The Broken Man

• Hemisha Lal, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2016

I’d never met anyone quite like him. A man who could love so deeply and hope with all he had. A man who was filled with ambition so strong he could conquer the earth. A man who has the wildest dreams and the craziest inventions who never thought for second that it was impossible. Rather he pursued them and made them come true. He was a man full of money. He lived with riches and riches beyond compare. Everything he laid his eyes on or touched was full of money. People said his touch was a gift and that they had built there wealth from the luck that he gave them. He was said to be a god, a prized possession and even an angel. But he was just a man. A man who yearned to be understood. A man who loved the daughter of his only hate. A man who played the piano to escape from this world and go elsewhere. Whenever I watched him play he always found solace. He’s eyes grew distant and it seemed as though he was far away in another land or memory. He was just a man who grew up in the slums and made his fortune because he worked hard. He was just a broken man.
By Hemisha Lal