It was a sweltering Saturday evening, I was cruising down the highway at 110km per hour, the pulsars steering wheel rattling in protest. "Dear god" by avenged sevenfold turned way up through cracked 20 year old speakers.

After 100km of nothingness I approach a sign signaling an upcoming town. It was faded, cracked and burnt, not too unlike the surrounding landscape. I appeased the pulsars death rattle and slowed down to 50 as I pulled past the first house. It was a shambles. Long since forgotten by its last inhabitants, null of a roof and front door. Not an uncommon sight in some of these small towns I thought, as I continued on.

Perhaps inspired by my surroundings, I badly needed a drink of water, so I pulled the car into the single carpark of a sad, sorry pub that had called last drinks some time ago. It then dawned on me that I was very much alone.

Nothing within eye shot had been disturbed for years. Broken bottles, rusty car parts, desert weeds snaking their way through the cracks between the timbers of what was left of the abandoned buildings. For some, this meant a desolate, depressing wasteland. For me it felt like home.

With little hesitation I worked my way from house to house, from collapsed shed to burnt out car shell. With each new discovery the mystery of the last wandering hermit to call this harsh and unforgiving land home, grew more and more intriguing. So many books! Encyclopedia, architecture magazines, Mills & Boone novels, instruction booklets for a brand new blender circa 1987. One shed contained ancient oils and ointments, another an enormous engine in a state of frozen, un-ending repair.

Who were you hermit? I pictured a man, proud and skilled. He made a home for himself in these ruins. Scavenging to survive.

Who were you hermit? I pictured somebody who had been through some shit. He was hiding but not afraid. He didn’t want to be here but he had made peace with it.

Who were you hermit? The question stayed with me as i wandered back outside between broken, twisted debris to the sight of this building and this sky. I like to think this was the hermits palace. Proudly overlooking his abandoned, creepy kingdom from the top of the town.

Who were you hermit?