A Colorful Life

     

A COLORFUL LIFE

     

      She was still young for her age, but she knew her time here was short. She had already watched fifteen others die in this Godforsaken heat, their ear-piecing screams still echoing in her head as the sun slowly cooked the life out of their little bodies. And unless some miracle happened in the next minute or so, she’d be suffering the same fate when that merciless sun stripped her of what little shade she had left.          

      She thought about what she’d done with her life, if she’d really accomplished anything in her short time on this earth to leave a lasting impression. Ironically, she thought of a picture she’d made when she was very young. The picture showed a little girl in a pink dress, laying in the shadow of an old oak tree in somebody’s back yard, happily scribbling away in her coloring book. And up in the corner of the picture was a big yellow sun with a smiley face on it. But the more she thought about it, the more that smile didn’t look like a smile. It looked more like a grin.

      A hateful, evil grin.

      Even more disturbing was the fact that that picture was now taped to a refrigerator, the same refrigerator where that same little girl had gone to get a drink two hours ago.

      She looked over at those who had gone before her, their lifeless bodies hardly recognizable now after what that terrible sun had done to them.

      Please come back, little girl, she prayed.

      She could feel the temperature rise as the sunlight grew closer…

      And the oak tree’s shade became smaller…

      And closer…

      And smaller…

      And closer…

      But in the end, nobody, not even that forgetful little girl, heard the final, agonizing screams of that poor little violet crayon.

(300 Words)