The Statue (fiction)

I used to pass a statue in the park every day, on my way to school. It was of a man walking, and covering his ears. I always thought it had a strange expression, like it was afraid of something.
I don't go by there so much any more, after Uni I've been working up in the city and I only get down for holidays, and even that isn't as often as it used to be. It's since then that I've noticed.
The statue creeps. It moves. Every time I come down for Christmas it's slightly different, and a little further down the path. It's as if it's walking very... very slowly. At first, I ignored it. Then, when I couldn't do that any more, I just assumed I was going a little crazy. One in four people have some kind of mental illness, and this was mine. A walking statue, no big deal. At least I didn't think there were tiny men living in my walls, or that the lady who brought the tea around at work was a lizard alien from Alpha Centauri... Right?
But I couldn't get it out of my head. And I didn't want to go see some one, because thinking you're crazy is so much less scary than the idea of some doctor confirming it for you. So I tried to avoid it. But that didn't work, I'd go for a walk and bang, there I'd be. I would dream about it, wonder whether the statue was alive, or try and convince myself it was a prank by some particularly patient artist. So I looked up the sculptor, and the story got stranger. There was no record of anyone commissioning the thing, no record of it being unveiled, or even installed. No record at all, other than the odd picture on Facebook of the statue with a Santa hat on, or some drunk person draped over it.
The pictures gave me an idea, so I put them all together. There was one or two every year for the last five years, and in each the arms were a little different, and the facial expression changed. The feet moved too, in an inexorably slow shuffle, as if it were walking against a terrible wind. I wondered what it must be like to be the statue, if the world went past that fast it must seem like it is all noise and chaos. I imagined wading through time like an ancient tree, slowly being weathered down by the elements.
I felt, finally, like I was on to something. Like this might actually be happening. I showed it to my friend Sarah at work, and she thought it was moving too. I didn't tell her where I got the pictures from though, just let her think it was some internet prank. And I started going back home on alternate weekends, to see my parents... and take a photograph of the statue.
My parents noticed something was up after the first few times I came down. They tried to ask about it... was it something at work, was I having problems with my girlfriend (she had broken up with me after the nightmares got worse, but that's another story), I tried to tell them that it wasn't any of that, that I just wanted to spend more time with them now that I could afford to, but they didn't buy it. I had never been that keen to come home before after all. Before I had thought I was crazy, but now... I couldn't stay away.
Soon, I had a flick book, and an intervention on my hands. I came back from my walk to find my family, and a bunch of my old school friends. They had even roped in a couple of people from work who I didn't see as much as I used to; all waiting for me in the living room. They had found my pictures, and spread them on the coffee table.
I tried to show them what I had found out about the statue, but the pictures were all out of order. When I tried to order them, they looked at me like I'd gone nuts. Me! They weren't listening to what I had to say, they all just shook their heads. When I insisted, my dad got angry, and the old man threw them in the fireplace. All that work went up in smoke faster than would have thought possible, and though I had backups on my laptop, it made me so angry...
Anyway, I lost my temper, and that's how I got here, writing this letter. They keep me pretty sedated most of the time, but they say I'll be able to go soon. I just nod and smile, but I know they'll never let me back there... back to the park. So I'm leaving this message on my website, along with the pictures. If you're reading this, and you don't think I'm crazy, go take a picture and upload it for me. Maybe I'll have enough some day to make a proper video. That'll show them!