Layered (A Sample) - Page 9/29

Hannah drank some more tea and then she got up. She glanced across the small living area toward her mum asleep on the sofa and then she slipped on her coat.

Without saying a word, she walked out of the trailer and then she stood in front of it, looking down the rutted path where she will soon see her dad coming home.

As she stood there, she closed her eyes. "Please," she prayed, "I don't care if You do not answer any other wish but this one."

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes, looking at the pathway expectantly. The road was empty. She waited and waited.

In the morning, when the sun rose in an angry grey sky and the wind howled among the trees and made the long grass around her ankles sway in a hundred different directions, she realised as she looked at the road one more time, her dad was not coming home. He was gone forever.

Slowly Hannah turned around and walked back to the trailer.