word list Prompt #252 - Word List

[comicfan]

Use the following words in a story: graveyard, swing, tuba, blue shoes, and a lunch box.

[Sasha Distan]

Graveyard Conversations

 

Whose idea was it to put a playground in a graveyard anyways? On every level it’s a weird thing to do, but the only advantage was that it gave us slightly goth and alternative kids a cool place to hang out.

On the swings, Debz used her new blue shoes to scuff at the cracked tarmac. We used to sit in the lower part of the climbing frame and chat, but not since the time we’d found it full of used needles and wilting condoms. This would be a cool place to hang out if it wasn’t where homeless junkies came to score.

I got up and switched positions to tuck myself into the centre of the roundabout.  There was just enough room for myself and my yellow ukulele. I twanged at the strings experimentally.

“God I’m so glad you switched to the Uke.” Debz kicked herself off the swing and came to perch on the rail of the roundabout. “Remember dragging around that damn tuba all the time?” She stared over at our bags, pinning her violin case with an evil glare. “I wish my parents would let me switch.”

“They didn’t let me.” I took a cleansing breath. It did not have the desired effect. “I sold it and told them I’d left it on the train.”

“You sold it?” Debz stared at me, kohl lined eyes huge in the wan light of a crap summer’s evening, “Why?”

What was I going to tell her? Debz was my oldest, and often only, friend. Was I going to tell her that I needed the cash to fund my lifestyle? That my new boyfriend thought I was in college and expected me to pay my way? That the reason I wasn’t hanging like we used to was because I was out all night at clubs and bars?

I couldn’t do it. This was the girl with whom I had shared the contents of my lunch box since we were six. It would be cruel.

More cruel than not to tell her at all? Our parents though that we would one day end up together, and Debz made it no secret that she was keeping other guys at arm’s length because I might just wake up and smell the pheromones. I had to say something.

“Debz? I have to tell you something. Please don’t freak out.”

She arched an eyebrow at me.

“Already slightly freaked, go on.”

I took another pointless deep breath and wished I had alcohol to steady my nerves. My finger shook.

“So… there’s this guy…”

[comicfan]

Hmm. A coming of age story. Interesting. Like how you worked in all the details Sasha.

[Sasha Distan]

Hmm. A coming of age story. Interesting. Like how you worked in all the details Sasha.

 

Thanks. out of interest, that place, the playground in the graveyard, does actually exist. we used to hang out there like good goth-teens should. Debz is a real person an' all.

[Ieshwar]

Wow, that's really cool, Sasha.

 

My muse has been pestering me to write something mushy. Oh well. Here it is. Beware, it is unedited and contains strong language. 

 

*******

 

Life is not a fairy tale. 

 

Ryn sat on the small swing and looked around him. Years had passed since he had been to this playground. The seesaw rested in a corner, broken and forgotten. Paint was coming off many of the structures, revealing the bare infested wood. The life, the joy of the place was now lost among the cobwebs and the dry leaves scattered around the place. It looked more like a graveyard of his childhood memories.

 

Ryn lit his cigarette and tried to dig out the pieces of his childhood. The hazy image of a small boy with blue shoes way too big for him appeared in his mind. He grinned as he recalled dragging them everywhere he went, even if he fell a hundred of times per day. After all, they were a gift from him. Another image formed- that of another boy sharing his lunchbox with him. The grin slipped.

 

“You said that you stopped smoking,” a voice said behind him.

 

‘And you said you will always remain here for me,’ Ryn thought bitterly. Yet he said nothing as he took another drag from the cigarette. He simply turned and looked at Dennis as he sat on the swing next to his. He was still in his suit, with the purple tie loose, hanging around his neck.

 

“I was looking for you.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I shouldn’t have?”

 

Ryn didn’t answer. He knew that like the past days, if he spoke, it would only lead to another row. And he didn’t want to fight today. Both of them sat in silence, moving to and fro on the swings. Ryn flicked the cigarette butt away. Music filled the air as the band on the other side of the road started playing. The guitar was louder than the rest and the tuba was awfully out of tune. He hated it.

 

“A dance?”

 

Ryn raised his head and saw Dennis standing in front of him with that smile on his face.

 

“Please?”

 

He sighed while he rose to his feet. He braced himself as the soft hands snaked round his waist. The familiar scent tugged at the memories he had painstakingly buried at the back of his head. The dry leaves crunched under their feet and they moved effortlessly, like they had been doing since years.

 

‘Remain strong,’ he repeated the mantra. He clenched his fists till the nail dug in his skin.

 

“You are leaving tomorrow morning,” Dennis said. When Ryn said nothing, he continued. “You know you don’t have to. You can remain here. Everything will be same. Why, why do you want to leave?”

 

“And why did you have to get married?” The words tumbled before he could even stop himself. He felt Dennis freeze in his arms for a moment, but then, he continued dancing.

 

“You know that I had no choice. I can’t be out to my family. They will never understand us. They will never accept us.”

 

“But what about us?”

 

“What about us? Nothing has changed. My feelings for you are still the same. I love you, Ryn. I always had and I always will.”

 

“So you want me to be with you while you fuck someone else at night? So what will I be? Your keep?” Ryn gritted him teeth as broke away from the ex boyfriend. He felt blood on his palm where his nails had cut the skin.

 

“No. Why don’t you understand? You are the one I love…”

 

“So, you don’t find anything wrong with cheating on this woman, on this farce you are calling a marriage, about this…”

 

“Yes, I know this is wrong!” Dennis shouted, “I know that I am hurting the person I love the most, that I am hurting some innocent woman who has nothing to do with all this. I know I am being selfish and coward. I am not strong like you, Ryn. I can’t have my family turn their back on me. I can’t live with people calling me a freak behind my back.”

 

Dennis angrily tore the tie, which had been hanging around his neck like a noose, and threw it on his ground. He ran his hand through his hair, leaving them in a mess. He looked broken, like the rest of the structures around him. And the cool demeanor was peeling off, revealing the shattered troubled inside.

 

Ryn felt something break inside him as he looked at the man he had loved, no, the man he still loved. He closed the distance between them and kissed him. He didn’t know what he was trying to say through that kiss. That he still loved him? That everything was going to be okay? That he could always count on him.

 

“I’m sorry, Ryn.”

 

But the latter simply placed his head in the crook of his neck. He grabbed his hand and stroked it gently with his thumb. He froze as his finger touched the cold metal band. This was no longer his Dennis. The mantra in his head drowned under the weight of this realization.  He closed his eyes to stop the tears.

 

“I’m sorry, Dennis.”

 

Ryn bit his lip, as he broke away and turned. He walked away while he repeatedly wiped the tears clouding his vision. He hoped, he prayed to be called back, to be told that everything was going to be okay. But all he heard was the leaves and the memories of the past crushed under his feet.

 

*****

Edited August 11, 2013 by Ieshwar

[joann414]

As always, beautiful writing Leshwar.  Thanks for sharing:)

[Ieshwar]

As always, beautiful writing Leshwar.  Thanks for sharing:)

 

Thanks, Joann.

[comicfan]

Leshwar - Nothing more painful and yet you capture it beautifully. Nicely done.

[Slytherin]

  A very Beautiful and sad story  

[totallyy]

That was great Ieshwar.... 

[Ieshwar]

Thanks, guys.

 

Unfortunately, this is not mere fiction for some persons. I have met a few guys who have been in Ryn's situation. Sad...