Sombre

Thirteen year old Scott knew there was something different about the town of Sombre. Sombre is Located in the country with a population of a mere 200 people, the community was close-knit. A railway line ran through the town with a small station but this section of the railway line had been closed for thirty years, with the station being cruely vandalised. A small pub and hotel located in the centre of the town was Sombre’s main social gathering. One of the things which had always interested Scott was when the people began to talk of an old man who had just shifted to Sombre. His name was Charlie Miller. He owned the general store, just down the road from the pub. Alot has been said about Charlie Miller. Some people say he moved here because his wife died of cancer and wants to die peacfully on his own. Others had much darker stories about Charlie, which Scott was too scared to listen too, but that must have been the alcohol speaking, Scott reassured himself.

Scott lived on a quarter acre block with his parents, in a small but cosy house over the railway lines, just before the sawmill. There weren’t any other kids who were Scott’s age in the town, so he did’t have too many friends. It was a Monday morning, knowing that his mum would tell him to walk to the general store to buy some milk and cereal, Scott being afraid of the new owner he hid under his blankets and tried to pretend he was still asleep. But it didn’t fool his mum. Scott put on his boots and began his 10 minute walk to the general store. As he approached the general store he saw Tim, who had just come out of the general store. He was staring at the ground as he walked, very unlike Tim who was usually full of energy and very talkative, a very kind person. When Scott said hi, Tim replied in a very depressive and soft voice "hey".

The general store was actually a house were Charlie Miller lived, with the front of the house being the general store.There were two fuel pumps out the front of the store, which took forever to pump petrol into a car. A sign hung above the front door saying general store, on a large plank of wood that swung back and forth with every gust of wind.

Scott approached the door slowly, turning his head every time the sign above his head screeched as it swung. He pushed the door open and took a step on to the hard wooden floor. Scott looked around but couldn’t see Charlie anywhere. The store wasn’t anything special, it was only a fairly large room. There was a long U shaped bench with many shelves behind them. There was a small hallway to the back where Charlie lived. You didn’t have to collect the things yourself to buy, instead you would ask the owner what you needed and he would collect it for you. Scott walked up to the bench and pressed the small buzzer. Scott heard the sounds of foot steps slowly approaching from the hallway. One step would sound right after the other, with a pause before the next two sounds of the footsteps, which suggested a limp. Charlie entered the room wearing a worn out shirt and dirty pants. He had a patch on his left eye and a pair of glasses, which seemed odd.