A September Scene

-- A little writing practice as September comes to an end.

            It was the last day of September. The door had been shut on summer and autumn was making a presence. At the window, Emily stood, gazing at the sky as it began to lighten. Grey and charcoal clouds, swirling in intricate patterns, shrouded the sunrise. She was mesmerized by the display, a touch of anger in the churning beauty there. Would it rain? She hoped it would for the land had been parched for long days by an unforgiving, ruthless summer sun. The earth was thirsty. She knew that to be so, for on her walks alone to Riley River an inch of fine dust, in wide swathes, had supplanted the grass. The patches that stubbornly remained were sparse and tinder dry. A pall of anxious sadness gripped the place, mirroring Emily’s own feelings of late, for Will had left her, disappearing at dawn without a word. It had been two months now.

Her fingers touched a pane of glass, so startlingly cool that she shivered. The chill caught her by surprise but she welcomed it as she had the fall. Change is good, isn’t it? Although confused thoughts threatened to torment her this day as they had for weeks, she pushed them away. With the change of the seasons a modicum of hope had begun to tug at her. Time to move on.

And what will become of Emily?