My Short Story: Outside Looking In

© 2009 Hachiko Yukimora

In a small village, over the mountain and through the pretty meadow, a girl lives with her mother. It is just the two of them living side by side, through the good and the bad. It is the time of year where a new season would be brushing the old away. And this time, it is the advent of wintery days. Little red noses, and bundled up children—they will all be passing by as one would gaze through the windows. In particular, however, this little girl would draw her interest…

Through the frost covered window, the little girl presses her mitten covered hands upon the glass, her eyes meandering through the visible toy shop. Snow was beginning to fall high above, as the cold snow flakes land lightly onto her blue-yarn hat. She heaved a sigh, admiring the many handmade toys, wishing a merry Christmas soon to come. The bell begins to toll across the courtyard, now covered in a blanket of white snow. People were running to their homes, away from the blistering cold. A woman across the yard hollers her name, to come home, waving her arm. The little girl turns around, not so eager to leave the shop’s front. But the chubby man with a long white beard sitting inside the shop drew a twinkle in his eye. It made her heart flutter away with her self. She was not sure what to make of it. It was not till she reached her front porch that she realized. She was not scared, merely curious, and tomorrow she would visit the old man’s shop again.