For a moment I felt anger, felt the need to destroy. It lay right in front of me, and I could have easily chose to ruin it, but what good would that have done? For what brought me anger was no more than harmless words bound together by paper. But the way these words flowed, and told their story, brought back bad memories. I held the bound pages in my hand and read the title out loud, "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" (by Thomas Hardy). The title echoed through my mind and I began to remember. I remembered hating these words and the story they told within, I remembered the horrible smell of the book and multitude of failed tests that the book brought about. For what I held in my hands was what I considered to be the worst piece of English Literature my eyes have ever read.

Often times I ponder why certain objects are abandoned and left behind, but for once in my life, I clearly understood why that book was forgotten. Ultimately I decided to leave the book behind unscarred, for perhaps the next person who comes across the book, will be able to appreciate it. However with much more to be explored in the abandoned abbey I moved on.

Footprints on the dust covered floors showed I was not the first person to walk the buildings lonely halls and definitely not the last. The majority of the abbey was empty, well except for the plethora of chairs and mattresses stacked in random rooms. The interior of the abbey seemed to lack the character that the exterior excelled in. Gloomy and dull, there was not much too be seen inside, that was until I entered the basement. Immediately I noticed what must have been at least a few hundred Coca-Cola cans all stacked together in a mountainous form. Feeling a bit parched, I grabbed a sealed can and took a sip, and to my surprise the soda was still carbonated and tasted fine. However looking back, it probably wasn't the best idea to drink abandoned soda, but what the hell, I'm still alive.

The exterior was far more eye catching than the interior. A beautiful red door stood out against the light brown brick facade. It was barely spring and already Ivy slowly started to suffocate the front of the monastery. The sun now hung low enough in the sky to where the abbey obscured it, allowing me to snap a few exterior shots, before making my exit.