Waiting for Daddy

Prompt: A young boy lies in bed watching water slowly drip from the ceiling and cockroaches scurry across the threadbare apartment.

Winning Entry 04/05/06

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         He lies in bed, watching water slowly drip from the ceiling, counting each fat drop within his mind – his young, weary and troubled mind.

         One…two…three.

         An extremely large drop plunks into the rusty bucket below as cockroaches scurry across the threadbare apartment. He’s dressed in only a tee-shirt and his underwear, pale skinny legs red and swollen from the incessant itch that never seems to stop.

         He begins to cough again - a dry rasping sound that burns his lungs and makes his eyes water. His nose runs and he wipes it against the sleeve of his shirt, praying for the terrible, oh-so-awful pain to stop. When he can finally breathe again, he crawls to the dingy window, peering through the thick layer of grime for any sign of Daddy.

         For you see, Daddy has promised to find some medicine for them. But unbeknownst to him, that was almost three days ago. In this room, time has lost all meaning.

         “You stay here and take care of Mommy, okay?” Daddy had said, with a small smile on his thin face. “Daddy will come back with something to make the bad thing go away. Be brave now, Adrian.”

         He’s trying to be brave. Even though the neighbors have long left the cursed building. He’s brave even though Mommy hasn’t moved for a long time now and is beginning to smell a bit funny. He is brave because Daddy told him to and he can’t let Daddy down.

         He crawls back to his mother and lies quietly beside her. She feels cold but he knows he will keep her warm tonight with his dreams of green fields and pretty flowers. Together, they’ll wait for Daddy to come home and she will smile again.

         When Daddy finally makes the bad things go away.




Word Count: 300