The Man In The Mirror

4

Boring, one of the many words that could be used to describe this day. The week had already dragged on to be exhausting and he could barely handle another second of it. He felt like crying, but he was better than this, he didn't need to cry. George was working, well if you could call it that, nobody had come into the store in over an hour and not doing anything was starting to affect George.
He had already paced along the aisles and made sure everything was marked with the right price, swept, and wiped down the countertop.
He couldn't just leave, this was the last day before his two week work vacation.
He only needed to last one more hour, I mean how hard could that be?
Hard. He longed for an unknown answer but to what question he wasn't sure. He was tired of being stuck with his thoughts.
George was ready to barge into his bosses office and quit on the spot when he heard the familiar sound of  a ringing bell signaling the front door of the store opening.
"George are you here?" He heard Niki call out.
He practically ran to the front to greet her, ready for any sort of excitement on this mundane day.
"Well someone's excited to see me!" Niki laughed out, George's cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. " I'm sorry, it's just been such a slow day here and-" George tried to explain himself but was cut off. " It's alright George you don't have to act like I've accused you of committing a crime... unless you have committed a crime," she exclaimed gasping dramatically ,"Police! Help! There's a crazy man!"  "I'm going to commit a crime if you don't shut up, I'm still on the job!" He said with a slight chuckle. "Oh really? I had no idea," she laughed, rolling her eyes playfully.

After a while of talking George realized his shift was about to end and began gathering his things. "Well it's about time I clock out," he announced to Niki. As he started walking away she grabbed the collar of his shirt yanking him backwards," Don't think you're gonna get away from me that easily! We're going to lunch!" Niki announced. "Oh, um I dunno, I don't have much money on me currently-" he began before she quickly cut him off ,"That's fine I'll pay for you!" "Niki you seriously you don't have to do that, I'll just go home and make a sandwich or some ramen-"
he was yet cut off again ,"George, let me do this for you, please!" After some consideration he finally caved agreeing to let her pay for him, although, he felt bad, as if he had forced her to spend money on him.

The task the two now faced was figuring out where exactly they would go. They live in a rather small town with not very many restaurants. After a bit of back and forth they narrowed it down to either a brick oven pizza place uptown, or a buffet dinner. After some not so careful consideration pizza won, obviously.

"Y'know," George started with his mouth full,"it's so weird how I've never seen my neighbors take in their groceries, like are they robots or something? Does their food just replenish???" George had never seen anyone look as confused as Niki did in the minute after he said that. It was as if all the cogs began turning in her brain at such a rapid pace they all exploded. Eventually she replied," George... why did you have to point this out to me? I mean you're right, but now anytime I try to sleep I'll probably think of this." George laughed hard to the point where the other costumers started to look over at him as though he was absolutely insane. "I mean it's true though!" George practically shouted back at her.

-

"Well thanks for hanging out with me, I'll see you around!" Niki said, waving goodbye as she walked off. George sighed as he watched her drift from view, he had more fun that day than he had in a long time, he finally realized what he had been longing for; a friend. He had spent so long running into mirrors and running away from how he truly felt for a long time. He desperately needed someone to talk to, someone to rely on, someone who loved him... All these thoughts overwhelmed him as he drove down the street towards his house. He began to feel drowned in his thoughts as he pulled into his driveway. When he got out of the car he looked into the mirror on his car door, he felt hollow, as if the ground would swallow him whole and he would wake up from the bad dream that his life had become. He was his own greatest fear, his own fatal flaw. When he was young he had always feared being alone, pushed away from the ones he loved, but as he stared into the mirror he faced his fear; himself.

He unlocked the door to his house feeling like if he just hoped for it enough he would walk through the door into his bedroom of his childhood home, only having to worry about getting an A on the next math test. As he made his way to his bedroom he felt like a stranger in his own house. As soon as he got to his room he kicked off his shoes and tossed his jacket aside, having no regard for where it might land. He quickly pulled himself under the covers of his bed, he imagined it was an ocean, hoping that maybe the soft rippling waves would wash away the problems and pollution upon the shore of his mind, dragging them to the trenches that concealed the beasts and monsters he hoped to never fight away again. And although these trenches did their job to the best of their ability the monsters always found a way to swim to the surface and beach themselves on the sand he boasted so proudly to no one but himself.

For the first time in years he wept, and so it was an ocean, for now there was no longer a drought, the rain had arrived. And the rain was not merciful. The rain felt as if bullets were falling from the sky with no regard as to the damage they may cause. George wished an umbrella would save him but now he was drowning, the waves had pulled him in and played with him as though he were a rag doll, and the worst part is he was enjoying every second of it. He needed this, he deserved this, for he was the monster polluting the sands of his beach and he was the trench, and after years the sirens freely sang their song and the boats sank, but after it was said and done George did not grieve. He felt free, and he was, he broke the shackles of his cell in which he himself was the guard.

He slept.