Sweetness Withheld

Life Insurance

It was the fifth of may, the sun shining bright in the last lane of spring. Everything around was so colorful and vibrant. The beautiful colors had a soft and gentle glow. This glow warmed the hearts of all who saw. Especially so, in the case of one college student named Christopher Carter. He majored in the arts and loved observing landscapes such as this one. He was able to pick out small details, such as an off color leaf or even some oblivious person who had a shoe untied. He marveled the imperfections, believing deeply to his core that those imperfections make the setting just that. Imperfect. However, to him, imperfections were perfect in their own right. He bore a mind that constantly sought out new and interesting things.

This is when, by a stroke of fate, he came across someone quite imperfect to say the least. In the midst of the street, there stood a girl in tattered clothing that had several stains of who-knows-what on them. Quickly, he forced his mind out of it's artistic state and proceeded to act out, calling over to the girl and running forward as a car hurdled at intense speeds in her direction. She seemed to snap out of some sort of trance and hastily hopped back in order to avoid the now passing car. She breathed heavily and shook her head a good few times, as if she believed she would space off again.

"Are you alright?" asked Christopher, a look of deep concern burdened his usual calm and collected demeanor. She, unable to respond from the shock of it all, took the hand that he offered and pulled herself up, with him acting as an anchor. "Thank you." she finally said after adjusting fully, solidifying her immense gratitude with a polite and gentle bow. Without any other words being passed back and forth between the two, she took off with a purse, that he now saw was also torn at the seems. He reached out, but it was too late. She had vanished into the busy sidewalk and everything was as it was before.

Christopher walked back to his small and homely studio apartment that was located near the sight of the incident. With a long sigh, he crashed onto the couch, rear-first, and looked up at the ceiling. It wasn't everyday that he was involved in something so intense. Oh well, these things happen. Anomalies will appear from time to time, such is life, but this felt like less of an anomaly and more like it was an elaborate plan. The reason for his feeling this way was uncertain, but the feeling was present and active in his mind, staying active until that very night. He wasn't able to resist the pull of a peaceful and quiet night for the life of him. Within a good portion of the hour, he was out cold and dead to the world surrounding, snoring softly into the air.

The next time the sun rose, his eyes opened to see the white ceiling of his room with the light of his luminescent bulb shining down on him. He could have sworn it was turned off before he slept, but whatever. A bulb is relatively inexpensive to replace. Rubbing his eyes, he slowly stretched and sat upright, scanning the room. Finally, he stood and gently paced around the room to wake himself further. Yawning, he took his leave from his room after getting dressed in his business casual attire and entered his small kitchen. It was very quaint, being only as big as it needed to be to comfortably hold the necessities. He took to the stovetop, placing a pan on it and gathering a few eggs from the fridge. As his skill at making scrambled eggs was unmatched, he was done in a flash. After scarfing down his irritatingly mediocre breakfast, he grabbed his laptop bag and went out the door, locking it behind him and setting out for the office building.

As he drew nearer and nearer, he felt something strange in his chest. It was as if a massive weight of uneasiness was loaded onto him. He knew this feeling, it was the feeling of being watched. He looked around his peripheral, not trying to seem obvious about his new paranoia. For only a second, he saw someone out of the corner of his eye following him carefully, though he couldn't make out any features except for the long strands of raven black hair that flowed as the pursuer jolted away. He picked up speed and finally got to the front door of the office building, having built up a small sweat that was noticeable enough by the damp armpit stains he had. With a final look around out of curiosity, he noticed the metal trash can on the sidewalk was out of place slightly and shaking as if someone had run into it on accident. After taking a deep breath, Chris walked up to the trash can and looked over on the other side where he saw a young girl with long pitch black hair and soft blue eyes. Her frame was small and skinny, it looked like she hadn't eaten for a month. Then he realized, this was the girl he had stopped from becoming roadkill just a day prior. He moved the can and sighed, not having the slightest idea of what she wanted.