She was battered, bruised, and broken.
He was afraid. He was self destructive. He was broken too.
They both were alone.
She had been left…
He did the leaving.
They’re both alone.
Alone: to the exclusion of all others or all else.
Synonyms: abandoned, companionless, deserted, detached, isolated, only, unaccompanied.
Alone
She had been alone for years.
So had he.
Her relationship ended, weeks ago.
He never had one.
Her name is Melissa.
His is Troy.
Together, they are alone.
Melissa walked out of the Women’s Shelter with thirty dollars in her pocket, and a prayer that it would all work out. She looked left, than right, taking in the city once again and wondering which way to go. She looked up, and then down. Something shiny on the ground caught her eye. It was a penny, heads up. Picking it up she said to herself “heads to go right, tails to go left.” The penny sparkled as it came tumbling down. With a quiet thump it landed on her hand, looking down tails glared up at her. With one last look to the right she turned at went left. “No need to tempt fate today.” She quietly mumbled to herself as she followed the penny’s direction.
He was afraid. He was self destructive. He was broken too.
They both were alone.
She had been left…
He did the leaving.
They’re both alone.
Alone: to the exclusion of all others or all else.
Synonyms: abandoned, companionless, deserted, detached, isolated, only, unaccompanied.
Alone
She had been alone for years.
So had he.
Her relationship ended, weeks ago.
He never had one.
Her name is Melissa.
His is Troy.
Together, they are alone.
Melissa walked out of the Women’s Shelter with thirty dollars in her pocket, and a prayer that it would all work out. She looked left, than right, taking in the city once again and wondering which way to go. She looked up, and then down. Something shiny on the ground caught her eye. It was a penny, heads up. Picking it up she said to herself “heads to go right, tails to go left.” The penny sparkled as it came tumbling down. With a quiet thump it landed on her hand, looking down tails glared up at her. With one last look to the right she turned at went left. “No need to tempt fate today.” She quietly mumbled to herself as she followed the penny’s direction.
The city looked different, somehow more vibrant than it was just a few weeks ago. But then again, Melissa was supposedly, as her therapist had told her, a new person. Being a new person means having new eyes, right?
The goals for the day were plain and simple:
1. Find a job
2. Find something to eat
3. Find somewhere warm to sleep tonight
Find: to locate, attain, or obtain by search or effort.
Synonyms: acquisition, come across, discover, happen upon, locate, meet, recognize.
Find, find, find. That was all Melissa ever did these days. Finding herself, finding a job, finding food. Find, find, find. She was sick of finding and wanted to be found. Being found would mean no more looking, no more waiting, and no more fear.
The side walk stretched on continuously, almost never ending. Shop after shop she passed, never finding what she wanted. Then something off to the side caught her eye. It was a small run down building just like all the rest on the street, but it was different. It was brightly colored and had strange potted plants on the stoop. As she walked closer she could feel music coming from the building, not hear it, but feel it.
Feel: to have a sensation of something, other than by sight, hearing, taste, or smell.
Synonyms: acknowledge, be aware of, be impressed, comprehend, enjoy, have vibes, perceive, sense.
The music resonated throughout her body before she could even make out what was playing. The gentle vibrations brought a smile to her face as she remembered how much she once loved music, but that was before, this was now.
She began to walk past the building and a sign loomed over her. Giddy’s Music: Where Mind Meets Music. She was fascinated by it “where mind meets music… what could that possible mean?” She thought to herself. She continued to walk past the building and a big red sign caught her eye, “HELP WANTED.” She paused outside of the door, just staring at the sign. The penny weighing heavy in her pocket, had it really been right? She debated in her mind, her hand on the door just waiting to pull the handle.
The inside of the Giddy’s Music was darker, darker than Melissa expected. But it wasn’t a scary dark, it was almost peaceful. Loud exciting music filled her ears, it was pleasant and felt good being there. She took one sweeping look around, taking in all of the many things that made up Giddy’s Music. There were aisles of dusty cd racks filled to overflowing with music. The carpet was purple with large brown stains, questionable in their origin. The cash register was old, and didn’t look electronic at all, it was also surrounded by more curious plants that matched the ones outside the door. The store seemed empty. But to Melissas surprise, it wasn’t.
“I don’t care!” yelled a loud spirited female voice. “They in no way are as you put it, a modern day Beetles.” This last part was filled with a disgust Melissa had never heard before.
“You old fool!” A male voice yelled just as loudly. “You have to learn to embrace the new stuff, you can’t always live in the past!”
“Oh! But in music I can! Life, you’re right, I can’t live in the past, but music, oh I can live in the past! The best is from the past.”
“No! The best is not from the past, the best is happening right now!”
“What’s happening right now is garbage! Created from the past!”
“You’re never going to be able to sell this stuff if you think its garbage, isn’t that bad for business? Huh?”
“That’s why I plan on hiring someone, someone who can be in touch with the present while I spend my time in the past. See it’s the perfect plan!”
“Giddy, ever sense you opened this place no one but you has worked here. Do you really think you could handle an employee?”
“Yes! You idiot I can handle and employee, now buy something or get out!” Giddy stomped off leaving the guy she was arguing with confused.
“An employee? This is going to be fun!” He said to himself as he put on head phones at one of the listening stations.
Melissa was a little weary to inquire about the job after hearing the heated debate that had just occurred. But, she knew it had to be done. A flip of the coin had brought her here and there was no stopping fate. She walked toward the front register where Giddy was counting some bills. Giddy looked up and smiled. “How can I help you?”
“My name’s Melissa and I just saw your help wanted sign, and was wondering if I could apply for the job.” Melissa said trying to remember how to be confident.
“Of course you can! Oh wait… I don’t have any applications… hmmm...” She trailed off while looking through piles of stuff. “Here! Write your name and number here… and we’ll have an interview, um, right now? How does that sound?”
“That sounds great” Melissa said as she wrote down her name then she paused “I don’t exactly have a phone number right now”
“That’s okay! How about an address?”
“Yeah about that…”
Giddy’s face dropped, “Oh you poor thing! What happened?”
“I don’t really want to talk about it right now, but I’m on the road to making things better.”
“Oh that’s good! Well if you want to come into the back I guess we’ll start our little interview.”
“Sounds great!” Melissa said as she followed Giddy through a curtain that lead to a dark back room. There was a crash and then a light flipped on.
“Sorry, I always miss that darned switch, but I always find it, eventually.” The back room was clean, surprisingly clean comparative to the rest of the store. Nothing was out of place it seemed. Cd’s were stacked in perfectly square piles. The floors were a very bright white linoleum the walls were painted with an intricate mural that wasn’t finished but was amazing none the less.
“What’s the mural for?”
“Oh, you’ll see my dear, you’ll see.” She walked to a door and opened it up and it lead to a very small office with a desk a chair and a filing cabinet, no room for anything else. She pulled out a folding chair from behind the cabinet and set it up and motioned for Melissa to sit down. As Melissa sat down the folding chair let out a groan, and shook a little. She wasn’t sure if it could hold her up for more than a mere five minutes, but she held her breath and let herself relax into the chair as it groaned yet again. Giddy took a deep breath, pulled out a ratty notebook and wrote MELISSA on the top of clean page in beautiful script. “Ok, well let’s get started… Hmmm… Oh, I don’t have any questions prepared. Sorry, you’re the first person to apply for this job… the signs been up for weeks.” Fate came into Melissa’s mind and she felt a chill run up her spine. “Well lets start with why you’re here. Why are you Melissa applying for this job?”
Melissa wondered if she should tell her the truth about her situation or just make up some happy feel good answer.
