400 Words
Tom is a composer and he feels lonely, as humans often are.
Tom is recalling a time when he found himself following her. He was going about his day. He was walking from the Embassy to his home. It was a short walk. He had just recently purchased this home for the very reason he could walk to the Embassy, where he spends most of his workdays. It was warm. Summer. He was wearing shorts, which he usually doesn’t do and he was very conscious of this. This is what he was thinking about when he realized that she was walking not three yards in front of him.
His heart sank and his stomach hid. There she was. Walking with another man. Wearing clothes that he had never seen her wear before. It’s been a number of months. She’s bought new clothes. I’ve bought new clothes. These were loose fitting clothes – types of clothes she never wore before. Who is this person?
He felt out of place. He was a goose in a duck pond. Scissors in the medicine cabinet. He didn’t belong here, despite this being the path he had taken every day for the last three months. No alterations. This was routine. His routine. And it had been taken away, by this woman, this woman walking in front of him, the exact same pace that Tom himself was walking at, her, walking with another man.
A bus went by and school children could be heard, windows open, Velcro shoes, Markus is a faggot written on the backs of seats.
Tom does not know what to do. It’s been so long. He wanted to talk to her, tell her everything, tell her too much, as he is oft to do in situations such as this. He keeps walking, slightly slower, not falling too far behind. Who is this man? The man is her height, shorter than Tom.
The sun made their shadows converge, making Tom sad.
All of a sudden – she stops. Starts unlocking a car on the side of the road, a new car – Good, she needed a new car. One with better crash test ratings and the like -, without saying goodbye to the man she was walking with. She doesn’t see Tom, as he passes her, only inches apart.
He looks back once he passes and she drives off. The last time he ever saw her.
