Date Posted:Wednesday, October 19, 11:07:44am Author: KT Subject: Friday Challenge: October 14, 2005 In reply to:
JayBee and Nell
's message, "Friday Challenge: October 14, 2005" on Friday, October 14, 09:41:47am
Graveyard by KT
***
Roberta paid the taxi driver, then stood in the cool sunlight as he drove away. She pulled a piece of paper from her handbag and unfolded it, consulting the map's directions. A large iron gate stood before her, it's wrought designs mutely elegant, guarding those who dwelled within its boundaries. She slowly passed beneath it, her pace deliberate.
The detective had been most caring, helping her through the post-mortem process. Her daughter's internal organs had been too damaged to donate. The hospital had recommended cremation, and she saw no reason to do otherwise.
She had been walking as she mulled over the events of the last twenty-four hours. After so many years of searching, to have found Nikita, only to lose her so quickly! Tears welled abundantly, falling unchecked. Pain had been the yardstick by which she had measured her life. But this...
The sadness in her heart was greater than she had ever dreamed it could be. Never to hear her daughter's voice again, never to see her laugh or cry, never to hold her close... truly, this was penance.
The grass was green underfoot, the sky blue above her. She stopped, folded the map, and put it back in her handbag. Kneeling, she placed a single rose against the anonymous headstone:
