Familiar Glow

by Sylvia Ewart

She felt the cold of the winter breeze draw around her in an icy gust, and she hugged her jacket closer to her body, shivering. The moon rose above the city; a subtle, familiar glow. She let out another sad sigh in an attempt to release the less than ideal events of the day into the frigid night air. Unsuccessful, she allowed her tired head to fall into her clasped hands. The dampness of the snow-soaked bench had begun to seep into her corduroys, but she didn’t adjust her position. The girl breathed in deeply as she stared at the snowy sidewalk below her. She had come home from a friend’s house that night only to hear from her teary dad that her grandfather, his father, had died in the hospital. The pain had yet to set in. All she felt was a dull emptiness deep within her chest, and a lack of purpose. She stared up again at the moon, letting its beautiful glow wash over her tired body in a mildly comforting embrace. The stars were gone, however, washed out by the city’s light pollution. The comfort of nature seems to be the most evasive in times of dire need, thought the girl hopelessly as she shut her eyes and tilted back against the cold, wet wood.