leaf [larry stylinson]

i.

'THE PAST YET TO BURY AND THE PRESENT TO BE BORN'

PART I

Green is the prime colour of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises.

- Pedro Calderon de la Barca

It was late January, early in the afternoon, around two o'clock. A woman and her daughter entered the park, the sand path cracking under their shoes. The little girl was chattering happily to her mother about school, how they drew flowers and trees. Harry sat on one of the swings, his toes barely touching the ground. His eyes were focused on the bench in front of him; a boy who looked a bit older than him was sitting on the poorly painted green surface. He looked about eleven years old, with light brown hair and big, foggy, grey coloured eyes. Those eyes were staring at the swing Harry was sitting at. Most people would freak out by a little boy staring at them, Harry didn't. He was fascinated by this boy since he first saw him sitting there, when he was six. Two years ago, but Harry remembered it like it was yesterday.

Harry glanced at his watch, it was almost two o'clock. He smiled, knowing exactly what was about to happen. He had seen it before. His gaze left the boy on the bench and shifted to the entrance of the park. His old neighbour, Sue, should be walking through that gate soon. Harry couldn't wait until it was Friday, the day he got to eat as many cookies as he wanted and he loved listening to Sue's stories; she'd told him she wrote them herself. When his cool digital watch said 01:59 PM, she entered the park, precisely on time. Her brand-new walking stick clicking on the sand path. When she was close to the green bench, the boy stuck out his arm, fingers splayed. Harry always wondered if he could recognise her footsteps. Sue stopped in front of him and reached out her hand, the wrinkled fingertips touching the boy's smaller ones. A smile formed on his young face.

She sat down next to him, placing her bag on her lap. She then pulled a paper bag from the large bag, lowering the big thing to the ground. She opened the paper bag, revealing a fresh looking bun and tore off a piece of bread. Sue softly touched the boy's hand, taking it in hers. Her mouth moved and the boy nodding when she finished. She took the piece of bread and placed in his small hand. He touched it carefully and brought it to his mouth. He munched softly on the bread.

"Harry, it's time to go, honey," Harry's mum called for him. He looked one more time at the pair on the green bench and jumped off the swing. He then ran to his mum, taking her hand. They exited the park, Harry babbled away about the grey eyed boy. He missed the worried look on his mother's face.

Four years later the boy was still there. He still lived on the old green bench, Sue still visited him, but Harry lost his interest. He went to high school now, he was a cool guy. The grey eyed boy wasn't so important for him anymore. When he had time Harry still went to the park, though. The swing he always sat on had broken in two and was removed through the years, but they never replaced it so he sat on the other instead. The mothers of the little kids that played in the park gave him often sour looks, they found he should let the smaller children use the swing.

When he was nineteen, Harry was alone often. He didn't really want to be, but he was. All of his mates were off to college, but Harry had decided to take a year to figure out what he really wanted. He was heading home, slowly strutting, where he was still living with his mum.

He peeked around the corner of another alleyway. Harry always checked every alley. He didn't have a reason; he just did it out of a habit. He once started after reading an article about creepy guys who'd hide in alleyways and never stopped. Harry started walking again when he saw the alley was empty. He froze in his tracks when he saw a huddled figure lying on the pavement right in front of him. The person wasn't moving, so Harry carefully approached. He crouched down next to the person. A small man, he now saw. He turned the body around, so it faced the sky. Harry's eyes grew wide with recognition. It was the guy from the park. He winced when he saw his bloody clothes, the beating or what had happened, must have been painful. One of his arms and left foot lied in a weird position, probably broken.