too, in his eyes they were rich, in love, in possessions, in happiness, in health. He had nothing but the clothes on his thin frame. Envy twisted through agony. The street food, though meagre and forlorn, looked a feast to the hungry eyes that beheld them.
The stall-holders' shadowy appearances shifted, replaced by graceful women, clad in starched white, their ivory skin glowing in the colourful surroundings. Though intruders into his normal world, the women looked stable and maternal as they watched him with kindly expressions. Words formed on lips but only a vague murmur met his ear. As they came, they went, their phantom appearances becoming a memory.
He kept walking, trying to keep his head from sinking below waves of pain. The road wound past buildings and people, a snake slithering through a collapsing village. The mob of locals thinned until only few crossed paths with the fragile child, continuing on his blistered feet to an unknown destination. An old woman stood by the side of the path, steadily facing the earth. She lifted her gaze as he walked towards her, eyes glancing out of a heavily creased face. Her dark skin lightened, softening like silk, ragged clothes flowing into a bright dress, matted hair now apricot waves. She stretched out her plump hand and clasped the boy's thin one, twigs on a pile of feathers.
"Be brave... remember what I taught you." A faint voice caught on a drifting breeze. She released his hand and crumbled into the aged woman, staring steadily at her feet.
The child continued on his way, leading himself to a rise in the landscape. He stopped and glanced back. For a split second the world before him faded, replaced by a chalk coloured room, bustling and aglow. Three ladies stood before him, more realistic than ever before, each wearing a loving gaze. Their voices crept through a barrier into his mind, clear and precise. "Good luck!" A lady in white called.
"Have faith!" The brightly dressed one said, clutching at a little blue book. The third smiled, tears in her kind eyes.
He turned and walked up the hill. At the top he saw a void, never-ending and foreboding. But on high, clouds gathered, shining with celestial light. The weight that had been holding him down his whole life, the weight he never realised existed, slipped off his shoulders. Fearless, he stepped off the edge. On the solid ground he left pain, hunger, solitude and sadness. Face radiant, he began to climb skyward, heart filled with hope.