Author Note: This fic really could be about any of the Ranger guys, so just use your imagination, I know who I'm thinking of as I write it. It's only short, but that's the idea really.
Closing Down
By Matt
It was true that his life, thus far, had not been easy, but there was always the constant thought that no matter how bad it was, it could have been so much worse. He was lucky really. He had never wanted for anything, never been without the things he wanted, but maybe things weren't what he wanted. As a child, he had been popular, but not without incident. He was often in trouble, always seeking adventure and excitement, always the leader of the pack.
Then had come the teenage years, and as time drew on things started to change. No longer was he the center of attention, becoming quieter, more timid and less adventurous. Gradually, over the years, his circle of friends shrank, until only a few remained. The reasons for this were simple really, he pushed them away. Whenever someone tried to get close, the fear would fill him, the constant fear he always felt, the fear of being hurt.
Then, he found happiness, of sorts. Something happened that brought him close with the others as a team. They worked together, and he started to reassemble some semblance of the life he had cherished as a child. Life still had its ups and downs, but then, whose didn't? Nothing catastrophic struck him, allowing him to build up some sort of life. Things were getting better and better. His life was finally back on the right track, his circle of friends growing by the week.
Then it happened. Someone left. Someone he had come to count on and actually started to trust. It threw things into total disarray. The team he had cared about so much seemed incomplete, the friends he had gathered didn't seem teh same any more, for one of the central people was gone, leaving him with, what now seemed to be, a bunch of total strangers. But he got around it, pushing himself full on into his daily activities, so much so that he had no time for anything else.
At home, his family never even noticed the change. It's not that he hid it from them, it's just that they never even saw it in him. He had changed so much and they didn't even seem to care. The same with his friends. each one seemed closer than before somehow, but could they really not see what was happening to him? Were they that blind, or just plain ignorant? It was something that really bugged him. Everyone who cared for him didn't even know something was wrong, and he couldn't just tell them, as every time he planned what to say, he realised how insignificant he sounded.
Gradually things started to wind down. Everything he had enjoyed before didn't seem to interest him. he had no energy to put into these things and they were fading away, everything was, and he didn't know how to stop it. It was all slipping away before his very eyes, and as much as he hated to see it all go, he liked it. The old was disappearing, making way for the new, but that was still far from happening. before it could, the old had to vanish completely. Every time he tried to cleanse himself of the things he used to know, something would show up and hold him back, never enough to rekindle a spark of his former life, but enough to stop him reaching for the next stage in his life.
It dawned on him soon. There was only one thing to do. the old, the past, can not be changed, but it can be left behind, so he had to go. The past had to be put where it belonged, and as he did so, thoughts of what the future held rushed through his mind. Change was coming, just as soon as his old life was closed down completely.