The Tale of Sybil - The Magic of The World

Chapter 7, Half of a spark

The loud alarm has been ringing for what feels like an eternity. There's a fine line between tolerating an alarm and going insane because of it. This one almost got to the insane part.

From under the blanket, a hand reaches for the phone to turn it off. A few clicks on the wrong buttons later, Andreas gets from under the blanket to swipe the alarm off.

Around noon he has a meeting with some friends, some preparations are in order before that.

Expectedly, once the alarm is off, he goes back to sleep for just one more minute. It's actually 1 hour later when he properly wakes up but we've all been there. He still has enough time to prepare for the meeting.

Who is Andreas you might ask. He's a normal guy. There's nothing special about him to the eyes of a passerby but today, he's going to become a side character in Sybil's story, without his acknowledgement.

The morning is almost noon.

Today is a beautiful day. The sun is out, the weather is warm, it's weekend and everything is alive.

Andreas gets up from the bed and starts going mentally through the list of things he has to do. The normal: brushing teeth, eat something quick, choose clothes, meet up with friends, have fun.

He proceeds with his routine.

The clothes he chose are pretty comfortable and casual, nothing too special. A gray t-shirt, blue jeans, a cream leather jacket.

Looking in the mirror, he starts to smile. Pretty content with the look he has created. The jacket compliments his blond hair. That's why he chose this particular jacket.

Getting out of the apartment, the next stop is the bus station. The bus he waits for is 6. Same routine as always, yet today is going to be different.

Just like everyone else, Andreas doesn't have events that happen out of the blue. There isn't anything memorable in his daily life unless he plans then.
He is your normal guy, who feels lonely, who has trust issues, who doesn't stand out.

The bus comes.

The first stop arrives. Then it passes. So does the second one.
At the third one though, Sybil gets in.

Today is an all black day for her. Her jeans are black, the t-shirt is black, her mask and cap are black. Yet somehow, her presence caught Andreas' attention.

They exchanged a couple of glances.

He wonders what she thinks.
She bops her head based on the song she listens to. "It must be a pretty good song," he thinks.

Except a few glances that he throws in her direction, nothing happens. We don't bother others with our curiosity usually.

Soon half of the bus stops would have passed.
Sybil turns to head towards a door. She has to get down here.

Andreas' eyes follow her. That's how he knew the moment she turned towards him. "She wants to say something," was all he thought.
Numbness took over his body. No thought was running through his mind yet he felt overwhelmed like he was thinking too much at once.

The unknown has this trait, to scare us. Unfortunately, this is an unknown he cannot avoid today.

"I like your vibe", the fairy like voice of Sybil managed to say.

Her gaze was piercing through him like she was ready for combat, maybe she was fighting something, her fear to speak her mind.

The compliment was the arrow that hit a pretty nice target. As a result, a smiled blooms on his face.
"Thank you"
He still didn't know what else to say. Sybil still looked at him, she wanted to say something more perhaps?

"Have a nice day" is the last thing she said before heading towards the door that opened.

Andreas could tell she was smiling behind the mask. The air was a bit awkward but he felt overwhelmed by this strange situation.

"You too!"

He manages to shout right before the doors closed again.

Unlike the first part of the ride, he looked out the window at the all black dressed girl.

The magic a stranger can provoke is powerful because they have nothing to gain if they compliment you. This sort of magic lasts for longer than expected.

Andreas felt this warm cozy heat in his heart the entire day. Someone noticed his presence and complimented his being.

How many other strangers' attention did he steal over time? That's something we all might wonder but the fact that one stranger acknowledged that he was special to them somehow, for a few seconds, that was a very memorable thing for him right now.