It's their birthday. Seven years old already. They are dressed as peanut butter and jelly. Their grandfather makes his way to his spot behind the vines. He walks with a limp now. The vines here are growing thinner.
He positions his weight comfortably on his cane and winces as he looks up to watch the twins. They've got one tiny bag of jellybeans each and are picking out the black licorice flavored ones to eat first. The girl offers a handful to the child sitting next to her. The boy even sacrifices a black licorice bean to the younger boy sitting next to him. This makes the old man smile. His knee doesn't hurt so much now. If only their grandmother could see this.
The shiny red bows that bunched the bags together are being tied into the girl's thin hair by a caregiver. She is kind, and a favorite of the twins. The woman smiles and tugs on the little girl's pigtails playfully. The older nurse motions for the children to get together for a picture. The girl throws her arms around her brother in a messy hug and they both smile huge, gap-toothed smiles. The old man finds himself grinning, too.
He pockets a withered white rose, just like every year, and pauses to nod a goodbye.
This time, he turns to meet the exact line of vision of the young boy, chewing candy slowly, his eyes locked on the old man. The man freezes. The boy doesn't break his gaze, so after a moment, the old man looks away, slightly disturbed, and goes home.
YOU ARE READING
The Forces
FantasyThere's a maze. And an ocean, a great big, beautiful ocean, and it's just on the other side of the maze. I think that's all I remember about where I was. I think I could've been any age at all and this memory would've still stuck. That's because it...
