3 Word Wednesday #33

Each week, I will post three (or more) random words. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write something using all of those words. It can be a few lines, a story, a poem, anything. This is a writing exercise. It doesn't have to be perfect. The idea is to let your mind wander and write what it will. I'll also attempt to write something using the same three words.

Leave a comment if you participate. Many fun and interesting people might visit your blog.

This week's words are:
Background
Swings
Against

The park was completely empty when Ray arrived. The wind off the water made the day seem colder, lonelier. Picnic tables, the walking trail, and playground equipment, normally alive with kids and families and couples, looked especially empty today against the gray background of the January sky.

Ray sat on a park bench facing the water. Pulling his collar up to try and cover his ears, he bowed his head and closed his eyes. Not to pray, just to think. He had not prayed in a long time.

Though he hid it well from family and friends, Ray was deeply depressed. And being laid off from his job had left him feeling he was at the end of his proverbial rope. That's why he had come here. While it would sound crazy to most, it was easy for Ray to believe the deep, frigid waters could wash away his worries and problems.

The wind picked up, then calmed quickly, almost eerily. Ray's thought process was broken by the sound of someone sobbing. He turned to see a young lady sitting on one of the swings, her head down, her hands up by her shoulders, wrapped tightly around the metal chains. He had not even heard her come up.

Without thinking, he got up and approached the girl. She failed to acknowledge his presence as he stopped a little to the right and in front of the swing.

"What's the matter?" Ray inquired in his most comforting voice.

"Nothing. Please.... go away. I don't want anyone to see me like this," the girl kept her head down, now turning it slightly away as she spoke.

"Please tell me," Ray persisted. He noticed the girl shivering and took off his coat and put around her.

"It's my beloved Walter. He... he died in the war," she replied, her voice breaking as she spoke.

Ray would have been speechless, except he felt he had to say something. "I'm so sorry. The whole Iraq War is terrible. It's just terrible."

"Oh no, sir," she said, appearing slightly confused as she looked Ray in the face for the first time. "My Walter was killed in The Great War. And now I haven't anyone to live for. I haven't a reason to go on."

"You shouldn't talk about such things. You're a beautiful young lady. You have your whole life yet to live," Ray tried his best to console the young girl, his own confusion taking a backseat to her situation. But it didn't seem to be helping. She started crying again, even harder than before.

"Ma'am, please. It's too cold for you to be out here. You should go home. Where do you live?"

The girl pointed as she spoke thru tears, "I used to live in those apartments right over there. But now I no longer have a home."

Ray turned to look in the direction the girl was pointing and saw only a strip mall. He looked in every direction. There were no apartments to be seen anywhere. While he was turned away, the girl continued, "Please don't tell my father you saw me here."

The wind picked back up and Ray found himself back on the park bench. He looked towards the playground. The swings were empty. As quickly as she had appeared, the girl was gone.

Ray began to shiver almost uncontrollably, and realized he was holding his coat rather than wearing it. He put it on, turned up the collar, and bowed his head again.

This time he prayed.

"Wherever it may take me, I know that life won't break me. When I come to call, she won't forsake me. I'm loving angels instead..."