'If only I had more time/I'd take you where you wanted to go'
Shannon Barry
Issue date: 9/14/06 Section: Opinion
She kicked up her feet and walked slowly across the park, looking down the entire time. She turned her head and began mouthing words, but turned back around, almost as if giving up and advanced towards the swing.
Maybe she had begun to understand him all to well.
"Don't you want to do something that you'll remember?" she screamed from across the yard. "Don't waste the time you have."
And here he thought it was his maturity, his honesty, that had drawn him to her.
He watched her swing higher, legs extended, back and forth, but her expressions remained lifeless.
Anger?
Frustration?
Boredom?
He hadn't seen her this unhappy in a long time.
***
"Fear instills a lot of emotion in me. Inspiration can springboard off the most basic of my primal instincts."
"Spiders? Sharks?"
"It goes deeper than that," she responded, gazing into his eyes.
He looked away, afraid of the compassion she was instilling in him.
"Every time I hear a tree branch creak, every time I see a parent sobbing, I can't think of anything else."
He rested his hand on her shoulder, running it slowly up and down her back.
"I never saw it coming."
Sean continued to look at her, eyes filled with compassion, but also more. For life could not just be whittled down to basics and simplicities.
He had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, but judging from her somber tones and constant glances downward, he knew it was best not to ask.
For the answer would come in time; they all did.
"My mom never could explain to me why she died so young."
She tried to continue talking, but stopped, choking down her tears.
"Her nickname was Smiley. She never asked any of us for help. She never even bothered. And now she's dead."
Death.
The finality of it all.
She notices Sean looking at her with warmth and sympathy and instantly begins laughing.
Maybe she had begun to understand him all to well.
"Don't you want to do something that you'll remember?" she screamed from across the yard. "Don't waste the time you have."
And here he thought it was his maturity, his honesty, that had drawn him to her.
He watched her swing higher, legs extended, back and forth, but her expressions remained lifeless.
Anger?
Frustration?
Boredom?
He hadn't seen her this unhappy in a long time.
***
"Fear instills a lot of emotion in me. Inspiration can springboard off the most basic of my primal instincts."
"Spiders? Sharks?"
"It goes deeper than that," she responded, gazing into his eyes.
He looked away, afraid of the compassion she was instilling in him.
"Every time I hear a tree branch creak, every time I see a parent sobbing, I can't think of anything else."
He rested his hand on her shoulder, running it slowly up and down her back.
"I never saw it coming."
Sean continued to look at her, eyes filled with compassion, but also more. For life could not just be whittled down to basics and simplicities.
He had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, but judging from her somber tones and constant glances downward, he knew it was best not to ask.
For the answer would come in time; they all did.
"My mom never could explain to me why she died so young."
She tried to continue talking, but stopped, choking down her tears.
"Her nickname was Smiley. She never asked any of us for help. She never even bothered. And now she's dead."
Death.
The finality of it all.
She notices Sean looking at her with warmth and sympathy and instantly begins laughing.
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