Not one person believed in him in that town, not that he had anybody to depend on; after his late wife died fifteen years ago, he had isolated himself from the world. His tired, grey eyes slowly cast almost a drowning of darkness over every snippet of life he laid them on; as nice of a man he may have been, people of Hindley had come to fear him due to this rumoured madness circling his senile mind.
As a young boy of age twelve, thirteen approached Derek, with a glimmer of evil in his dark eyes. He was wearing a navy blue nameless jacket, a pair of black tracksuit bottoms which had countless grass and dirt stains now embedded into the fabric tucked into some fake, market produced socks, resembling a huge brand but failing to look the part. As his deep voice - which seemed to be put on considering such a low voice for a boy so young may have been almost impossible - bellowed through clasped hands drawn up to his pale face, a loud, boisterous roar echoed through the trees, abusing Derek’s ears, not to mention his name. Although such vulgar words spluttering out of this young man’s mouth could be seen as a shameful offence, Derek’s approach to demeaning behaviour had worn down over the years, as he seemed to barely acknowledge the fact that this youth was disgracing Derek’s torn-down reputation.
Once the twelve year old had crawled back to his group of friends situated at their regularly allocated area of the park, Derek managed to pull together a glimmer of energy to close up the weary park, fighting with the rusty lock and key until they co-operated.
As Derek wandered around the beautiful yet disorderly park, memories of him and his beloved wife running the park late on a Sunday morning darted around his imagination, pushing his lopsided lips to a smile, caressed by salty tears which ran down his haggard cheeks.
It was twenty years ago, when the July sun of 1998 kissed her velvety skin and made her pretty face all the more beautiful. As Derek’s face lit up with every sight he caught of her his love for her only grew; spending long summer days together among the pure fields of Hindley, which they developed for the town they once loved.
A Sunday morning in the village was a joyous experience for the pair, to host a display of the energy in the community’s talents. The small children would perform, dancing along to the brass band playing on the traditional bandstand. While the reds and ambers of the tents and gazebos shone around the park, the kind and happy souls of each and every person shone through, too.
As clowns dressed in colourful wigs and patented round noses danced and leapt about the play shelter, the laughter of children sang to every parents’ ears, while the warm smell of the hotdog cart hung and hovered by everybody’s noses. Smiles and jokes were passed around every Sunday, where anybody was welcome and everybody had high-spirits.
The local football club would play their amateur matches; fathers against their sons, of course the sons would always triumph over the old, weary dads despite the majority of the cheers were tossed at the middle-aged chaps.
Community was once a great thing in Hindley, but that was swept away along with Derek’s wife in the immense storm that attacked the village one Sunday. Derek’s mind hit back to reality as he glanced over at the murky water of the huge pond beside the bandstand, now a danger zone for anybody who wasn’t in the age group of ‘chav’.
Setting free a sigh of a tiresome old man, Derek breathed out into the July air, only wishing for somebody to recognise his pain. Having not spoken for twenty years, Derek lived only on the memories he relived in the wonderful park in Hindley.
Limping wearily back to his shadowed hut on the entrance trail, Derek breathed in, longing for the wondrous smell of a 1980’s Sunday morning to enlighten his musky lungs, he welcomed in the lurking stench of a nearby burning of familiar driftwood. As Derek hauled up his heavy, grey eyes and freed a gasp of horror from his wrinkled lips, the elderly man saw his beloved shack’s ashes crawling wearily to the floor.
WORD COUNT: 1,025 words.
