I Need to Know – April 2022 Short Story Picture Prompt Contest

I Need To Know 

by Unsung

It had been a hard day. Too hard, in fact. The kids at school had been too loud, too judgemental, too quick to hurl insults on each other and especially on me. My co-workers had been too impatient, the customers too accusing. Now I was trudging home, my backpack weighing down like someone had ripped all the heaviness out of the day and forced it into the mostly-empty space there. It wanted to drag me down like a hideous beast gripping my shoulders. 

     All the insults and knocks at school, all the shouts and raised voices at work, all the mutterings of customers —they were all there, packed up into the black bag that clung to me. It was dark, save for the occasional light that filtered through and around curtains and blinds on my junk-yard alley. The frigid breath that brushed against my cheeks made me shiver in my worn-out jacket. I could hear a single bird singing far off in the distance, but it was a sad, sorrowful song. It was as if that bird was lost in a howling, bigger-than-life world, in the dark, alone and frightened. 

     That’s me, I thought. I’m all alone and scared. 

     But then my heart dropped, and my feet suddenly grew roots and tied me down to the spot. I dropped my gaze as I hung my head. 

     No. No, I was not like that little bird. That bird had enough courage to call out for someone —anyone. That bird was crying, searching for someone who would have enough compassion to aid him. 

     I was not that brave. I simply trudged alone here, silent. 

     There was a sudden drop of rain. But what a funny place to land, I thought defiantly, wiping it off my cheek with the back of my wrist. Then another drop came, only on my other cheek, and I wiped it away too. It liked to rain on my cheeks on days like this. 

     Finally, after I had viciously wiped all the salty water away, and after I drew a deep breath, I started onward again, one foot before the other. My backpack was still just as heavy, the darkness still as suffocating, the memories still as deafening. 

     Something cut through the air above my head, completely silent except for the sound of wings cutting through air. 

     Startling with fright, I leaped aside and heard a horrid shriek, which definitely did not come from my mouth. Me? Afraid of an owl? No. 

     I laughed out loud at myself. “No need to scream and wake the neighborhood,” I scolded, but my smile was already gone. 

     I truly was all alone and afraid. Terrified, truth be told, even of a harmless, nocturnal raptor. Again, my feet stopped, and I stood there, motionless, speechless. 

     And then… I looked up. 

     Ah, there was light besides that of the stingy blinds and drapes, I just hadn’t been looking far enough beyond myself to see them. 

     There were the stars. They seemed to be shining with all their might. How little light a single star gives, I thought, but how great a brilliance they all give together.

     I started forward once more, eyes fixed on the sky. Yes, that was it. There was light in this world. I just needed to look for it. 

     But where? 

     A vague memory came back to me of the day my big brother had left for the military. “Hey lil’ Sis. It’s time for me to go.” 

     “I know.” 

     He had wiped the rain from my face as he crouched down and came eye-to-eye with me. “Just remember there is always light, no matter how dark the darkness. And in the darkness, the better we can see it.” 

     “What light is the greatest?” I had asked. “Which one should I follow?” 

     He had smiled. “He is a very great man named Jesus,” he had said. “That’s the one you need to follow.” 

     That was all. I had been going to ask him more, but little siblings crowded him, and I was too scared to do it. 

     Who was this man? I wondered as I turned the final corner. I hadn’t far to go now. I was startled by a soft woof to my left and came to a dead stop. 

     “Pulso!” I exclaimed as the big white dog wagged his tail. I rushed over to him and threw my arms around my neck. 

     The dog was so happy to see me, but it was only a few seconds before I stood up and began to run. Pulso always, always waited for me at night —when he was here. But he wasn’t my dog. He was my big brother’s dog, and went with him wherever the military chose. My brother was home. 

     He was finally home! 

     I bolted forward as swiftly as I possibly could, Pulso at my side. 

     I could ask him now. I would ask my brother who this Jesus was. I would be brave this time. I needed to know. 

     As I burst through the door, the backpack slipped, unheeded, to the floor. Fifteen though I was, my big brother lifted me up off the floor into his arms when I collided into him. And suddenly it was raining again, only this time it was positively pouring, and all over my brother’s shirt! 

     He set me on my feet again and beamed. 

     “I need to know!” I exclaimed. 

     “Know what?” he laughed. 

     “The Light,” I said. “You said something about a light three years ago, just before you left. I need to know, ‘cause it’s very dark out.” 

     “Ah, that One. Yes, it is very dark out, isn’t it?” He smiled. “Come. There’s a lot to tell you.” 

     In the blackness, a single sparrow flitted past a warmly-lit window, beyond which a brother and sister sat at a table over an open book. The bird was chirping with joy as he flitted toward his partner, after all this time he had been lost in the woods.

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