Evening Watch
by
Tripleguess
21 March 2005
The city had changed a lot since then. Structures torn down, others erected, streets repaved, repainted, renamed...
In other ways, it hadn't changed at all.
His feet took him there without direction from him. He'd walked this way so many times, it was almost like coming home.
In a way, maybe it was.
There - that corner.
Oh, the original building was gone now, but he didn't mind, really. It would have been just a lonely landmark without her, anyways; an empty monument, a dusty reminder of days long past and far, far away. A lifetime of maybes and bittersweet questions, whose answers could give no less pleasure than pain.
He lingered there while the sun went down, guardian to a silent memory, while the shadows lengthened and the temperature dropped. He was old now and the cold bothered him more than it once had. Still, he accepted his life as he always had, as they always had; a gift to be savored, a race to be run, a challenge to be met and fought honorably. And as he stood here now in the dusk of his long years, he regretted nothing; brought no quarrel to fate, laid no charges against destiny.
Oh, there were hurts and scars; that was life. His longevity had carried him beyond many friends, but the separation wasn't permanent. He would join them soon. In the meantime, he stored up small things to tell them. How the morning looked different when greeted alone; how food and drink tasted different without them.
How much he had missed them. How much he'd wanted to see them again. How worthwhile the wait had been.
And her, to tell her. That age might have caressed her face, slowed her movements, and seasoned her spirit, but had never made her anything but lovely and dear to them.
She'd like that.
The city had changed so much since then. In other ways, it hadn't changed at all. He watched the windows light up one by one, curtained and shuttered by other hands; warmed by other presences.
By the time the stars came out, he was gone.
-The End-
Disclaimer: This story is neither created nor endorsed by Mirage. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles® are registered trademarks of Mirage Studios USA. Evening Watch itself is fan domain and may be freely recopied and archived.
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