The doors close like ticks of a giant irregular clock, he can hear the boys getting ready for Easter break, all the bustle and play. Laughter and merriment fill the corridor. But for him there is only sadness, a sickness in the pit of his stomach. Term ending means a return to the house and his mother’s wrath. The joy outside his room as boys scrape their trunks and lug their sports equipment and instruments along the wooden corridors. For them, they are going home. For him, here is home. This is his safe place. This is his sanctuary. With each slam of a door, this irregular clock ticks one more moment closer to his own inevitable departure, he will delay and procrastinate all he can but ultimately he will have to leave like he does every year. To be picked up by Williams in the gleaming Rolls Royce that all the other boys’ envy but he just sees as a symbol of his oppression. How he dreams of a normal family, laughing with a mother who cares and a father to take him on trips, perhaps to see a football match or go fishing together. To share time. Precious Time.
[Excercise from Sue Cooper at York Uni to write something in 10 minutes about the emotional response to doors closing.]
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