The Cobbler

~6~

"I'm telling you, these are just stupid problems," I eventually say, rubbing over my eyelids with the heels of my palms. "Like glitches in televisions or computers. They don't harm anything overall."

"Glitches are a forewarning," comes the pat reply. "If you don't fix the glitches, soon the whole system will shut down."

"It's still stupid," I murmur in a vain attempt to sound defiant and turn my gaze away. My fingers scratch at the edge of the chair, the screeching noise from it is the only background music to our talk.

"Why do you call them stupid?"

"Huh?" I look at her in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Your problems, why do you call them stupid?"

"Aren't they? Anytime I say them aloud, I sound like a whiny kid who lost her candy!" I fling my arm around in ambiguous gestures, but she does not flinch or even blink.

"If a kid does lose her candy, why won't she be upset? That candy was the thing most precious to her in that moment. It's because she expresses her "whiny" needs, a kid is able to get over the lost thing easily. But you, you don't speak. You don't talk to anyone. You simply write off everything that happens to you as trivial."

"That's because it is! Do you know how many people experience heartbreaks in a year? Hell, even in a second?! What's mine in the midst of all that? So, I got dumped, my change of career is not throwing up results, my friends stopped speaking to me after the breakup, people regard me with disdain when they hear about the career switch. 'Oh! The idiot has lost it!' that's what they all think! Every single day is so fucking hard to get by! All I hear outside and in my head is "I'm an idiot, I'm an idiot, I'm an idiot" and "I can't do it!" Does that sound like anything important to you? Because I can assure you, people face far worse things in their lives! Real tragedies happen too, did you know? And what these stupid problems are in front of them, huh? And look at me, I can't even get over these simple things!

"I cried my eyes out for months over a stupid guy! I mean, why was I even heartbroken? I had known that day would come, the way we had drifted apart. So why?

"I had known how people would perceive my decision to leave a stable job and choose something so volatile that has no guarantee of a pay. Yes, I am trying to follow my dreams, but it's not leading anywhere, right? I feel so ashamed sometimes, I cannot even face anybody!

"And when nobody bothered to talk with me, I didn't bother to talk with them either. I built this loneliness of mine, so who am I supposed to complain to? No, sorry, who am I supposed to whine to?"

I can feel my face is burning up. A whole lava of emotions burst out in that long-winded stupid spiel. Somewhere between those words, I have stood up too. Now I am glaring down at the cobbler lady, suddenly run out of words.

No, I actually want an answer to that.

She has not looked at me since I stood up, only listening intently, a frown on her face. I am positive she will say the same what everyone says after they scoff at things like these –

But she does not scoff. When she meets my gaze, it's glazed over. She's...near tears?

My lips separate and try to form words, however the shock of the scene just renders them speechless. The stiffness in my stance melts away and before I know it, she has gotten up from the chair and grabbed me in a tight hug.

"Oh, you fool. Just because others face problems, which you think are worse, does not make your own problems any less bad. If you don't talk and share about them, they would only fester underneath and eat you away."

Her voice is gentle, soft. Yet, I am far from being lulled by it. "People scoff at it when they listen to it. There is not a single listener in this world," I speak through gritted teeth.

She separates herself from me, smiles in a bittersweet manner, and says, "These people do."

And she begins to morph, her hands on my arms. She transforms into my mother, my father, my sister, three of my closest friends from school – all wearing the same expression of tear-filled eyes and a bittersweet smile.

I can hold it no longer. Even before she returns to her original form, I bury my head on her shoulder and cry.

"There, there, my child. It's all going to be all right."

My sobs only intensify as she begins to pat me on the head and back.

~

A/N: And we only have one chapter left, yippee!!

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