Sunny Hill by Zion Law-Sandell

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It's a well-known park, a well-travelled park. But just up at the back near the church and graveyard, hidden by a wall of bushes, there’s a small, ill-trodden path at the very top of the hill. Coming back from the leisure centre, still in uniform and walking along the motorway, we found our way up the steep paved walkway to the top of the hill, passing by the Sunny Hill cafe and a few older men flying kites in the autumn afternoon breeze. 

People were leaving in droves now, having finished their afternoon coffees and teas, picking up their children from school or finishing their own classes. The park was alive with motion, dogs barking, small children screaming here so they would be quiet when they got home, but all of that fell away as we passed that final crossroad at the crest of the hill. 

“Before moving to Barnet for university I don't think I had ever really seen a sunset. I mean I've been to the beach and I've seen the sun, set. I’ve seen pictures on social media, I've seen drawings in shows and cartoons and all that, but this… this is something else. I don't…” Opal's voice trailed off as she came to rest behind the green metal bench, sucking in a shallow breath.  

Her feet felt heavy, weighed down as if her shoes were lead. She stood, rooted in place on the edge of that path, resting her hands on the backing of the park bench as she stared out over the quiet hillside. The copperish light that fell through the sparse filter of the clouds made her brown skin glow golden as her braided hair fell about her face in the cool evening air. 

“I get your meaning. I moved here from Croydon. Back there everything is flat, and even though I lived in a highrise I never saw sunsets like this. The elevation here just makes the skyline pop!” Toni said, leaning his back against Opal's hands and crossing his legs on the bench. 

The pastel blues and beiges in his clothes complemented his fair skin and the sunlight bounced around through his shiny dark hair, making the unbrushed mess he normally kept in a cap look like a lighter shade of the woody brown that framed his face. He pushed a hair aside, looking up to the sky and taking another drag from the “cigarette” he probably shouldn't be smoking so close to campus. Suddenly he bolted upright, coughing and tossing the butt of the now spent tab to the ground and pacing to try to catch his breath before tripping over their bike resting nearby and tumbling down the hill. 

Opal thought of helping him as he lay in a heap at the bottom of the hill still coughing, but couldn't bring herself to move, staring out over the trees as the arch of the Wembley stadium and the masts of cranes in far off construction yards shifted from framing the orange light to blocking it from view as the sun set.  

It wasn't till the sky had turned from orange and pink to blue and purple that Toni was able claw his way up from the bottom of the hill. 

“Thanks for all your help!” he had said it as if he was mad, but Opal could hear him laughing at himself on his way up. 

“You're fine! Also what did you expect me to do? You jumped down the hill!” she said smiling as she stepped back from the bench before reaching down to throw a rucksack over her shoulder. 

“I tumbled, I tripped, down the hill, okay,” he threw his arms out, gesturing as if confronting a great betrayer, whilst he waddled up the hill, panting from the exertion. “And you could have at least come down with me so I didn't have to walk back up on my own like a dumb*ss”  

“‘Appear as you are, be as you appear.’ Muhammad Rumi said that.” She picked up the bike as she spoke, with that sarcastically wise tone people take when they insult you to your face. 

“Wha-what is that supposed to mean!? Are you saying that I appear as a dumb*ss?” 

“And you are as you appear.” 

Opal tossed a second bag to Toni as he crested the hill and stepped onto the path. They spoke about nothing and argued about everything as they strode through the emptying park. Past the brick walls caked in graffiti and the broken fence walls that led into the shadiest of backyards.  

Past the pavings that must have been laid before the trees of the park had fully grown, with how high the cracks popped out of the ground, elevated by the thickest roots of the widest trees. Past the raised and enclosed stage-like area that served as one of the park's many entrances and a convenient place for people, young and old, to go and “smoke” after a long day. 

They walked till the sky turned from blue to the deep familiar velvety black of night and the street lamps came on. They walked till their legs grew so sore they had to sit back down at that same bench and the park grew silent. Their little ritual at the end of a tiring week. 

“Toni… as beautiful as the sun sets are, I love to stargaze here with you,” her voice was a beacon in the cold quiet of the night, she stared upwards past the leaves of the overhanging tree branch, into the sky. 

“Don't get all mushy on me…” Toni stifled a dry laugh, his voice betrayed how tired he really was, it was probably far past time to head home.  

“No, genuinely, even if it's just the smoke talking, thank you for showing me this place.” 

Written by Zion Lee-Sandell. Published 6 May 2025.

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