Winning Entry for 2/14, by ChickenSoup

Assignment: Your character got dumped last Valentine's day. What happens this year?


The cold winter wind caused my overcoat to flutter. I looked around, feeling depressed. I remembered the last time I had come here--I had taken my old girlfriend on a walk through the park. I also remember what eventually happened that chilly afternoon...

I remember it as though it had happened only moments earlier. We had walked through the smallish park, trying to spot what little wildlife would come out in the single-digit weather. She acted as though she was having a good time, but the air around her was tense. She flinched when I took her hand in mine, and the impression was not lost on me. I pulled her aside, thinking that I had done something wrong. It turned out that she had fallen in love with someone else, and although she would be happy to stay friends, she would prefer to keep it at that.

I never saw her again.

So this February I strolled down the same little lane that had taken my heart away a year before. It seemed even colder today, and it wasn't just because of the temperature. I felt somewhat depressed as I kicked half-heartedly at a mound of snow on the gravel path, and I sat dejectedly at the first bench I could find. It was cold and icy, but I didn't care. I was reveling too much in my self-pity.

And as though on cue, a small break in the clouds parted and a single beam of sunlight shone through the dreary morn and landed on my lap. I looked upwards, and for reasons I cannot explain I felt a surge of boundless joy, as though my less than perfect memories has melted away like the ice on my bench.

I stood, brushed the dusty snow off of my coat, and continued on my day, happier than I had felt in a long time. I guess God works in ways we never expect.