Fragments Gallery
Speaking Your Mind
He was alone on a park bench. It was morning, the early sun shone, illuminating the world with a yellow glow. Despite the hour the park was far from empty. Joggers filled the paths, children played in the nearby playground while their parents gossiped around the edge.
The morning seemed surreal to the boy. All around him people basked in the sunlight as they went about their morning routine. They laughed and talked, the children yelled and squealed. To them it was just another morning.
The boy watched the world go by silently. This morning was surreal, but only he seemed to notice it. There seemed to be a fog in the air, the streaks of light filtering through the nearby trees seemed to almost dirty the air, giving it a dusty feel. As he looks around the constant din of the peoples voices seem to fade, gaining an almost muted quality, as though he were hearing them from a great distance on a quiet evening. Everything seems slightly blurry in the light. Or was it the light? The boy blinks rapidly for a moment and drops his eyes to the ground.
He was so tired. So, so tired.
He shut out the rest of the voices and closed his eyes. Maybe when he opened them he would be able to wake up. Maybe then he’d be able to sort through everything.
A short time later his eyes open. He'd heard something. It had almost sounded like...
A pair of tan sneakers enters his field of vision.
"Hey Abraham."
Startled the boy looks up, his eyes taking in dusty ripped jeans and a white and orange striped t-shirt as they travel up to the speakers face. He relaxes and lets his head hang loose again, once more contemplating the red gravel beneath the bench.
"Hey Nathan," he says to the ground.
Nathan's eyebrows rise and something like concern crosses his face. His friend had been not in the best of spirits of late but this… This isn't good. In an instant the concern is wiped off of his face and he is joining his friend on the bench.
They sit for a moment just looking around, quietly watching.
Eventually Nathan made his decision. He’d see if his friend was willing to talk yet.
"How're you doing?" He asked, his tone a little too casual.
Abraham looked up at him, searching his eyes for his true purpose, his true question. Eventually he gave up and returned his eyes to the ground. Silence reigned between them for several minutes before he finally spoke.
"I'm tired mate." Abraham said.
"We're all tired," said his friend around a hesitant smile, "There has been a lot going on recently."
"You don't get it. You don't understand."
"Understand what Bro?" the smile was more hesitant now, less sure.
The boy falls silent, his expression says that he's rethinking his flash decision to say that much.
"Don't close me out Bro. You look like you need to talk."
His eyes blazing Abraham opens his mouth to make a snappy retort, but something else crosses his mind and he bites back his words.
"You're… right. In way I've been looking for someone to talk to, someone to tell, for a while."
He falls silent again.
Nathan's jaws open and then click shut. If his friend was going to talk then he would talk, he wouldn't pressure him into it.
"They said I was like a knight," Abraham abruptly said, "One of the two, she offered to teach me to drive. What does that mean?"
"Does it have to mean anything?" Asked Nathan cautiously.
"Normally… I'd say no, but this time was different. She offered four times across the space of a year. The third time she asked she also told me that after trying to teach her ex that she would never teach anyone to drive again. What made me different?"
"Did you take the offer?"
"No. I never gave her a straight answer. I had to sort out how I felt. I didn't want to get hurt again."
Nathan looked at him sadly as Abraham fell silent. Guys like Abraham always ended up hurt.
"When I say I'm tired, it generally doesn't mean I'm sleepy, or fatigued. It means I'm tired; I want to lie down and stop fighting. I want peace."
Nathan's eyes widen, but he says nothing yet. His friend needs to speak.
"Sometimes… it feels like I only have one thing left."
Abraham fell silent, losing himself among his thoughts. After giving him some time Nathan gently prods him back to reality.
"What's that?"
"What's what?"
"You said you feel like you only have one thing left."
"Oh. An oath that’s all I have. 'My honour is my life.' That’s it."
"Is that enough?"
"No it's not, it never has been, but that's all I've had for years. I need to find something else, something besides these feelings I harbour."
Nanthan looks at his friend but Abraham keeps his eyes on the ground.
"Which feelings are those?"
Abraham doesn't respond right away and instead is tracing the wrinkles on his left hand with a nail on his right.
"There's this TV show I watch, it's about an author and a detective. You know it?"
His friend nodded slowly.
"Do you know why I watch it?"
This time Nathan's head shakes.
"Watch that and maybe you'll understand."