Take a Walk

Take a Walk

Her mother was always very ambitious, about her own goals and those of her family. There wasn’t much you could get away with in her household, for there was always someone watching, looking over her shoulder.

 Privacy? Failure? Those words might have not existed in the dictionary, for all she knew.

Her community was not much better. She was surrounded by peers who excelled in almost every field; mediocre was not acceptable here. Everyone in this town strived for perfect, and they were not far off, at least to the public’s eyes.

She knew that whatever happened behind closed doors was fair game. When she really stepped back and thought, really thought for a second, she realized she knew little about these so called perfect individuals.

She was aware that she herself, was far from perfect. Her nose was slightly too round and she had far too many freckles for her liking. Her life at home was definitely not the best, no perfect American dream family, but in no means was it bad. Her grades could have been considered amazing in some other place, far away from here, but alas, they were considered good at best in this town. Her extracurriculars weren’t lacking, but were not exceptional either.

 In one word, she was average.

But if she lived in this town full of perfect people and was only average, maybe just maybe the others weren’t as perfect as they seemed. She did blend in with them, after all. Slowly, but surely, she started to pinpoint imperfections in the people of her town, and no matter how subtle they were, she realized that they were still imperfections and that no one was indeed, perfect.

Maybe perfect was another word that shouldn’t have existed in the dictionary.

So what was it about this town that made everyone strive for this unattainable goal? What was it that made her strive for this goal all these years?

She concluded that it was the pressure. If everyone around her was seemingly perfect, she would have to be so too, there was no other choice.

Or was there?

Maybe not in this town, but somewhere else? Would her life be easier if she just took a walk to get away from it all?

So that’s what she did. She walked for what seemed like hours, but knew she hadn’t gone far, because she still recognized the town that she had grown up in; the town she had never left.

As she looked around, she began to notice more of the imperfections she had imagined in her head. It was as if she was able to see clearly now, as if she was no longer under the spell that years of pressure had forced upon her.

She saw right through the townspeople’s fake smiles, the very smiles she had thought were blindingly perfect, not too many days ago. She saw right past the cheery exterior all of their homes seemed to possess, sympathizing with the loneliness she knew would be inside.

As she continued to walk, she felt as if a burden was lifted, and both her heart and her shoulders felt lighter. The people of this town were no more perfect than she was, as hard as they might try. She did not know if these facades were put up to shield themselves from the harsh reality of the world, or maybe even to convince themselves that they were indeed perfect, but she did not care.

Gone were the days that she let the people around her influence her. She was content with the way she was, and she knew that this wasn’t a feeling many could experience.

She spun on her heel, about to go home, when she saw a boy being thrown out of his house. She narrowed her eyes, trying to focus in on this boy, who had sent the people whom she had guessed were his parents, a nasty glare. She knew it was impolite to snoop, but consoled herself in thinking that they were simply talking so loud that she had no choice but to overhear.

“Get out of this house, you good for nothing son of a ----!” The father screamed, his face turning a deep shade of red, very much like the cartoon characters who starred in the shows her little brother watched every Saturday morning.

“Dave!” The woman screamed at the man, her palm shooting up to where her heart was. “Don’t say things like that.”

“Sorry, honey, but we both know he’s as useful as a week’s old trash. All he does is sit around and mope! You know how embarrassed I am every time my friends talk about their children?”

The shouting became more hushed at this point, and she was not sure whether or not she was grateful for that. The words of this unknown man seemed to affect her deeply, but the boy’s facial expression did not change in the slightest. All she was able to notice was the way he balled his fists and shoved his hands in his pockets, walking away from the bickering couple, without sending them a second glance.

As he walked towards her, she took in his shaggy hair, that was a little bit too oily and his lanky frame, that wasn’t as muscular as the other boys’. His nose was a little crooked, and his lips were curved downwards, in a frown that broke her heart. His clothing wasn’t prim and proper, but instead, was loosely casual with no apparent style.

But to her, he was perfectly imperfect.