Recession

Bustling shoppers hurry by, struggling under the burden of too many bags - they ignore me. Children race past, up and down the mall's busy thoroughfare, paying no attention to protestations from their weary mothers - they pay no attention to me either. The metal shutters which barricade my once bright façade have cast me into obscurity. My neighbours, those who were luckier than I have been, seem to taunt me. They are vibrant and brilliant under their neon lights while I live in the shadows; my lights have long since been distinguished. Abandoned, forgotten and forlorn, I am haunted by memories of happier times. I am an insignificance, nothing but a relic of a more prosperous period; an unwelcome reminder of lost hope and abandoned dreams.