Katherine Langford

The wind danced in her hair, whipping the small strands onto her rosy red cheeks. She snuggled in closer to her mother, the cold air bringing the family closer together. She smelt of lemon grass and sleep, in the best way possible, warm and inviting. The light blue sky faded into a rich orange hue spreading across the sky like brushstrokes on a canvas.

The three of them; mother father and daughter walked the cement paved streets, their soft footsteps clacking lightly. Car horns blared around them and the glow of fast food stores overwhelmed the three as they made their way through the crowded streets but still managing to stick together. The glaring car lights illuminating her mother's pearl necklace and her father's gold cufflinks.

Their pace quickened as the white car in front of them stopped for them to cross. Her shoe wobbled causing her to slow for a second behind her parents, and with a flash of a dark car, they were no longer in front of her.

She looks around in a daze, her eyelids refusing to let her blink. She looked to her right and saw the pair on the ground, motionless. She wobbled over to them slowly, shock still not shaking her from its hold. She kneeled down and grabbed her mother's hand, feeling that it was cold she checked her pulse.

Nothing.

The pink sunset stained her mother's cheeks as all life drained from her expression. For a moment Tess's troubles seemed eternal. Much like her screams, that echoed so loudly that even the sky could feel her agony. An overwhelming feeling of isolation weighed down, a feeling of sinking crept into her.

That night the clouds cried just as hard as her.

***

The hotel room was filled with long shadows, cast from the stormy sky. The faint scent of musky rain permeating throughout the bleak room and light rain barely being heard over the emphatic thundering that echoed throughout the small room. The only warmth in the space radiating from the girl who sat lazily lying across the red velvet couch, a cigarette perched in between her right thumb and index finger. Wisps of silver grey smoke curled and danced their way through the thick hazy air.

Sadness glazed over her eyes as she looked at the lone picture of her parents perched on her bedside table.

She made the rash decision to leave her room and make her way up the stairs. The sharp breeze whipped around the building top, throwing her hair in all directions. The rain abandoned the sky, dropping across the land saturating anything in its path. She pushed back her honey coloured hair from her face that was burdened by the weight of the rain, creating tendrils that hung down her shoulders. She walked closer to the edge and looked out at the city in front of her, a city so filled with hope and possibility she had not valued before.

Her breath quickened as she looked down at the ground, 20 meters from where she was. The raven coloured clouds dominated the sky claiming all sign of light. The bright moon shone through like a beacon of hope as if it was trying to lift her mood.

Tears sprung from her eyes and mixed with the water already present on her face. She believed her life felt like the sky. Starting off warm and inviting but quickly overtaken by darkness. Her life felt hopeless but that's okay because she wanted to be the moon.