Homework #1

Here it is! I know you've all been dying to read this. I must warn you that it turned out to be slightly sadistic. I started writing it at the end of a rather bad day, so I'm blaming the depressing nature on that. I won't feel bad if you don't read it.

At the bottom of a small hillside rests a an old, miserable looking cabin. Although the foundation appears strong, the weather worn facade betrays the building's long lifespan. Where once a front door was hung, now lay two two by fours, extending out of the doorway like two tongue depressors and forming two narrow, precarious bridges from the hillside to the doorway. Without them, one would have to either leap or climb into the cabin. Tall, skinny trees surround the cabin, but they do not fully protect it from the hot afternoon sun. In the heat of the day, the sun beats down upon the roof of the cabin, and the blinding reflection of the sun's rays blend in so well with the sky behind it that there appears to be no roof at all.

The humble cabin was built by humble people with very little means. Every square foot meant more money spent, forcing them to build as few as possible. Their meager resources allowed them a home with only two small rooms on the main level and a small attic above. The rooms on the main level include a living/kitchen/dining room and a bedroom. The attic entrance is found in the far corner of the bedroom where a splintered ladder rests against the wall and leads up to a small hole in the ceiling. Indoor plumbing not being an option, outside and obscured by the cabin and forest trees is a rusty pump and an outhouse.

Inside, darkness and gloom reside, and the smells of dust and age fill the air. Few furnishings exist. In the first room sits a table and two chairs, and in the bedroom lies a bed without a blanket or even a sheet, offering only coldness. The only warmth and light in the house comes from three small windows. Dust mites dance in the rays, and the light reveals the colorless rooms and furnishings covered with blankets of dust and neglect that hide their forgotten original states. The first owners long ago left their home and furnishings behind, and there it remained for countless years, empty and forgotten. If passersby ever came across it, they would think it empty still. They'd be partly right. For, the person living in this miserable cabin is barely living at all.

His name is Peter, and he is as miserable as this cabin. That's why he chose it. After wandering in the woods for weeks, he came upon this sorrowful place and saw that it was filled with sadness and regret. He looked on it, saw there was no owner, and thought, "This is the place for me."

Everyday he sits in a chair by the attic window and overlooks the surrounding forest. He tortures himself with the beautiful sights and sounds of the world, while inside, he marinates in his own sadness and the sadness of the cabin that is as prevalent as each particle of dust. He ponders his miserable existence and the choices that lead him to this point. He cannot allow a man such as himself to be a part of anything good and happy, so he has banished himself in this solitary place.

He wonders about the cabin and what circumstances and choices left it sad and alone like him. The cabin wonders about him too. What could a man do that would consign him to such misery? Well, neither would ever know the others' secret pasts. Alone they would sit, each becoming a part of the other's sadness, stewing in a boiling pot of their united misery.