and listens; she wants to be better than she already is. Her hazel eyes glitter as her friend asks if she is vegetarian. She says nothing through her mouth of dark chocolate, she only shakes her head. After swallowing, she explains that she merely likes vegetables for their softness.
I remind myself that she is not who I think she is, or thought she once was. She grins as she moves to playfully smack her friend on his shoulder when he calls her weird for talking to herself. Oh, I’ve heard you talk to yourself before, he says, don’t deny it.
She says she doesn’t, and he must be hearing someone else. Another friend of hers sits down on the floor next to the two and announces that her kindergarten teacher used to tell her mother that she talked to herself. The eyes of the two widen as they jokingly tell her that they do not know her. They laugh.
I am not sure myself that this is true, for I only know so much about her. I do not blame her if she does, this world is lonely sometimes and sometimes you just want to be alone. She rides on the race horse of life so swiftly with the elegance of a dancer that she is not, and she makes taming a wild beast so very simple. I have not managed to tame mine yet, but I know now from her that it is not impossible.
As she leaves us through the glass doors, I see her eyes begin to panic despite the charming smile she smiles. I see her begin to long for an escape and she slowly plans a route she would use for it. I no longer see, but I now know that her mask is beginning to slip away, like a note that fell out of a coat pocket and into a torrential rainstorm. But I have not an idea if she knows what I do.
She is lucky, for her mask is temporary and if anyone can get close enough to her and unlock her real self, she no longer is required to wear the mask. For once she can run with the cheetahs, who too long for an escape, and dance on the tree-lined pavement outside an embassy in the rain like it is no body’s business. She will be free, one day, that is what I can confirm.
