29/9/08. Creative writing: Phillip Kelly.
Observation outside.
As I sit outside near the student union diner and college shop , on a bench that must be as old as time itself , I take a while to relax and reflect upon the new surroundings and new situations that await me on my new adventure. While I sit , quite comfortably , all my troubles seem to be drifting away on the warm , whispering wind of autumn.
There are different people passing by me every minute , most of them unfamiliar with each other. A young man and woman just walked by linking hands with each other , engaged happily in deep conversation. The young man is wearing black , baggy pants and a black T-shirt with a rock music image on the front in white print ; his thick , rough , wild hair is as black as coal. In contrast the young woman is wearing a denim skirt and a pink T-shirt with a white cardigan over the top that has a flower design on it ; she has the most beautiful short , blonde hair. Here are two friendly people so different in looks and personality yet so agreeable and at ease in each others company ; it is like watching a pantomime of the epic fairy tale ‘Beauty and the Beast’.
All around me I hear the pleasant chattering of students ; the melodic twittering of birds as they bustle about in the tall , towering trees ; the rustling of leaves , themselves about to change as autumn commands each year. These trees are my guardians ; they surround me as if they are watching over and protecting me. The rhythmic and soothing melody of easy listening music can be heard playing in the background. I feel a strange tranquillity and contentment from the noises that reach my ear. From within the diner I smell the wonderful aromas of cooked food , a smell that tries to lure and entice me to enter and devour all the contents within. Of these smells I can distinctly distinguish that of chips and coffee. I feel as though I have lost all sense of reality and have entered a fantasy world that is a paradise to me!
Could this really be a fantasy world ? Am I really in a place of paradise ?
All at once my tranquillity is shattered , my paradise lost as reality starts fighting back and begins to overcome the fantasy. BANG ! BOOM ! the bass blasts out as rock music drowns out the peaceful sounds from earlier. The wonderful aromas are consumed and smothered by the foul smell of cigarette smoke as students begin smoking and invite the grim reaper to come and take them away to the land of the dead. Shortly after the area is empty , but still noisy. A feeling of emptiness and loneliness comes over me. I wait a few moments. Then I leave.
