He sat frozen in a greasy spoon south of the river somewhere. Rain drops trickled down the front window taunting his inability to shed tears. He'd not taken work for months and would be homeless in a few days. Stringing sentences together with family was near impossible, the few remaining friends who spoke to him only did so out of some morbid fascination or gloating fear. A sodden Alsatian trotted past, pausing to look him in the eye menacingly - the reptilian mind's trumpets were sounding his demise. With his last pennies spent he wandered out into the streets.
Oily water drops glistened in the gutter, the spray from passing cars joined the melody. He'd felt an uplift just after turning to a new chapter before; this was different. He now possessed something solid, it couldn't be taken, and he couldn't give it up, it felt like an orb of energy beating calmly in his chest. To destroy it would mean killing him.
He sat, he didn't care where, it stank and people stared. His hands trembled, his eyes were half closed, the urban sounds melded into a simple cacophony he could ignore. Without much thought he took a stone, leant forward and with considerable force scratched the word DESTINY. He glanced up to find a policeman staring down. "Are you okay Sir?" "Yes" "You'll have to stop doing that." He continued (with a little more haste) YOU CHOOSE. He felt the policeman pull him up and flatly verbalise something that sounded legal. He turned and stood facing the Uniform "I've learnt new words and see new colours, I dare to think strange thoughts. I won't be needing your help from here." And with that his eyes joined with the downpour for the first time in nearly two decades.
I wrote this in 45 minutes in a notebook while sitting in a cafe in Headington. I had no particular idea in mind except to write a story in four paragraphs. I am pleased, I think it is the first story I've finished. The fate/choice melodrama is a little cheesy but I will go on like this - finishing ever longer pieces. Unlike my experience of chess where I played people (and computers) I rarely beat.
