To Say Goodbye…..

Here’s a new contribution from Mark Hayes, @StanDupstrait on Twitter. Cheers Mark. Good work in very short notice.

Jason could not work out why he had returned to Holbeck. He always had it down as a ‘bloody dump’, but strangely, he found himself drawn to it. The Temple Works in particular….

He had died in a car accident on the motorway. A lorry driver had fallen asleep at the wheel and smashed into his car in the second lane. Jason did not even realise he was dead, even now. There was something keeping him in the void, something related to the Temple Works, especially at Christmas…but what??

His memories were not quite fading yet. He remembered how his Dad became ill and his Mum crying herself to sleep at nights, how he used to get detention at school for being a bully. He remembered his first job in the chicken factory and the games of football on a Sunday morning.Then, the memory of standing forlornly in the middle of the motorway watching cars and ambulances pull up at the side of the mangled wreck which was his car.

Flash to the hospital, the failed efforts to resucitate him….Judy breaking down into endless tears as she was told he was no longer of this realm….Getting in to watch football for free, the crowd passing through him….he could see all their thoughts and memories too, quite overcrowding in his spirit mind.

Jason looked up at the stone pillars of Temple Works, trying to figure out why he was there. He could hear music from somewhere, ‘Life In A Northern Town’ by Dream Academy. It had been his Dad’s favorite tune. Christmas was fast approaching and some drunken youths covered in tinsel  staggered past. As he turned to look up Marshall Street, he could see a woman approaching, arms filled with flowers, blonde, very pale looking.

Judy, he thought.

As he looked on, Judy kneeled on the pavement and arranged the flowers at the bottom of the railings.

“I’ll never forget you”, she said, through her tears, “everytime I walk past this place, I’ll remember you with all my heart”.

“I’m here, darling, always”, said Jason, kneeling down beside her, wishing he could put his arm around her. Together, they wept.

“Goodbye Jason”, she stammered.

“I’m OK really”, he said, but Judy just got back to her feet. Jason was still on the ground, looking up into her pale, drawn face.

“Goodbye”, he said, and at that moment, the feeling hit him like a sledgehammer. When the accident had occurred, he was on his way home from work. They had parted on bad terms that day and had not spoken.

Jason again began to cry, “I love you with all my heart”, he said.

At that moment, a blinding white light appeared from nowhere. Jason had to shield his eyes from the glare. The song in the background became louder and it looked like a solitary figure stood there, beckoning.

“Come on son”, said the figure, “Tha’s done what tha needed to do. It’s time to let go”.

“Dad?”, said Jason, dis-believingly.

“Aye, come on, everythin’ll be alrate”, he said, “just take me ‘and”

Jason looked at Judy then back at his Dad. He felt strongly drawn to the light. He now realised that he DID have un-finished work to do. He’d had to say goodbye to Judy and now he had. He felt a floating sensation and found himself looking down on the top of Temple Works in the grim light.

The song continued playing…….

‘A Salvation Army band played

And the children drank lemonade

And the morning lasted all day,

All day’…………..