[DL] LAD (Fiction!)

["Roy Spence" <roy.ster@virgin.net>]

OK I don't think I've seen any fiction on this list - however as it provides
the opening for the Life After Dominion stuff I written, I thought, why not.
I have no aspirations to being a writer, so excuse any grammatical/spelling
errors.



The Hollow Men

The young boy crouched in his hiding place high above the cabin, watching
the strange old man that sat below.  He shifted position, making himself
more comfortable in the rock and brush that shielded him from sight.

His parents had told him to avoid the man, and many in the town whispered
strange tales about the deeds he was meant to have done.  Yet as the boy
watched, the man only sat there, day in day out.  No matter how early he
arrived, or how late he waited the man was always sitting in the exact same
place on the log, just outside his cabin.  The fire had burnt out days
before, the yellow newspaper that was used to light it lying at the mans
feet; the young boy was surprised that the man had never re-lit it, even on
the coldest of nights.  The boy shivered involuntary as he thought of the
trouble he would be in if his parents ever found out where he had been
disappearing to for the past week.

The man was dressed strangely, his clothes seemed far to modern for his
advanced age.  Every old coot that the boy knew seemed to have worn the same
jacket and clothes for years. Yet on this man everything, although obviously
not new, showed few marks of wear and tear; it was almost as if he had
simply sat here in them from the moment they were bought.  The boys eye was
instinctively drawn to the only item that showed any wear; the mans
gun-belt.  Even from this distance it looked to be battered and worn,
however the pistol in it's holster still caught the sun when it shined.

From what he could see of the mans wizened features the boy figured that he
must be at least seventy.   His skin was an odd mismatch, pulled taut in
some places, in others the wrinkles were so deep that they seemed to have
turned black.  The hair was thin wisps that seemed to have little life about
it even when disturbed by the gentle wind that blew.  At the thought of the
mans eyes, the boy shivered involuntarily again; glad he didn't have to look
at the full on, he could only see that they were dark and empty like
bottomless pits.  It was almost as if something of great evil had once dwelt
there, however, although it was now gone - an aura of it's presence still
lingered.  Breaking off from his scrutiny the boy thought that the man
looked pretty much dead.  In fact, if it wasn't that the man was sitting in
such an awkward position and that the boy was sure he'd seen the man's chest
rise, once or twice, he would have thought that the man had died already.

Another strange thing the boy had noticed was the lack of animals at the
cabin. Both on his way up and down from his home everyday, the boy saw a
variety of animals from birds to lizards to rodents, yet at the cabin the no
living thing stirred.

As the days passed the boy continued his observation of this lonely old man
that held vigil over the valley that stretched out below him, from before
dawn till after sunset. The boy often sat in the shade of a boulder his
lunch by his side gazing out at the view of the valley, but also watching
the main

On the last day the boy knew that something was different due to the
oppressive tension that seemed to loom in air about him.  Nervous but
undeterred the boy crawled silently to his usual spot to watch the old man.
Sure enough the man was already sitting on the log as before and the boy
settled in for the day.  As he sat there he noticed that the peculiar
atmosphere seemed to be stirring up quiet a storm on the horizon.  The boy
toyed with going home an seeking shelter, however he felt that this would be
giving in to the old man, and with childish courage decided if this old man
would brave the weather, he would too.  Uncertain, the boy watched the storm
approach, yet his eyes continually flicked back to the old man almost
willing him to move before the storm broke.

Suddenly he realised that he could hear nothing in the area about him,
everything had fallen to dead silence.  Licking his lips, he thought, "the
calm before the storm."

Then he felt the gentle flickering of a breeze on his face.  Glancing down,
he felt his gaze being drawn towards the old man.  Before his eyes, he saw
the body of the old man crumble in on itself.  Bile rising in his throat,
the boy couldn't tear his eyes away as first the head collapsed and then the
body, with the gentle breeze slowly dispersing the particles of the old man
into the air.  Within a couple of seconds, there was no evidence that the
old man had ever sat on the log, except the fine ash being drawn away on the
wind.

The sound of heavy drops of rain reached the boys senses first as he tried
to come to terms with what he had seen.  The rain grew heavier, the drops
soaking the boy's hair and making his shirt cling to his back, but still, he
didn't move.  Then, without quite knowing why, the boy started to cry.