Wilting Memories: An Excerpt
By A.H, Year 9
The Beginner’s Guide To Living Through Dying
The house would remain untouched within the thick fog on the lower part of North. Flowers began to wilt underneath the sun, facing the stone wall that was yards away in the distance, as if they were aware about its existence. It was early, the end of dawn but the beginning of the morning.
A man stood in front of the home, his shadow casting behind him in interest, like a being who watched over him without his knowledge. He was dressed finely in a suit and tie, yet up close he looked rather disorganised and somewhat sluggish. The home’s door was left open, inviting in every gust of wind. Cicadas chirped and roared in the trees surrounding them, like a warning sign to whoever had crossed the area.
Humanity’s perception of life was never for the weak. It was a disaster that had been planted into the form of a sunflower, dancing with the wind as its petals slowly melted off its body. The man’s body ran cold, something emerging from his shadow in which he couldn’t tell, almost like a whisper in his ear. He thought nothing of it, turning his back towards the house as he faded away, thinking his decision would be for the best.
It wasn’t. He was legally declared as dead after going missing, his body undiscovered by those who tried their best to find him.
The wind continued to whistle slowly without him, a presence lingering in the mist.
Watching.
This piece, The Beginner’s Guide To Living Through Dying, is an excerpt from Wilting Memories, a novella written by A.H in Story Factory’s Year of the Novella program. In this program, young people commit to attending workshops for a year and write their very own poetry collection, which is professionally edited, published and launched into the Sydney literary landscape.