Other stories for this prompt

Signs were put up on the wall, all help is lost . The war took the lives of many great, respectable people but this was too much. For our freedom heroes were born and legends were made and many lives were taken for us to be where we are today but after the two kids died, everyone came together to stand up against our common enemy. During the second war, the germans tried to take over our land in Austria and all of Austria stood up to defend for our lives and for the Jews. Two kids were playing when...

Becky hoped Tom saw what she had written before her teacher did.

Mr. Smith was notoriously tidy about the things in his classroom. Desks were wiped down once a day, not by the school janitorial staff but by him personally. In other classes she knew friends who would write on the desks, leaving messages for the students who sat there after them - a sort of school texting service between students without cell phones, but Tom took only this one class after her. Would he see her message? She could pass it off as a doodle and if he said...

I never liked autumn leaves as you do. I watched you look at trees, the delight on your face intensified when you closed your eyes and hugged the trunk. You once asked if I had a red ribbon for the pine cone you plucked, it would complete the winter bliss of the photograph you wanted to take. My purse always had what you needed, from floss to batteries, and candies to pain pills, and a red ribbon was procured.

Spring had you enjoying cherry blossoms. Summer had you enjoying shade. Autumn had you enjoying the gold and copper, the natural...

"I really think you should use photos."

She gave me a sidelong glance. "You don't like these?"

"No, no. I'm not saying that. You did manage to capture a certain energy in their faces. Artistically, it's quite well done."

"Thanks, I think so."

"It just that..." I made sure to look away as I spoke so she couldn't stop me in my tracks with another glare.

"What?" I heard her say.

"It just that they're your children." Turned to her.

"I know," she beamed maternally.

"And..they're missing."

"I certainly miss them. That's why I drew this picture."

"And it's a...

her bedroom wall was a collage of every valentine's day card, folded secret note, doodles, drawings, things her friends had written before their father's got a job in another city and moved. Streamers, deflated balloons, pressed leaves, plastic flowers, candy wrappers, subway, bus and concert ticket stubs. Polaroid pictures and regular rectangle pictures and pretty much anything else a teenage girl might come across in her lifetime of movement.

The detective went over every piece thumb-tacked, taped or stuck to the wall, writing in his little notebook.

"Usually they just run away for a few days," he said. "Then they...