She

• Aurinia Emseis, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2022

She was like a dream, a strange dance. Moving gracefully through the crowds of people, none noticing her despite how she effortlessly swayed past them. She danced through the world of hollow faces and broken spirits in the same way a single beam of light breaks through a dark room, antithetically. Still, no one saw her, no one dared to take even a single glance as they felt her warm presence flow past them. She was an ethereal song calling in the distance for deaf ears to hear. She was right there, in the world between everything and nothing. So close yet still so far out of reach. She was a crystal clear fog that no one had the eyes to see through. So she remained in the in-between, dancing past the sorrowful, so close to bringing them light. But such a light can only be seen by those with open eyes and none like that remain in a world of perpetual slumber.

He was tired. His feet dragged as he walked. He wanted to lay down and sleep. His life felt like an empty void. No warmth. No purpose. Just mindless living. Yet he trudged on. He was headed back to his home for a night like every other. His mind was lost in a cloud of nothing. His head was throbbing in pain. He was alone.
It was then that he felt something. A slight brush of warmth on his shoulder; a lingering feeling of comfort. It was something he’d never felt before, but somehow he had always longed for. His stopped. His mind cleared. His head turned.
What he saw was a glimpse of heaven.
He saw her…