The Park

It had been a while since he had been here, the park down the road. The last time was when he was a child, so small and frail, and now he was an adult, tall and strong. Often times he found himself imagining what it would be like to come back, but he never thought he would, at least until now.

When he had shown up to sit on the bench and read the newspaper while listening to the children play and scream, listen to the crunch of the leaves as they were stepped on or jumped into, he had found that the park was empty.

He had sat down as planned, and waited. And waited. And waited. As time passed and he didn't hear the screams of the children, the crunching of the leaves, or even the howl of the wind, he knew something was wrong. He looked up at the park, at the playground he knew so well, and started to wonder

He wondered why he never came back, why there were no children, why it was so quiet, when he realised the answer. He remembered hearing about the park being shut down, oh so long ago, but he could never remember why. He did now though.

It was him. He stared at the swings that creaked in the wind that breezed by, the red and brown leaves of fall that rustled as they moved, and saw why the park was empty. There he was, sitting at the top of the slides, preparing to go down, but he never did make it.

He stared, and stared as he came closer towards him, and the little boy version of himself gave out a small laugh.

"Welcome home!" He said, and then he took off, leaving him on the bench to remember why they had shut down the park. Eight years ago, a young child named Ash Tego had wanted to go down the slide, but another pushed him off and he cracked his head. The ambulance didn't get there in time, and he died.

He sat back down on the bench, and thought about it. He had spent most of his childhood here, before the accident, and now he was back. He could feel himself starting to disappear as he uttered his last words on this Earth. "I'm home."

The little boy on the slides looked up as he saw him go, saw the man that was him disappear, and wondered what would happen to himself. He didn't care though, he was home and that was what mattered.