Escape

Rain. The water drops were slowly sliding down the glass of the window overseeing the living room. The storm clouds outside shrouded the neighborhood, and the dim light made the room into an eerie place. There was no sound aside from the rain knocking on the window as if asking to be let in, and the occasional thunder.

At first glance, the living room looked deserted. There was nobody in sight, and the mess was beyond what normal people would tolerate. There was a couch at the longer wall, though it was old, having been torn into on several spots. It was placed so it would allow people to sit opposite to the small block-shaped TV stationed on top of a stand on the other end of the room. Its screen was cracked from a past impact at the upper left corner. An old wooden table was positioned between these two in the middle of the room, taking up quite some space. The room was otherwise fairly empty aside from a big potted plant in the corner that seemed to have been died a long time ago. There was an entrance opposite to the window, but the door was missing from its hinges.

On the table there was quite a mess. Papers, letters and even some leftover food was scattered all over, some of it having fallen onto the floor. The food was fairly modest: bread, egg or just empty plates, and most of it looked at least a day or two old. The papers were rather varied however. Lot of it was official letters, but there were also drawings that were probably made by a young kid. For the most part they depicted two adults - a man and a woman - and a child standing between them, though several of these drawings were damaged, torn or ripped in two entirely between the kid and the woman.

The official-looking papers covered all kind of topics, including late child support, unpaid bills, and one of them was even an eviction order. Some papers have fallen onto the floor, but nobody bothered to pick them up. It was not worth the effort.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by footsteps coming from the upper floor. They were slow and tentative, making their way to a window overlooking the garden. The view was deplorable, the rain covered everything in gray darkness. A depressing sight. It was hard to imagine that this garden used to be a happy place, along with the house.

The footsteps returned, taking a few steps away from the window before stopping altogether. For a few seconds there was no noise, and then…

Bang!

Thud.

The two sounds followed eachother quickly before the house fell silent again. By themselves, they didn’t carry any meaning with them, and the room remained the same as before. Torn couch, broken television, even the papers were still all there. The rain kept falling, not stopping, not slowing down to acknowledge the recent events. It was as if nothing even happened at all.



Life can be changed.

But it cannot be stopped.







Word Count: 515