Smiling. Drawn in her face thankful for another day. No worries are what she's trying to tell me. Personally, she didn't look at me. It's my thoughts imagining what she's been thinking. Suddenly I got curious, full of questions about how this woman cares less about life.
Unlike me, hopeless and disappointed. Why didn't it happen according to my plan?
"Who is she?" I whispered to my neighbor next to me.
"That's Gina," she says and smiles.
Unsatisfied with my neighbor's answers. That's not what I was hoping to hear, a meaningful one. I stare at Gina, full of energy.
"How to be like her?" I said.
Later that day, sitting on a bench inside the park. Relaxing, searching for something to make my day great. I glanced at Gina, and accidentally she appeared in my sight. I'm always curious about her and make my sight steady watching her.
She's waving goodbye to her friends, showing the sweetest smile. Immediately, her friends left and I saw her sobbing. It surprised me to see that. I misunderstood her happy face from the first time I saw her. I envied her happy face but it changed. I pity her glimpsing tears slowly showers her face.
I stood up. Determined to approach her and to comfort her. I hesitated of course but my feet never stopped walking towards her.
"Did she notice me walking towards her?"
Asking myself while walking. I saw her wiping her tears in a rush. It makes me wonder but I still continue walking.
"Hi, Gina!"
A loud voice came from the other side. A woman is running towards her wearing a smile. Here it is again. A sweet smile from Gina replaces her tears. I just stopped and sat on one of the benches not far from her.
I can hear their conversation. They are talking about their love life. Both of them only show happiness. From my observation, they're best of friends. They almost know everything. It's obvious from the expression on their faces when they talked about something.
"How's Marvin?", her friend asked.
I don't know who Marvin is but it starts to rain in Gina's eyes. I just assumed he was Gina's boyfriend and left her. I don't know the details, though it gives me an idea of hearing them talking.
"People come and go but I don't know how to leave him."
Gina said to her friend. She let Gina lean on her shoulder.
"Don't worry, stay strong. God will be there for us."
"I don't know," Gina added.
"Life is unfair to me. Whenever I feel so happy this happens. I don't know if there's something I did wrong to have my life like this."
Immediately sadness strikes my heart. I'm so desperate for what's going on. Why did Gina say those words? I thought her life was perfect and now. Full of questions are coming to my thoughts as I see them leaving.
A week after I saw a young boy crying in that park I saw Gina sitting. The tears of that boy touch my heart. I approach him and talk to him.
"Hey, young man."
He just looked at me.
"Why are you crying? Are you lost?"
He didn't answer me and he continued crying.
"Don't be afraid to ask big brother. I will do anything because I'm an angel disguised as a man."
I needed to lie for him to trust me.
"Really?" he asked.
"Of course," I replied with a smile.
"Can you take me to my mother? She's in heaven right now and I miss her so much. My Aunt told me she will be back but she didn't."
I don't know how to answer him. My heart is pressing with pain. I sympathize with him but I know to myself there's nothing I can do for him. I'm speechless rubbing his head to comfort him.
"Marvin," someone just called him.
Marvin's name seems familiar to me. I think harder and I remember Gina. When I saw that woman who called Marvin. It was that the same woman who accompanied Gina.
"Sorry miss, if it's not rude to ask from a stranger."
I said to her because I was so desperate.
"Sure mister. You took care of Marvin when I lost him."
That woman replied to me nicely.
"This boy said his mother is in heaven. Who is her mother? Sorry but some time ago, I unintentionally heard your conversations. I saw you talking with a woman here named Gina and mentioned a boy named Marvin. Is this the boy you were talking to before?"
I asked her and she nodded.
"Her mother was Gina and died a few days ago from cancer."
"Ahhh," that's the only word I could say. I can't believe that the woman I used to admire because of her happy face died. Perhaps, she just wanted to look strong to forget that soon she'd be leaving this world. That happy face I saw was to cover up the pain she's feeling. I just leave them without saying a word. My mind is still catching things that happened. My mind is empty and I don't know how to fill it.
END...
mrnightmare
A story with an intimate quality in which the narrator's voice contrasts his own inner unhappiness with the outward expression of the object of comparison and wishes him well. He discovers later that his perception of happiness and unhappiness is not adequate and he falls into a void. A drama that must be resolved, in literature as in life, over time.
Thank you for posting this story on @theinkwell.
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Honestly, I don't know how to answer your comments. You complimented me with such words and I have no idea the meaning of it. You understood my piece way better of me even though it's me who wrote this. Still, I'm thankful.
I wanted to signify that the story takes place largely within the narrator. He feels unhappy and compares his unhappiness with the happiness he himself believes the other person has.
Later, he discovers that what he thought was happiness was not happiness, and compared to the despair of dying leaving a child behind, his own unhappiness is small.
He falls into a void because he does not know how to think of himself. In time people must work out who and how they really are.
Writers do the same with their characters, make them change, make them learn from conflicts.
I totally agree, you got the main purpose why I wrote it this way. As always, a pleasure to receive a comment like yours.
Sometimes we want for ourselves what we see in others, without really knowing what we want.
You propose a text in three scenes, which give the narrator and the reader a progressive knowledge of the true reality. As a reader, I would like the voice to decide not to draw hasty conclusions that disadvantage him in front of himself.
In the end with all his sadness and astonishment the real protagonist is still alive.
Yes and he understood that in life people are not showing their true self because they want a happy life.
Thank you.
Hello @mrnightmare,
A sad story. Reminds me of another of your stories. In each case, Someone finds the strength to not be sad, despite a tragic circumstance.
Always you show not only compassion, but an attempt to understand human emotion. We cannot always understand. This you acknowledge in your story.
I try my best to put myself in different shoes for me to understand or have an idea what they are feeling. I may have told it exaggerately but I want someone to understand that all people have their own dark life.
I liked how you handled the main character's confusion in this story, @mrnightmare.net. He only knows part of what is going on, and he guesses incorrectly, but later all the pieces fall into place. You handled that really well!
Thank you, I learned by keep on writing that a story should always have a happy ending.
I disagree. But we all must write from the heart. Happy endings are nice when they work, and when they fit the story, but not all stories can end happily. Wouldn't we get bored?
I believe that sometimes an ending can be more powerful and meaningful if it provides a segue to something better or different. For example, think of a woman who comes to the realization that she must leave her husband, and finds herself packing a suitcase by moonlight with an owl calling outside. That ending would provide the suggestion of hope but certainly the end of a marriage and a woman escaping her husband in the night would not be considered a happy ending. Just something to think about. :-)