What If?

June 5, 2019Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Abandomnent, Adversity, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Micro-fiction, Photo prompt, Rejection, Siblings, Taking chances, Writing prompt 60 Comments

Photo prompt © Ceayr

“Are you sure this is the house?”

“It says 345.”

“What if it’s the wrong number?”

“It’s not.” She unfurled a sweaty fist to show him the piece of paper and its slightly smudged pen marks. “It says right here.”

“What if you wrote it down wrong?” His eyes met hers, mirroring her apprehension and amplifying the seeds of doubt that tightened shoots of worry in her stomach.

She shook her head, courage evaporated.

It was one thing to flee their miserable surroundings. Another entirely to knock on the door of the father who’d rejected them even before they were born.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Forgotten Foundations

January 5, 2019Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: Abandomnent, children, Deserted, Flash Fiction, Foundation, Micro-fiction, Ruins, Weekend Writing Prompt, Writing Challenge, Writing prompt 17 Comments

Photo: Ofir Asif

“Will he come back?” Leah peered over the wall.

Rachel pulled her younger sibling back into the shade.

“Will he?” Leah pressed.

“I don’t know,” Rachel’s voice caught. She coughed to hide her fear. She’d break if her sister became frightened. It would make everything too real.

She didn’t know where they were. A car ride preceded a long hike into the desert and the nap in the ruins. “Best thing during the heat of the day,” Dad said.

He was gone by the time they woke, deserted like forgotten stones.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Foundations in 91 words

Mystery Mom

November 1, 2017November 1, 2017Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Professional Development, Speech Language Pathology, Things Kids Say, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: Abandomnent, adoption, attachment, Loss, orphanage, speech-language-pathology, The Daily Post, Trauma and Development, Unanswered questions 6 Comments

Photo: AMDB7 on Flickr

She doesn’t know who her mom is. She was left as a newborn, wrapped in a piece of old bedsheet, under a pew in the church. Or so the story goes.

She spent her first year in the orphanage. Many mewling mouths and too few holding arms. She found a way to survive.

Halfway into her second year she got picked up, fussed over with odd sounds, carried out of the room that had been her world. It was confusing. It was good. It was a lot.

She has a family now. They love her. They are patient. Most of the time. They try.

She’s a big girl. Almost ten. She understands. Sometimes.

She still can’t help but wonder who she is. What made her undesirable. Why she was left, naked not only of clothes but of clues.

She still can’t help but wonder about the woman who’d had her, then left without a sound. The woman who isn’t even mist and fog of memory and yet she still is tethered to in heart and mind. Her Mystery Mom.

For The Daily Post