It was officially Summer and we had been blessed by the sun. The rays trickled through the ivy canopy above the outside eating area in which I sat. I closed my eyes to feel it give a boost of life to my tired skin. It was almost closing time at the Tenth Hole and the remaining golfers were handing in their clubs. When the course officially closed I stood to clean crumbs and spilt tea. I had worked here a whole month now, first it was just a weekend job, which turned into most days which once I had finished college turned into a full-time job. Nobody asked why I hadn’t gone to university, or why I hadn’t worked at achieving a long lived dream; it was just as well because I didn’t have an answer to any of those questions. I didn’t plan on working here the rest of my life, but that was the only actual plan I had. I had slowed down, I felt as though the world was moving forward and I stayed at my own pace walking as I breathed and waiting for something marvellous to happen. I was lost in time, but I was content in being here. I sometimes felt like my life had its ups and downs much like a book. In the sense that whilst reading it, you were sucked in and you were at the will of your imagination, but then the book ends and you’re back in reality not knowing what to do with yourself. I smiled at the quick work I had made of the tables and walked to the back with an end of a hard day’s spring in my step. It was the weekend and with the weather came reading in the park and walks along the pier with my friends.
I took my coat off the rack and saw Priestley’s things still in a pile under the hooks. I walked into the kitchen zipping up my coat.
“Hey, Priestly, have a good weekend” I said. He stood pulling the string at the bottom of his Tie-dye shirt and he smiled as I spoke to him.
“Thanks Brie, Thank-you.” he said with a sincerity that made me suspicious. My suspicion had obviously birthed an expression because Priestley’s brow lifted under his messy light brown hair. I enjoyed Priestley’s presence he was so kind it made you feel warm. I also like how he smelt, he smelled of mint shower gel and the sweet tang of smoke hung to his clothes.
“That’s okay” I said after a moment, the words stretching out into the awkwardness that had suddenly bloomed between us. “I will see you Monday, Priest.”
“We’ll see” He broke off and looked up; I followed suit and saw nothing. I was about to question him when he laughed and walked towards me. He squeezed my shoulder, he said “Goodbye, Brie, I’ll be seeing you” and then he walked away. I stared at where he once was, and then I crept out back into the sun. I was walking with my shoes in my hand, my bare feet against the warm concrete. I felt my pockets, empty. Blind panic and a bag that held no phone. I sighed and began my walk back to the café to retrieve it. I thought about how ominous Priestley had been earlier, it made me shiver. I didn’t know how he felt. He never seems upset, just quietly care free. This time was different.
The lights were off in the café but the doors open, I walked in though it felt gloomy and cold. I grabbed my phone from the side and on my way to turn I saw it. It was pooling on the floor, it collect quickly and came closer to my still bare feet. I felt a burst of cold sweat push through my pores and I ran into the locker room feeling my heart beat at the tips of my fingers. He laid there on the floor, soaked in his blood a hole in his head. I sobbed his name but no sound came out and though I thought about moving but I had become paralysed. There was so much blood; he was dead, cold, gone. I cried down the phone to the call handler and in my best efforts to stay calm, had turned my back on Priestly, but with the ambulance on its way I wanted to look at him one last time. I sat close to him on tiles clear from blood. It was terrifying, just to look at him sprawled out like that, gun still in hand. It was so real and astonishing. Priestley had taken his life, he had been determined. I had merely been a distraction that afternoon. After all he didn’t slash each wrist and slowly slip away; he had giving himself a fast and brutal ending, in a place he knew he would be found. It ate away at me in those final minutes I sat with him, I wanted to disappear into the floor with him and just go away. Priestly had, Priestly had actually done it, and he had set himself free.
“Goodbye, Priestley, I’ll be seeing you.” I kissed his forehead and walked away. The ambulance whirred behind me and I refused questions I just walked. I had no scar but a fresh wound in my heart that throbbed in pain, a pain that lingered for many years.
