“if only you could see”

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The midday sun shone brightly as a young boy wondered aimlessly through a busy intersection, or maybe a park. He liked to watch as the magnificent blurs of color passed by. Some were tall, and thin, and others were much like blobs. He smiled at them, and wished to speak with them. But they wouldn't acknowledge him, and he wondered why. Were they ghosts that he alone could walk among? Their fuzzy edges faded as they moved further and further away from him. Why wouldn't they talk to him? He followed one made of a dull gray color, until gravity took hold of him, with the aid of the root that intruded his path. Even this attracted not one of their attentions. He blinked several times to fight back the tears. In this even more blurred vision, he saw inches in front of him a rounded piece of glass attached to a rusted chain. He took the chain in his small hand, then sat up. He squinted his eyes as he watched with great curiosity as it would swing slowly back and forth. In the path of the glass, he noticed each blade of grass had its own shape. Then he looked away into the green blur he was familiar with. He brought the glass end up to his right eye, and closed his left. The blurs became defined shapes through the lens, and no longer the wondrous mixture of color. He stood and turned about, noticing facial features, textures, colors, intricate detail. And he watched as everyone moved around him, without as much a glance at him. Holding the glass to his eye, he ran in front of a person jogging, and he stood there, with the resolve of finally talking to someone. The man drew nearer with no intentions of slowing down. The little boy shut his eyes tightly as he waited for impact.

Two times she read this, and could hardly set the page down in disbelief.

"Such detail...I could never remember my dreams this vividly."

"I know," the Director said with a smile. "It's no easy task either. What I'm most excited about is that it only took one day to produce a good result."

"You're too good at your job," she said, handing him back the report.

"But even in his dreams, he was unable to interact with anyone. How did your walk go the other day?"

She sighed, and looked away. "That good, hm?" He smiled again.

"You expected it to go badly?"

"Of course. Now, I'm not sure what exactly happened, maybe you could enlighten me?"

She stood and walked away from her seat, to stare out the glass door. "Everything was fine until I said something stupid. It's difficult to think of him as someone like us, but he's more like you or me than I expected. I've just been following him around lately in silence. Mostly because I don't know what to say to apologize for it." She looked back at the Director, who now stood from his seat.

"Why not just saying 'I'm sorry?' I'm positive he'll forgive you. After all, you're only human." The Director winked as he left the room.

Labels: fiction junction