Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #162- Guardian of Hope

Malia shut down all her ‘accounts’ and returned to a place where innocence had once been her entire reality. It was going to be her Walden experience.
Her family hadn’t bothered to sell their “little piece of heaven”, which had remained raw in its remoteness and untended state, so no one objected to her pilgrimage.
It was a shock to her adult urban mentally when she discovered how much effort ‘living simply’ was. Time to contemplate life was limited by ‘living’.
She’d hope to escape the ugliness she’d observed in her 30 years and found that she couldn’t ‘wash’ it from her subconsciousness. “You can run but you cannot hide.” was a recurring notion that depressed her.
On a gently lit calm morning, Malia wandered along a path she’d played on as a child. The rock where she and her siblings once played “King of the hill” beckoned her to sit.

It was there that Malia realized those memories and innocent beginnings were the sturdy foundation that her life had been built upon. No matter how many times she had been knocked down, that ‘rock’ remained. Moss and debris could be swiped aside anytime she wished.
In that moment, she’d found the treasure she was seeking. It was the rediscovery of her innocent happy childhood. That alone, was the secret to a lifetime of hope. Hopeful people are strongly armed for any, and all, life assaults.
Malia packed and returned to the city, days later.
Her mission?
To advocate for children… with the focus on protecting their innocence.
Saving humanity from itself had found a new warrior who had discovered the essence of what needed to be done.