Saturday, 14 March 2009

His Struggle to find the light Switch

The tyres squeaked violently as the car accelerated away from his drive. They had dropped him feeling absolutely clueless in front of his own doorstep. But on his current condition, he could not recognise the same doorstep he crossed two years ago, when he fell in love with the house, or when he showed it to his second wife Nora; he couldn't even remember picking up the newspaper from that very doorstep, every morning. No, he rang the bell and waited, as any stranger would have done. Slowly he realized that no one would open the door for him anymore. The uncomfortable weight that he had to carry around all night in his pocket, were the keys to that door. The third key, after the chain and the hotel logo was the front door key. He leaned on the door and counted: one, tow, three... It worked! as the door opened he lost support and when it was fully open, he fell straight over the green carpet, like an old tree over the grass. An old tree he was. The carpet smelt of the detergent Nora used to like. He stayed there, in that position for a while, remembering and then avoiding the painful spot in his memory and thinking 'I'm going to be sick any minute'. He battled to take off his coat, laying on the floor, like a fish out of water. One arm off. The room was dark and packed with useless old furniture, inherited from ancient pretencious unknown relatives. From memory, if he stretched his left arm he should reach the light switch next to flower pot. A little stretch and... on! The light was overwhelming. It inundated the whole room and drowned him in a sea of guilt. He could barely drag himself up to the sofa, but no, he could not face his life under full bright light, no, not tonight. Darkness and sweet dreams awaited for this broken prince.

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