Once Beautiful

Only Chapter - Once Beautiful

Here I was, standing in the middle of a large street and a large driveway, a private guard. This was my only purpose. My reason for existing. Everyday I got pushed around, back and forth, back and forth. The man that did it was much shorter than me, but had a very muscular build. However, he was not as beautiful as me. I knew that I had black ornate swirls and curves, golden patterns carved into me. I was beautiful. Everyone knew this, so they were constantly cleaning and polishing me with care.

One day, I was awoken by the muscular man pushing me frantically. A large white van with flashing lights rushed through where I just was. From where I was, I noticed it drive up to the front of the house at the end of the massive driveway. In the distance, I could see a grey-haired man being placed on a stretcher and rushed away in the white van, back out, as I was pushed back into place.

Weeks and weeks of nothing. No one had left, no one had entered. The man that cared for me had stopped coming after a while.

Everyday hurt. My proud, tall, dark and imposing figure had rusted, crippling and being covered. The suffocating green vines were all that I had now. They even brought other things. Purple, red, white and yellow blossoms smothering me.

There used to be another one like me across the wide road, but they took them away. The house they guarded had become a desolate, abandoned castle. Dead. I had never moved from where I was, and I had never gotten to meet the one like me. Ever. It felt like I was sad now, but I wondered if I actually knew how to feel. I have no movement, but could I feel? The years of age hurt, but I was unsure if that was really pain. Was it? I guess I would never find out.

That was what I thought. Three years ago. I think so, at least.

I could still feel the pain as the friends I had once made were cut off of me, their bright colours fading at the lost contact. Dead. Again. The mere memory of the searing pain from being ripped off the hinges that once held me in place making me ache.

I had been sitting here for those three long years. My once proud, shining figure warped and irreparable from age and weather. At least that was what I thought. One man thought otherwise. He looked familiar, like I knew him from a very long time ago. His once youthful, dark hair now a mottled grey, his once proud, muscular build, now more frail... thin even. It pitied me to see the man this way. I still don't know who he is. He picked me up and placed me in the back of a large truck. I still hurt like crazy. Once we stopped, I could see a large building across the road being constructed. It still looked like it would one day be a magnificent building.

I was back to my full glory again. Standing proud as a guard once again for a huge house with a huge driveway next to a huge road. I still lacked the youthful golden markings on me, but I was beautiful nonetheless. I grew slightly jealous one day. The house across the road was completed in construction, and I could see the final touch that brought the whole house together. I stared in awe at the beautiful black gate being pushed closed by a dark haired, muscular man. Even from the distance across the road, I could faintly see the elegant golden swirls carefully carved into the curvature of the black gate. It was...

...beautiful.