It Starts With Coffee

Chapter One

                                                                                       ~Josephine~ 

"Worlds change when eyes meet" -D.J.

I see a man sitting at the table across the café from mine. He looks around my age, give or take a year. The way his shoulders hunch forward over his coffee mug, gives away that something is churning inside his head. His dark hair unkempt, his face worn with worry, adding a few years to his appearance. 

His strikingly blue, yet harsh eyes tear away from his drink and catch mine. I quickly look down at my own cup, feeling the heat rise up my neck and cheeks. Though I don't look back up, I cam feel his stare burning into the side of my head. 

I slowly look back up, but instead of seeing him, I see an empty table, with an empty coffee mug, holding down a five dollar bill. The lack of sound he made leaving sends an earie feeling down my spine. For what reason I don't know.  The way he looked at me, even just for that split second, made me feel so small. Like I was prey and he was a predator. 

Every part of him stood out; from his hair, to his posture, to his clothes, but what stays in my mind are his eyes. The way they practically bore right through mine. The way they made me feel like, if I looked for one second longer, I would be turned to stone; but also that I didn't want to look away. They made me stuck. What's the saying? The eyes are the windows to our souls? The way his pierced through mine, I must've had mine wide open.

~Grayson~

"Is it wrong to be this young and this tired? 'All your life is ahead of you.' They say, but mine feels far behind." -StoryDJ

Coffee can only do so much to keep someone functioning. What did Frank Herbert use to say? "To stay awake all night adds a day to your life". If that's the case, I'm double in age. 

My mind is running a mile a minute, yet my body is slowly trudging to my car. Someone once said you think 60,000 thoughts a day maximum. I don't know if that's correct, because I would give anything to have my mind slow down that much. 

The girl in the coffee shop saw. For some reason I'm positive. She saw my mind and soul were heavy. She looked at me with concern. A complete stranger, worrying for another stranger. Like she instantly tried to take on the invisible burden she felt I had.

The way her gaze laid heavy on me made, and still makes me uncomfortable. It was too much to take, I had to get out. 

I sit in my car, head on the steering wheel, pinching the inside of my arm as to make sure I stay awake. The temptation to just stay in this parking lot tugs at the back of my mind. But life doesn't stop for anyone, no matter how big you think your problems are.