Stranger From My Misty Memory

As always, I am late for my job after a sleepless night, afraid of having those memories that do not belong to me as nightmares. After an unpleasant fight at home, because I’m going to be late for work, I leave the house without even checking the weather forecast and throw myself at the bus stop. I arrive at the bus stop, which, contrary to normal, not even one single soul can be seen at the bus stop this morning.

           The bus stop was covered with yellow fallen leaves, a sign of autumn. As another sign of autumn, the weather is slightly cool. I start rubbing my hands, thinking that this is a bad time to wear the old trousers, which are now have very short length because I wore them years ago. I started shaking as punishment for not checking the weather forecast and wearing these old short pants. Luckily, no one passing by can laugh at me for wearing a shorts in this weather.

Social anxiety exists because you think everyone is looking at you and laughing. But you can’t have social anxiety, because you’re not even social enough to blend in or be noticed by society.

This time she isn’t so wrong. But I still wear my headphones to ignore her. As usual, lack of connection in one of the cables, headphone doesn’t work properly. Like old-school antenna TVs, I have to bend and twist the cable of the headphones until I get a sound.

You don’t even have enough money to buy a new wired headset. I’m not even talking about the new wireless models. Did you really come to this world just to work and pay rent?

Fortunately, my twisting and turning works in the end and I listen to music until the bus comes to the stop. Actually, I don’t like listening to music. But most of the time, the only way I can suppress the evil thoughts inside me is to listen to music. I can’t hear her this way. Not listening to her heals my wounds, I feel a little bit relieved.

After a few minutes of waiting, only a short old woman with fluffy curly gray hair, bone glasses, and barely standing with her cane comes to the big bus stop. As soon as I see her face, I feel like I know her from somewhere. It’s like a dream that I forgot as soon as I opened my eyes, like a misty memory from the past…