M U S E

A Glimpse

Rush hour.


Crowds melt into each other on the streets as the sun creeps down slowly. Everyone’s just in an impatient hurry to get home, see their families, watch some TV, slack on the internet. Actually, with today’s technology, they just tap away on their devices eagerly trying to catch up for some news for the last 5 minutes or so.

On the side there’s a man sitting on a bench looking quite pleased with himself. He’s young, well-dressed and he looks like he doesn’t have a care in the world. Well, things will change for him unfortunately.

I approach him like you would an acquaintance and sit on the bench next to him.

“It is quite a nice day, isn’t it?” I look up at the skies. The young man seems confused like maybe I’ve mistaken him for someone else. But I make no mistakes.

“..Sorry?” he finally says after a while but I brush that off.

I lean over and look him in the eye this time. “That’s a great idea you have there. A stroke of inspiration, really.” I look behind him. “It’s a shame that we’re going to have to undo that.”

At this point, the kid is completely freaked out. He looks at me like maybe I'm crazy. He's not the first one to do so. He gets up to leave. I chuckle and give a small wave of my hand.

A shadow passes by.

The young man stops dead in his tracks. Almost like he forgot something. Left something. Lost something. He’s changed. From a carefree spirit to a soul wrapped in despair as he clasps his head with his hands. He remembers the crazy man who had just spoken to him. He turns toward the bench but I’m not there anymore.

I join the flurry of commuters and walk casually into the next bus. I slip my phone out from my pocket and dial a number.

“It’s me. Yeah, it’s done. We aren’t expecting anymore from that one. You have another job for me?”