Lydia
The fiery orange dusk sky illuminated over the city signaling for adult and child to head home for the night. A man in his late thirties walked lonely across the dried autumn leaves blowing across the chalky sidewalk. Every click of his boot walking the same path every second of every day from home to work to home again. His mind absent but his body following the steps like a replaying record. He stopped in front of a blue door to the same old, white house. Like always he reached for the doorknob, his house always being unlocked. The cold painful air whipped from his home, the same air that his beloved had once breathed, where his children had played, before that tragic day. He took a few moments and closed the door once again trying to get the past from his mind, to get the courage to walk into his home. 'A nice day for a walk, to clear my mind' he had thought to himself even if it was only for a few seconds. He had walked to his favorite bakery to pick up something sweet to indulge himself in. Once again, walking the same old path back to his home until standing dead in his tracks, his heart had almost dropped from hearing a squealing sob. He walked towards the park where he heard the sobbing and saw a little girl in the sandbox, in a torn, bright blue dress holding an old, dirty bunny that looked like it was once white. He hesitated to approach her, but gathered up the courage, walked over and knelt down. Even feeling his presence she did not look up at him.