3/29/11 John Croft and his dead daughter

So I was trying to figure out what I wrote for the 29th and then I realized what it was. I worked on my Horror short story all night long. Here is a tad bit of it. I plan on making it into a Kindle property. Enjoy.

John Croft ran in between the diner tables after Shelby. He did not want to lose the last connection to his daughter. He caught up to his ex-wife before she made it to the door of the diner where they met every year on their daughter’s birthday. He grabbed her above the elbow. She turned to look at him with her tear filled green eyes.

John sensed the nervous glances of the nearby patrons. He knew he looked like crap. That was the first thing Shelby said. His brown hair was not brushed. His face had five days worth of stubble. But he didn’t care. He didn’t want to lose her.

“Shelby, wait. Let’s talk about this,” John said.

“Don’t, John!” Shelby pulled her arm free from John’s grasp. She straightened the sleeve of her gray business jacket and shook her head at John. She walked out the diner.

John saw his reflection in the mirror behind the counter. He looked crazy. He looked around at the patron’s who avoided eye contact with him. John pursued his ex-wife out into the busy New York sidewalk.

“Shelby, wait.” Annoyance and anger caused his voice to get louder. John felt he was on the verge of yelling.

Shelby turned and looked at him with pleading eyes. Her shiny, red hair glistened in the late morning sunshine.

“I can’t do this anymore.” Shelby moved with the traffic of the sidewalk away from John. The other pedestrians brushed against her. John wanted to rescue her from the stream of people keeping her from him. But he knew she didn’t want his rescue. She didn’t want anything to do with him.

“Whenever I see you, I see Marie, and it breaks my heart,” Shelby said. “I need to heal and seeing you every year on her birthday is not helping me.”

Shelby wore her favorite gray business suit. The same suit John hated. John began to think she had planned this.

“I need this.” John pleaded with her.

“I’m sorry.” Shelby continued away from him.

John’s cell phone rang. He furiously dug it out of the inner pocket of his corduroy jacket.

“Shelby, wait!” John looked at his phone. When he looked back up Shelby had disappeared into the crowd of people on the sidewalk.