Adrian

It was a dark autumn morning, cold winds whistling red, auburn and orange leaves over the once beautiful brick paved square of Alabaster Park.

Antique iron lamp posts, and a couple of aging wooden benches seemingly stood for dozens and dozens of years, are also placed along the square.

On one such bench lies a man. Amidst the forgotten long lost beauty of a decaying park, lies a decaying dying man.

Adrian had long been homeless, helpless and hopeless.

He was ready to die.

He could not remember how long he had been lying there, as he had been in and out of conciousness for at least a few days.

He had come there, ready to stop fighting, to lay down his tired limbs and approach eternal rest without human interruption.

Alabaster park had once been a bustling hub of people, but along with the expansion of the city bigger parks with more intriguing architecture, and even pretter nature had been built.

And thus along with its history Alabaster park was forgotten, and rarely ever traversed.

The few that still came by were only those overflowing with nostalgia, reminiscing happier times and beautiful memories.

Adrian knew this, and so the park had remained cold and silent except for the occasional gusts of cold autumn wind brushing past.

And so he lay there, in his final moments ruminating upon his past and what could have been.

-----

"Addy. Addy get up"

Adrian was rudely awoken by maniacal giggling, and a small finger digging wildly through his right nostril.

He shot up straight with a huge start, putting a quick end to the giggling before it resumed even louder.

He turned to look at his small agressor, realizing not only was there a child digging through his nose, he was also sleeping in a bed.

A bed he was very familiar with.

With a quick glance around he realized, he was in his childhood bedroom, not a single detail missing that would prove otherwise.

With shock he looked down at his hands, no longer were they coated with dirt, no longer were they scarred from digging through dangerous trash, or calloused from homelessness.

Suddenly he realized he had skipped the most important detail, if he was here who was it that woke him up?

Once again he turned and looked at the still cackling child, confirming it to be his brother.

His brother looked about 5 years old, which would mean he himself would be about 15 years old, at the very peak of his happy, normal life.

"Addy, mommy said I could wake you up because you need to come to MY school"

Again Adrian had his thoughts interrupted, but he was happy to play along even if this turned out to be just a dream, so he replied

"Oh? And what are we gonna do at your school lil Nicky?"

Nick pouted and stomped his feet

"Im not little, see Im very strong" he said then drew a deep breath and flexed his little arms so hard his face grew red.

Adrian suppressing a tear, said "Yes youre really strong Nicky, lets go downstairs and eat."

Adrian had always had the strange habit of sleeping fully dressed, he only ever took off his socks and occasionally his shirt if his room grew too hot.

Nick shouted with a serious expression

"I'm gonna show you all the swords and shields in the play corner, and then we can play sword fighting, I'm so good with the sword I've won Danny, Lewis AND Karl Joo new word"

Adrian almost tripped over his wildly surging emotions, he felt like he was merely reliving a memory and yet this was certainly not a morning he could remember.

"Its Karl Junior, Nicky his dads name is Karl and his name is also Karl, so he's called Karl Junior."

Briefly arguing with his brother over the most inconsequential thing, he made his way down to the kitchen, almost as if it hadn't been over 20 years since he was last in this house.

In the kitchen were his parents and his older sister

As usual his dad was busying himself making breakfast, his mother sat at the dining table hair aloft in her glorious bathrobe looking like a stereotypical crazy cat lady working her way through a second mug of coffee, and his sister eyes glued to another cliche romance novel hardly touching the bowl of cereal she had poured herself.

The harmonious family atmosphere burst Adrians emotional dam like a watery soap bubble, although he didnt start sobbing tears flowed down his eyes, and he could hardly keep his mouth straight as he struggled to breathe.

None of them seemed to notice his anguish, as time suddenly seemed to freeze still his dad frozen in place along with the now nonexistent sizzling of eggs on the frying pan, his mother frozen with the cup of coffee to her lips. His sister in the exact sane position as before, not that she moved at all with her laser focused reading, and lastly his brother frozen swinging an imaginary sword with a serious but cute expression.

Suddenly, the world cracked, like the shattering of glass it broke just the way Adrian's hopes and dreams had long died along with his family.

Once again the pieces merged to form another memory, one he could never be allowed to forget.

It was a fateful day, what started off as a beautiful summer day, ended with a terrible tragedy.

Adrian and his whole family had gone to the beach early, to enjoy the scorching summer sun, the cool blue waves of the ocean, and the beautiful golden sand on their toes.

It was an uneventful day to begin with, the family had gone home around noon stopping at an Ice Cream parlor on the way, creating what would have been beautiful memories.

And yet fate had other cruel plans in store, as little Nick was left with a babysitter for the night Adrian, his sister and their parents went out to enjoy a night at the theatres. The movie was great, the popcorn was crunchy and best of all the leather recliners offered peak comfort throughout.

And yet the happiness was short lived, Adrians happy, uneventful life was smashed that night in a grisly car crash on their way home. As they were driving through a mildly forested area, it occurred.

It was just your typical drunk driver, driving a larger pickup truck, the driver had swerved due to perceiving the families car as being far closer to him than they were, with disastruous consequences.

In a worst case scenario come to life, his truck rolled over and flipped multiple times towards the families car eventually reaching and flattening their roof, instantly killing Adrian's parents in the front, however sparing him and his sister. Yet the momentum of their car was still there and it rammed head first into the closest tree.

Adrian still survived although unconcious, but his sister wasn't so lucky. Or perhaps she was the lucky one, for she had her head impaled by the broken drive shaft of the pickup truck still somehow balanced on top of their family vehicle.

Adrian would remain unconscious, until the noise of distant sirens would wake him up, causing him to briefly witness the carnage.

Again the scene of memories shattered like broken glass, bringing him to a new one, each memory playing faster than the previous.

This time he went through a range of memories, from multiple attempts of suicide, to his eventual downward spiral of drugs depression and depravity. These were especially painful, for he set a terrible example for his brother who was the only surviving family member beside Adrian.

Oh how he wished he could only change his behaviour, and at least been there for his brother.

Eventually his brother would go on to die of overdose, leaving Adrian a completely broken man leaving him with nothing.

Adrian desperately struggled to recall happy memories, he wanted to at least touch his family again before he gave up his final breath, and yet the memories shattered one after the other, and no matter how grasped, they all slipped through his fingers like sand, his hourglass was broken and the sand was all but gone.