MEMORIES BEST FORGOTTEN
Dried milk on the counter yellow and flaking in long since dried pools like a desert
The kitchen sink was dark brown but I am sure it wasn’t bought that way
They were surrounded by dark walls that if could speak would probably only scream
Dirty floors covered in grease and years of grime, years of tears
Newspapers stacked almost from floor to ceiling.
If you were to pull out the one on the very bottom it would say in bold letters “THE WAR IS OVER!”
They stand like Royal Guards at the base of the stairs
Those stairs
So dreary
So cold
No light would ever escape down them.
You could put lights on every step and you still couldn’t see a damn thing
So steep it was like climbing a ladder covered in dirt and hair
The bathroom was no better it was always too cold
Not just cold.
No
This was a bone chilling cold
Many times if you were to turn around too quickly you could see something scurry away
Hiding in the darkness that surrounded its corners
Their safe haven
One wall was a big window with fogged textured glass
You know the kind
Standing preparing to slip into a hot bath when suddenly a distorted face appears to
watch your every move
It never happened yet the thought was always there
The wall outside was so close it gave away nothing in the way of light
Just how the house liked it
You cannot reveal a secret
If you cannot see it
The living room had what looked like 1930s wallpaper
Nicotine stained and peeling revealing depression and loss
Its carpet had a well-trodden path from too many years of use
Those dark stairs they would always beckon you
Where did they lead?
2 small rooms as dark, dirty and cold as the rest of the house
My room was at the back to where it seemed the sun could never shine
Just a faint light to show you, your breath
My view was that of the other houses so close it made you feel claustrophobic
So dark if you stared at them to long you wanted to kill yourself
My view also gave me the roof of the bathroom
And the garden (if you could call it that)
A cement block with a door leading to the maze of alleyways filled with rubbish and dog shit
Of discarded mattresses and lost lives
The history of this house is mostly unknown
And of what is known is too sad to tell
I only ever stayed there once