recklessly

i.//a chance encounter

It’s started to rain.

The streets empty quickly, raincoats and umbrellas spotting the road in between cars and traffic lights. The evening crowd has started to creep out, as the last of the rush hour crew hurries home. Restaurants fill up and apartment lights flicker on. The city, though subdued by the drizzle, shifts into its nightlife phase.

Business suits rush by, yapping on their phones without breaking stride. Friends and family walk on past, slower but just as loud. They’ve all got somewhere to be, someone waiting to meet. You walk amongst them all, a silent shadow barely making an imprint in anybody’s mind.

You let your feet lead you. You’re in no hurry to get to nowhere. The rain falls tireless but you don’t mind. It’s a muffled kind of loneliness, like this. A brightly lit restaurant beckons you with daily dinner specials, but your bag feels too heavy. You probably can dig up enough money for the chicken pasta meal, but you find yourself walking past. There’s no point wasting what little you have.

When your feet tire and your hood is soaked through, you duck under the awning of a closed breakfast shop. Throwing your hood back, you shake your messy black hair. It’s quieter down this street. Maybe you can stay awhile.

And so you do.

Sitting on the step before the shop, you watch the rest of the world go round. There’s nothing to interrupt your quiet observing, no one to tell you to go away, and you left your phone back there when you decided to just stuff a few clothes and necessities into your bag. You remember turning it on vibrate so they won’t find it until too late---- you sly little thing. You wonder how long it will take them to realize you’re gone. A twinge in your chest reminds you how you still can’t decide if you’re better off running back with your tail between your legs before they notice anything was wrong. They’ll cry a bit, you suppose, because they are genuinely nice people and it’s not their fault. You even feel a little bad for little June, who just the other day was talking to you about her junior high graduation next year. But they don’t need you taking up space. Your birthday was last month anyway; you’re an adult now, and you mustn’t lean on them more than you’ve had to.

They’re not your real family.

You’re so lost in your own rainy thoughts you don’t realize that one of the nameless passerbys have stopped right in front of you.

“Hey. What are you doing here?”

The voice is friendly, although low and just a bit scratchy, enough to make you shiver slightly. You look up to find long black overcoat, sky blue umbrella, and an easy smile. He’s looking at you patiently, as if he doesn’t mind standing in the rain talking to a nobody-punk-kid everyone else was busy ignoring. You wonder what he wants, because you may be headed nowhere fast, but you’re not that hopelessly desperate yet.

“Aren’t you cold there?” the man says when you don’t answer. “You’ll catch a cold if you stay here like that.”

You shrug, glancing away from him. It’s too dark to see clearly but for some reason you don’t feel any threat from this person before you. Maybe you’ve just lost the will to care anymore.

“Are you waiting for someone?”

You shake your head no.

“Are you hungry? Would you care to join me for a late dinner?”

You blink up at him, uncertain what his intentions are. You’ve at least learned about not following strangers you meet downtown.

“I swear, I’m not a kidnapper or human trafficker or anything.” He backs up, holding up his umbrella again. “It’s alright if you don’t want to. I just thought you looked a little lost and lonely here, is all.” You catch a flash of straight teeth as he grins, easily and without a care. “Like an abandoned kitten.”