seventy-five : to be lost in the forest
To Whoever You Are.
When you woke up this morning, what did you feel? I hope it was an unexplained sense of anticipation, because surely the yellow envelope sitting on your train seat would have set your heart racing if that was the case. Life really can be like a movie sometimes.
It is likely that there were other people sitting here before you who chose to leave my letter untouched and unopened. So many people fear the unknown. But you don’t. You are a curious being with a desire to learn. You see a letter on a train and you want to know what it says. You are searching for something. An explanation perhaps? Some profound piece of wisdom. If that is what you are hoping for, I feel obliged to tell you that it isn’t here, and for that I am sorry.
I don’t have any answers, and my wisdom extends only as far as a metropolitan train line. I have seen more than just the city streets, but I’m still miles from the rest of the world. I don’t know much about anything outside my own tiny bubble. But I want to know. Anything. Everything. Grand gestures and tiny insignificant details.
Right now, I see sixteen people on the morning train, all turning to the next page of their newspaper at the same time. They look like some sort of bizarre synchronized performance group. I couldn’t help but laugh just now, and a few of them glanced up at me, each with the same look of early-morning annoyance on their face. A sort of how dare you laugh when I’m so tired look. The two people sitting closest have shuffled away from me on their seats and are now trying to look as if they were only making themselves comfortable. My unexplained laughter has made them think I’m a crazy person. I suppose I am.
This morning I plan to take a look around the State Library, perhaps I will find something new to read or something old that I had forgotten about. And this leads me to the most important part - I would love to read something new. A letter, to be precise. I understand that this is a rather unorthodox way to go about acquiring a pen-pal, but if I were in any way a normal person I most likely wouldn’t feel the need to resort to pen-pals in the first place. This is a last resort. If you do decide to reply, write anything and everything. List the contents of your refrigerator, describe how you feel when you listen to music. Tell me about your day or the color of the tiles on your bathroom floor. The view of the world from my eyes has become clouded by isolation, but I want to know what it looks like to you. Whoever you are. Tell me something.
Leave me a letter in a book at the library, between the pages of something in the biography section. Getting to know people is, after all, the most important part of life.
- Nate.
not much focus tonight. tired, have to get up at six, and won’t be able to sleep properly until sunday. this isn’t new. it is part of a short novel i wrote about a man who leaves anonymous letters on the train, which is something i used to do myself. i won’t go into the whole story now, because i’m about to fall asleep.
i feel really lazy for posting old work. sorry. will try to make up for it with a giant GIANT! post tomorrow. maybe even a post about giants? who knows. goodnight, my tumblrous followers.
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