Unconditional Love

• Chloe Paleologos, Grade 4, Woollahra Public School
• Short Story
• 2018

Finalist in the 'Time To Write 2018/2019' competition

Brooding black is the night. Like a grey-hooded ghost, the mist sweeps across the melancholy playground. A solitary raven pecks at helpless scraps of tarnished and tattered food, its beak cutting through them like a knife. Night imprisons his shivering body with her skeletal fingers. Like a deer in headlights, Jack is weak and vulnerable. The moon reflects the sorrow in his eyes. The decaying swing creaks under his slumped frame. Pain is etched in his features. Spiky needles of repentance penetrate his being. Will he be able to withstand this torture?
Under the layers of agony, he is nostalgic. Nostalgic of the nights they shared together. Nostalgic of her heart-warming voice. Nostalgic of her welcoming smile. Silently, a tormented tear meanders down the side of his face, to come to rest at the corner of his mouth. He catches it with his tongue, it tastes bitter – like his new life. He thinks back to when it all began:
A groan erupts from the confined room. Where is she? Jack traces the myriad of possible paths across continents, capitals and countries. Like veins, purple lines snake through the map. Why did Chloe run away? Fear grips him in its lethal claws.
“Give up now!” it sneers from gritted teeth.
Worry haunts his mind. Has she run away because of me? Is she kidnapped? Is she safe? Jack runs a hand through his thinning hair.
“Without Chloe, life is not worth living!” he screeches inwardly.
Dainty footsteps shatter the painful silence of the playground and hurdle him back to reality. A swirl of brown hair flutters delicately in the faint breeze. Like a ballerina, she moves gracefully towards him. Silently, she takes his hand. It is warm – like the look in her eyes.
“Chloe? Is that you?”
Chloe’s frail body trembles as she gathers enough courage to respond.
“I’ve been unwell and am suffering from an incurable disease,” she confesses.
“Will you still love me forever?” she whispers in a timid voice.
That single question lights a candle of love. That single question makes him pull her closer. Their foreheads touch. Slowly, he lowers his lips to hers. Like two pieces in a puzzle, they fit perfectly into each other. At first, he is hesitant. His lips explore his new territory. But then, he gives up trying to be gentle. He presses harder, smiling as Chloe gasps in delight. A pure white dove peers at them with its calm, brown eyes, before flying off into the halo of light.
“I will love you more strongly than ever before, beyond the swaying swings, beyond the playgrounds’ tallest trees, beyond the clouds above and forever until eternity.”
Hands clasped, they watch the warm and welcoming embers from the sunrise as it engulfs them in its benevolent blanket of warmth.