His Broken Strings

His Broken Strings
By:Gavin Thigpen.

It is said that every human has four strings: religion, speech, love, and hope. It is also said that if all strings break the soul will be lost forever....

This is a story about a man and how he “broke his strings”.

It is a very dark night, the clouds fill the sky...yet you can still see the stars. The boy was just put to rest by his mother, who was tired and distraught throughout the day. The husband worked in different countries and wouldn't return for many months. There was a sudden sound near his door, a slight knock but only loud enough that he had to tune out every sound and focus on the knock. “Who’s there? Mummy?” the boy said with an overly shaky voice. The boy heard a very deep voice reply “I'm here for you my child. Follow the sound of my voice.” The young boy got up from his bed and hurried to the door. “Papa is that you?” the boy said excitedly with a smile on his face. He opened the door as quick as possible to instead find a very tall man wrapped with in a dark cloak. He carried around with him a long stick with a very shiny piece of metal at the end. His fingers were boney with little to no skin left. “ You're not my daddy.” the boy said backing away from the dark man. He tried to run be he couldn't seem to move. The man moved closer and closer pointing the end of the stick at the child. “He ma pu ma du ma torca. He ne me ne she ne today. With this child as my victim I claim his ability to believe in god. May he forever be damned in hell.” The boys religion string... has broken.

It is a very sunny day and our young boy has matured into a young man. After the incident with the tall dark man, the boy was introduced to a daily console and the bible. The young man is playing at a park with his friends, it's not a very big park but it's still enjoyable. They were tossing a Frisbee around when it flew over his head and went into a tree. The young man screamed “i got it’ towards his friends and proceeded to head to the tree. He climbed as high as he could. It was a painful process but her reached the Frisbee and heard a sudden crack. The branch underneath him broke and he fell, not to his death but quite near it. He landed on his neck and right under it there was a rock sticking right into the nape of his neck. His Adam's apple broke and he couldn't speak. The young man’s speech string was broken.

It is a stormy night, the young boy as damaged as he was has matured into adulthood. He was no longer a little boy or a adolescent but a true adult. After he lost his voice he was put into a program with other people who have lost the voice, a coping group. While there, he met a very kind lady who was a perfect match for him. He currently is living in her apartment. She has the sweetest smile and the heart of an angle. He doesn't care about how she looks for she doesn't care how broken he is or how he isn't as handsome as the others. They both agreed that beauty is a good trait someone should have, it is a weapon of mass destruction, Something that can take out a single person just by looking at someone. The man just got off work and as he walked into the apartment he expected to find his girlfriend sitting on the couch waiting for him to return. Instead he found clothes on the floor, his girlfriends and another man’s. He quickly hurried into the other room to find her sleeping with another man. He was furious at the sight, tears filled his eyes. He turned on the lights and the both jumped. It was a terrible sight to see, the man ran to the closet and started to grab all of his clothes out and shove them into a suitcase. “Hey man it’s not what it looks like. I’m sorry.” the other man tried to stop him but he just ran outside. All he had left was his clothes, a stuffed dog, and a broken heart. His love string is broken.

Many years passed since that tragic day, the man aged into a old man who was alone physically and spiritually, with no voice or love. He lives in a retirement home with no friends or family. Each and everyday he has nightmares about when he was a kid and how he lost his way with god. He hasn’t stood in years because he is afraid of falling and losing something else. So he rides around in a wheelchair and has others help him get up and sit down. He hasn’t tried to meet someone new since he lost his girlfriend. The man was depressed with how his life has shattered into broken pieces of a glass figure of him with god, of him with someone dear to him, he has nothing. He will never get anything happy ever again. I just can't…I just can't do this anymore. the old man’s hope string has broken.

It’s raining, it’s cold,I can’t move,I try to scream but I can’t. The man remembers all of the good things that happened when he was younger. He remembers going to get ice cream with his mom and how they saw a clown giving balloons to children. He remembers his dad always giving him a piggy back rides. He remembers the time when he beat his sister in a game of mario kart. He wish he could go back and never have this happen, a restart, undo, a retry. His arms grow heavy and weak. His eyes are heavy but he smiles. I remember the stuffed dog I was given when I was born. I kept it with me the day I was brought into this world and I have him as I leave. He was the only person that truly cared about me.

The End.