Emotional Connections

1. GEORGE

I am going to write three stories, about three released prisoners.  500 words each.  This

is the first.  Each is a different emotion.

1.  GEORGE

The Emotion here is Despair.

George gave one last glance back at the prison, as the huge outside doors clanged noisily behind him. He gave a deep sigh and clasping a black plastic bag full of his worldly possessions, began to walk slowly down the road. An awful panicky feeling rose up through his chest and he began to perspire and shiver. 'Oh God' he thought, 'What am I going to do?' With each step he felt more insecure.

He had an address of an organisation who were going to help him, but what would the future hold for a seventy year old man? Fifteen years he'd been in that place and all for a crime he did not commit. Not that it mattered in the end as he had found Den and been happy, but now it was all over.

George walked on until he came to the city centre. He went into the nearest pub and ordered a large whiskey. Luckily the place was quiet and he took a seat in the corner. He hated being looked at. He was an ugly sod, with large staring eyes and pock marked skin. Den had laughed saying "Only a mother could love ugly buggers like us." And that was the time when George first told Den about his feelings. It was one of his happiest memories. "Den, why did you have to die?" he muttered.

He sipped his whiskey, remembering the shock when, two months ago, Den had collapsed in their shared cell and had been rushed to the hospital. It was all over quickly, a burst appendix turned bad and Den was dead. Den, just forty two years old, who had loved him and protected him and made him happy for six wonderful years.

George came to the end of his whiskey and ordered another. He was not a drinker and couldn't hold his drink, but that didn't bother him now. He had always been a weak sort of person, who was easily led by others and that's how he had got into trouble in the first place. As the whiskey hit the spot, George thought 'I'm gonna kill myself. I can't live without Den.' He ordered two more whiskeys and then left the pub in such a drunken state it was difficult for him to walk in a straight line.

He walked until he arrived at the river. Fortunately, there was no one in sight. He climbed up onto the bridge. He'd never had much of a life, so what did it matter that he ended it? A weak minded mother and an alcoholic father, both now dead, had been his lot. His thoughts turned back to Den. He lifted his arms wide and shouted,"I'm coming Den. Are you there?"

A deep, euphoric feeling filled his soul and tears flowed, unheeded down his cheeks. Feeling braver than he had ever felt before, George leaped from the bridge and down he went, down, down into the icy, dark waters, to be re-united with Den.   

**************************************

I must say I found it very difficult writing this with just 500 words, as I had a lot

more that I wanted to say, but I have tried hard to say what was important!