The Boy In The Black Hoodie
A pair of footsteps echoed through the hallway.
Fast.
Urgent.
A teenage boy in a black hoodie pushed through the crowd.
"What happened?"
Nobody answered.
He knelt beside the girl.
"It's okay."
"I've got you."
Carefully...
He picked up the scattered photographs.
One by one.
Then he stopped.
His hands froze.
The first photograph showed the girl.
Much younger.
Standing beside a smiling soldier in uniform.
The second...
Showed the same man.
In a military hospital.
Missing one leg.
The third...
Made the boy's heart stop.
It showed a funeral.
The soldier's coffin was covered by the national flag.
The little girl...
Still wearing both legs...
Was hugging the casket.
The boy slowly looked back at her.
His eyes widened.
"You..."
His voice barely escaped.
"He's your dad..."
The girl nodded.
Unable to speak.
The hallway became completely silent.
Because the students suddenly realized...
The prosthetic leg wasn't the whole story.
May you like
It was the last thing...
Her father had ever given her.
