Ctrl+Z. Ctrl+Me.

"Just living is not enough", said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."
— Hans Christian Andersen.



and irony is okay, i suppose.





His hatred for all was so intense that it should extinguish the very love from which it was conceived. And thus, he ceased to feel. There was nothing further in which to believe that made the prospect of feeling worthwhile. Daily he woke up and cast downtrodden eyes upon the sea and he would say to himself with a hint of regret at his hitherto lack of indifference, 'All a dim illusion, was it? Surely it was foolish of me to think any of this had meaning.' He would then spend hours staring at the sky, wondering how best to pass the time if everything—even the sky itself— were for naught. He arrived at the conclusion that there was no best way to pass the time. The only way to deal with the illusion of time was to endure it, knowing full well, all the while, that one was truly enduring nothing at all. Unfortunately for him, this nihilistic resolution to dispassion didn’t suit him very well and he soon became extremely bored. Faced now with the choice between further boredom and further suffering, he impatiently chose the latter, sailing another few weeks along the coast , and then inland, before finally dropping anchor off the shores of the fishing village of Yami.

— Ashim Shanker, Only the Deplorable.




————————




"Need some help?" He asked. "Here, let me."

Gently, he took her watch in his hands and began to turn the crown anti-clockwise. Checking against his own watch, his two fingers nimbly adjusted the date and time accordingly.

As she received her watch and locked the clasp, an earnest smile began to form on his face in response to the sincere gratitude expressed through a warm embrace.

"Thank you." She bashfully said, as they parted from that one brief intimate moment they shared.

Admiring the beauty of her shimmering arm candy as it fit comfortably on her small wrist, she circled the tiny diamonds that sat on the circumference of the watch face with her left finger. Diamonds might be a girl's best friend after all.

"It looks pretty on you." A compliment that effortlessly came out of his mouth had made her speechless.

She wondered if there would be a next time of this, or if she could do it on her own the next time. Should he be so kind to have offered to teach her and help her gain indepedence over the act of keeping her watch up to date, she would never have to need him again.

Nothing further occurred in relation to the watch, as he switched the focus of their conversation back to something more personal yet friendly at the same time.

"So," He stuttered with some confidence. "What has been up for you lately?"

He observed her facial reaction to a random question she had not expected. Watching her get all jittery seemed to be feeding to his ego as he assumed that she was feeling nervous over his presence. The presumption that she felt comfortable around him had boosted his perception of how well their interactions have been so far.

"Nothing!" She took no time to reply. "I've been well, and everything seems to have reached the climax of enjoyment."

Although she had spoken in a tone filled with hesitation and wariness, he appeared to have appreciated her willingness to continue the conversation with him. He was nonchalant towards her uneasiness as he assured her with certainty that what she said must not be true.

He offered her kind words of positivity and encouragement, hoping that she would acknowledge the truth within his speech. However, he had failed to notice that she was beginning to drift off. She was fidgeting under the table out of his sight while she contemplated on her best exit strategy.

"It has been lovely getting to know you." She spoke abruptly, interrupting his train of ignorance.

What she had not articulated was her urgency to get out of this situation to get back to her errands waiting for her at home. Taking the last sip of coffee, she reached down to pick up her bag from the floor positioned closely beside her right foot. There was no mention about any follow-up of the coffee talk they just had.

"Maybe you could take a walk by the beach as it's almost sunset." He suggested, with no intention to encourage her disinterest in continuing their relationship.

Standing up to grab her coat sitting on the top rail of the chair, she assured him that she would heed his recommendation and take that walk by the beach to watch the day end. Expectedly, she had not intended for him to come with and hurriedly excused herself.

She did, indeed, take a stroll towards the beach as she habitually glanced at her watch for the time. Astonished by how late it had already been, she grabbed her phone out to send a message home to let her mother know she would be late for dinner.

"Ugh." She groaned as she realised that the time on her watch was not the same as the time on her phone.

With the need to readjust the time on her watch, she fiddled with the crown as she had observed him doing so earlier in front of her. Unfortunately, her attempts were futile and it was too tight for her to wind back the time to an hour earlier.




————————








M.



Culture is to blame.

You try and mask your pain in the most postmodern way.
You lack substance when you say
Something like, "Oh, what a shame".


Comments

Popular Posts