The Fall of a City: Rewrite

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DISCLAIMER: 

This story was a rewrite of the ending of The Fall of a City, by Alden Nowlan. I only used the last 10 sentences of the short story to start my own. Everything after that is my own work. I encourage you to check out the OG version (by Alden Nowlan) to fully understand this. THIS IS A REWRITE. 

P.S. The picture is not mine. If you know who it belongs to, let me know.

P.P.S. I had a word limit for this.


The city was as he left it. Yet everything has changed. Always before when he had come here, his flesh had tingle, his eyes had shone with excitement. Now there was only a taste like that of a spoilt meat. He bent and seized the cardboard palace. Gritting his teeth and grunting, he tore at its walls. The corrugated board was sturdy: he was crying by the time he finished tearing it to shreds. (The Fall of a City, Alden Nowlan)

"Dad! Dad!" Teddy came back to reality as his daughter came rushing towards him.

"What is it, honey?" he asked with a small smile.

"Look what I found behind the park!" she exclaimed as, to his horror, she pulled behind her back a toy gun. Before he could say anything, she started running around in circles shooting imaginary people as a cowboy would. It wasn't the shooting that concerned him, it was because she was playing with a boy's toy. According to him, guns were for boys, for men, and absolutely not for a 6-year-old girl. When it was finally time to go, he ushered his daughter into the car. Once the doors were closed, he snatched the toy out of her hands. From the car seat, she looked at him with sadness and confusion in her eyes.

"This is a boy's toy, Evelyn," he scowled, "These sorts of things are not meant for little girls like you."

"But I liked that..." before she could peep a word, Teddy interrupted her.

"What do you want me to do, send you to war? With all the other boys?" After that statement, Teddy was struck with a realization. What his uncle had said all those years ago, was eerily similar to what he just said to his daughter. After a long moment of thought, he silently returned the toy back into his daughter's hand. From woeful to cheerful, her eyes changed rapidly. On the drive home, with Evelyn happily playing in the backseat, Teddy vowed he would never destroy her childhood as his uncle did to his.

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