Quick Reads

Eternally Estranged {Short Story}

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The nights were especially challenging for the young well-established detective, Sophia Garcia as she walked down the blinding white corridors of the morgue. Her tutored sleep schedules were getting worse as she tried to escape the haunting image of a particularly lonely bridge, where she would wake up in a sweat gasping for breath before she can conjure up the vision of the black waters underneath. The strapping brown eyed Caribbean often self-diagnosed these dreams through a Freudian understanding of her longing for her father who left his homely wife and daughter at an age most preferential.

Growing up with an exceptional IQ was easy when it came to her academic performances, but her unapproachable acid wit and disinterest in social activities made her thoroughly lack the love known from friends. The 5'6 hazel-eyed beauty often found herself as an outsider in the inner circle of the world. Most of her days were spent in domestic crime scenes, and linking theories and proof together to find the rightful criminal deserving of those handcuffs. Sometimes among futile chatter she liked to think people as floating in a sea of same thoughts, desires and dreams acting on an impulse directed by ambition and love, an instinct duly derived from her profession.

On days of crimson sunsets, Sophia saw the sky as a clear blueness extending up to its branches in the clouds. Her mother, Anne had lived a life of solitude for many years now, only finding the company of her wrinkles featured with a sense of loss and bubbling sadness. Walking along the Nebraskain pineland alleys Sophie remarked, 'I love coming home during my off-days.'

Anne replied, 'I can never survive the concrete mazes of New York. If you hadn't been blindly dating your work I would be sure to convince you to stay here.'

Seeing her speak this only out of love and concern, Sophia realized that her mother had never been the same after her husband left her with a young child to take care of. Sophia often tried to conjure up her childhood only to find it disappeared among the new memories of growing up.

The pleasant April nights were a perfect escape for rummy and warm coffees by the porch swing. Finding solace in this slower life was a much needed distraction for Sophia where the high-paced life of New York and its ceaseless crimes made her work tirelessly.

Searching for cards in her Mom's parlor, her accidental touch on the inner cabinet of the vanity table revealed a hidden space which burst open failing to conceal - a tethered down gold locket with the picture of a Camellia flower sewed in its oval open shape and a letter, enveloped in scarlet paper and a broken seal. Perplexed, she noticed that on the back of the locket there was an inscription, 'To our beloved, Camellia.' Sophia couldn't think of any friend or relatives who had shared the same initials. As confusing all of this was, she thought that maybe the letter could give her some answers. Opening the flap of the envelope, the letter read as follows,

'My Anne,

As I write this letter shivering to find warmth on this cold tar, I want to make sure that you know the truth behind the night of May 22nd Year 07 before I breathe my last. Camille was our first child. She was a blessing given to us by God and I swore to love and protect her for as long as I lived. But this happiness was despised by the child we took in on that dark night on the bridge of the flower arboretum. As soon as Camille was born, Sophia would try to take everything that we gave to our daughter. I was angry, angry to raise a child that would leave nothing to our own blood.

On May 19th Year 07 while I was working at the newspaper print company, I saw a flyer torn down in between with a photo of the same infant we picked up on the bridge. Seeing this as a perfect opportunity to get rid of her I contacted the number given on the flyer. If only I knew how grave my mistake would be.