Detached Day

Myra sat at the bench in the park all alone, staring into the cloudy sky. Sadness was clearly written across her face. Normally on days like today she would imagine the clouds as different animals, but today she just wasn’t feeling it. She tried closing her eyes and letting the light breeze sooth her, but it just tickled her hair against her cheek and annoyed her. None of her usual tricks were working. She crossed her arms and frowned.

Looking out over the park, not many things going on; a twenties-something playing catch with his dog, two older women power walking their way to calorie bloated lunches, and a ally cat staring up intently at some baby birds chirping away in their nest. Myra was startled when the man next to her first spoke, she hadn’t noticed him approach and he didn’t make any sounds prior this.

“Lovely day for a sit, isn’t it?” His voice came off in dulcet tones. He sat cross-legged next to her and looked to be in his late forties. He wore a time ravaged suit that was once black, now gray and tattered, and a top hat. His skin was a luminescent pale white, but he had amazingly dark features otherwise. He gave Myra a crooked cat like smile, which showed off is impossibly white glowing teeth.

“What the hell? Who are you?” Myra bellowed, she was very taken aback by her new companion. She had no idea how he got there, and how he did it so silently.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” He stood up, took off his top hat and bowed, “People call me Mr. Hume. It’s a pleasure to meet you… miss?” He held the bow with his hat behind him waiting on her response.

“My name is Myra.” Myra so caught off guard and dumbfounded by this display that she responded before her mind could stop her. Damn, she thought immediately after the words were past her tongue. Mr. Hume smiled at this, placed the hat back on his head and took his place next to her once more. She decided she wasn’t going to let this strange man ruin her day any more than it was already, so she chose to just ignore him.

“You look so sad Myra. Why do you suppose that is?” He asked looking off into the middle distance. He didn’t seem at all too interested in her actually answering him. This agitated Myra to no end. Who does that? Why does he care? Or not care? His body language was too hard for her to read. She was usually very good at reading people; she prided herself in being able to do so. She figured what the hell, this conversation might be at least a distraction, and well, while he looked creeperish, he seemed harmless enough.

“I’m not sad, per se. I just feel so alone.” The words surprised Myra as they came out her mouth.

“Alone? How can you feel alone? You have so many people vying for your attention all the time.” He responded.

How would he know, Myra thought, but as if under a spell, she found that she couldn’t stop the dialog. “Well yes, there are a lot of people in my life, but I only take from them. They offer me so much, they are like my toys, and it’s too easy.” Why was she saying all this? Deep down she knew it was true, but she would never let it cross her lips.

“True, why do you treat people like toys?”

“No!” Finally she felt a little control coming back, “It’s just, no one really challenges me, or if they do I rip them apart.”

“That sounds queer. So no one is in the same class as you?”

“Yeah, I’m unique.” This, this was what she knew to be true. No one was like her, could ever understand her. This was why she was alone.

“No, you know everyone wants to be unique. Everyone wants to be special. You know what’s funny about that?” He only waited long enough for her to ask, but continued on without her saying a word. “That’s what makes everyone the same. We all share that.”

“No we don’t. I’m different from every one else, no one feels alone like I do. Trust me, I’d know.”

“And how would you begin to know how other people think? You’re only concerned with controlling them, treating them like playthings, you don’t actually care about any thing other than yourself.” His words hurt, but he had no contempt in his voice. He was just stating fact, and she knew it. She felt alone, because she was alone, but only insofar as she actually wanted to be alone. This didn’t make sense; she didn’t want to be alone. She’d read the fairytales, she’d seen the people who were happy and had friends, they weren’t alone. Was she alone? She was so confused now.

“You see, until you learn to try and understand people, really understand people, you will feel alone, but know that, because of that, you’re really not alone. You’re just like everyone else who’s just like you.” She turned to respond, but he was gone, disappeared like smoke in the wind.

-V-