The lion exists in my head.
There was a statue, in front of a small park roughly halfway between his house and the train station, of a bronze lion, forever sitting on a pedestal, glaring out at the passing world. The man patted it absently every time he passed it on his daily jaunt to watch the trains. He rubbed the great gold head, watching the light glow on the areas dark with age, and glitter over the patches worn smooth by countless children sitting proudly on its back and petting its head even as he did. Then his feet would carry him past, hand sliding off warm metal, and he would continue to the train station, to wait for no one and imagine that, just maybe, the next train to come in would carry his lover who had never returned.
The sightless eyes of the great bronze cat had known this man for years, ever since the first day he had passed, proud and smart in a bright blue uniform. Even then, in his confident self-importance, his gloved fingers had reached out to brush gleaming metal. The lion had watched him pass from time to time, sometimes alone, at other times surrounded by a contingent in like uniform. It had seen him come with another, both faces lit with joy in the other's presence, and later alone again, face shattered with grief.
The man's face gradually changed, grief fading but never lost, thick black hair slowly threading with silver. He began coming more often, first weekly and then daily, though his pace was no longer the confident step it had been when the lion first knew him. But his hand was familiar, fingers never failing to brush against the fierce head.
And the lion's blind eyes watched the man come, hand trembling as the man reached out to it one last time, and the lion's deaf ears heard a softly whispered secret come from his gently smiling lips, and the lion watched him go, feet slowly treading once more the path to the train station.
And the lion sat eternally on its pedestal, guarding the gates to the park as countless children sat proudly on its back and pat its golden head. Though it never saw the man again, it remembered forever the secret whispered to it long ago, that Roy's lover was finally coming back for him.
Take this as you will.
Hey, I wrote an angsty fic...wow. Review and you will get a hug!...because everyone needs a hug.
