Years of Waiting for the End

The colorful room that stands at the end of the corridor has a large wooden doorway that wakes a gentle creaking noise when opened. It is often crowded with busy people and the various sound waves bounce around the sunshine walls until they find the way out. From inside you can hear the echo of the children playing outside as though they were screaming with more than just their voices. The centre of the room is overcrowded by a large wooden table with scratches and tears that make it look like it is sick and injured. The open window in the back welcomes the smell of the food. The seats in the corner look like a hidey hole for the ones too shy to socialize. In one of the seats sits a girl anxiously waiting.

The girl in the room is not of the tall sort, she is neither fat nor thin but somewhere in between the two. She has dark hair of an almost black nature but with a hint of brown in the afternoon sun. She is wearing a t-shirt that is white with writing on it that reads: Hong Kong Disneyland with the logo above, she is also wearing a pair of navy knee length shorts with slight cuts and bleaches down the front. She has been waiting for a while now and she feels another drop of sweat run down the side of her head and hears it as it falls to the ground as the midday sun bakes her arm and back. The window invites the smell of smoke with a mix of something sweet and tender being barbequed.

As she waits she begins to feel a sense of dread. The room has never been this empty before. As she begins to contemplate the reason behind the sudden emptiness she hears a noise coming from the corridor. She stands up slowly and moves to the suddenly intimidating wooden door, she grabs the icy cold handle and looks out at the corridor. The corridor is lacking in windows and the light by the staircase is flickering the last of its life out. The air feels hot and sticky as it hits her face; it then remains unmoving around her. There are shadows dancing around the floor and walls, making the whole place look like a giant shadow puppet show. It’s in those shadows that she discovers where the noise comes from. A small cat has entered the building and it is now moving silently around, its grey and whitish fur swooshing around its body and its black paws moving around with extreme care. Within a second it is gone. The girl waits in the doorway; she waits for her body to unfreeze from fright.

She starts to feel her arms come back with a burning sensation going up from her fingertips to her chest. Next she feels her legs work again followed by an increasing feeling of pins and needles going through them. She shakes off the feeling and goes back into the room closing the door carefully behind her. She goes back to her seat and welcomes the cooling breeze coming out of the partly open window next to her. As she sits down she picks up her black shoulder bag that is resting on the floor next to the chair. She takes out something small and portable; she turns it on then remembers that it is not working. As she places it back in her bag she sighs with despair. She is tired from waiting and desires nothing more that to go back home but she fights that feeling for she has been waiting so long to see her companion again that she cannot bare to leave.

After a while she hears another noise coming from the corridor, this time a sound that makes her leap with joy and anticipation. She hears footsteps coming slowly up the large marble white staircase at the front of the building. The steps finally reach the top and she hears them turning the corner slowly. Her body tells her to run to the footsteps be she doesn't. She waits anxiously at the doorway that suddenly seems more welcoming than before with its beige color as the steps approach slowly. Finally the steps reach the other side of the door and she sees the handle turning slowly to open the door and...

Outside the building, on the street and to the right there is a bus stop. It is old and the sign is rusty with some text on it that is barely readable. As a bus turns into the street it aligns itself with it and stops. A single man walks out. He is dressed in old, ripped jeans and a fading grey t-shirt. He is carrying a camouflaged kitbag containing his few personal items. He is tall and his skin has a very deep tan; his hair is bleached almost to a dark blonde highlighting his bright green eyes and white teeth. He looks towards the grayish old building and momentarily stops in his tracks. A feeling of relief washes over him as he walks towards the towering front door.

As he walks he begins to see in detail the age of the building. He sees moldy window frames and peeling paint. He climbs up the concrete grey stairs slowly, examining the building in detail. He opens the heavy front door and walks into the entrance hall. Dust is blown around by the sudden gush of wind and it floats around him resettling slowly. He shakes it off and sets up the granite black staircase in a hurried pace with the feeling of over joy at the idea of the person waiting for him at the top. He pauses momentarily at the top, anxiety setting in, and then turns the corner and begins walking down the dark corridor. The air is unmoving, hot and carries a feeling of suffocation with it. As he walks the floorboards creak with each step making the building sound like it might collapse at any moment. He finally reaches the last room, he can smell a strawberry scent coming from the other side of the door, and it makes him stop. He reaches out and turns the icy handle, Goosebumps coming to his body, and walks in.

At that moment the building caves in, the decades finally altering it. It comes down with a groan and a crack, the smell of rotting wood floating around. First the ceiling caves into the second floor pressuring the floorboards to break with a snap, dropping the entire building to the ground. The people walking nearby can taste the dust and feel all the humid air hit them as it washes away in the fresh summer air. They all stare stunned by the events unfolding before them.

The next day a paperboy cycles by and drops a newspaper in front of the building, the headline says "Historical building collapses after over half a century of life. Two people found inside, a sergeant in the military and another believed to be his fiancée".