Division Street

      It rained a lot around here. It's just something you got used to. It didn't matter if it was a Sunday, or a Friday. Today it happened to be a Tuesday. There's not much to do when it's so shitty out. Not that there was much to do when it was nice out either. But it sure killed a lot of options.

     I unfolded the paper, trying not to read to far into the headlines, they usually just made the day more grey. I just wanted to look in the classifieds for a new apartment. Something closer to work, maybe within walking distance. I'd never had much luck before, but it was always in the back of my mind. Maybe something a little cheaper too. The reason I jumped on this apartment I'm in was the fact that it had an amazing balcony, I just wish it didn't rain so much so I could put it to use.

     My eyes searched for an address close to my work. A huge list of places that scattered all over the city, but listed alphabetically, at least there was some order to the mess. Found one, I quickly grabbed a pen and paper as if there was a line up for it. Division and Mills, perfect. Not even 10 min away from work. I continued looking for more places. Most of them were too expensive, or so cheap they scared me.

     I didn't want room mates, not that I didn't want the company. I just liked the privacy, and didn't want the responsibility. I had a room mate before, all he ever did was; forget to lock the door, leave the living room a mess and keep the sink full of dishes. I don't mean to cast judgement on everyone like that, but it's hard not to.

     There was nothing else in the classifieds that struck me as worth a visit, I folded up the paper and put it face down on the kitchen table. I grabbed my phone to call the potentially new landlord. It rang twice and a man answered.

     “Hello?” said the man. “Hey, I'm inquiring about your apartment on Division street” I said. “Ah, yes. First and last and the place is yours.”. He seemed quick to answer. “Well I was wondering if I could check it out first.” I said. “I'm free today, I'll meet you in an hour”, the man said. It seemed like he was preoccupied with something. Hopeful I asked “is there any other time I could meet you this week?”. “No” he replied. “Ok I'll meet you in an hour”, I said. “Ok sounds great”, he replied and quickly hung up the phone.

     There is always something strange when talking on the phone with someone you never met. Your mind makes so many conclusions, it draws a mental image for you, whether you like or not. This image I wasn't liking so much. I always tried to meet people with out any biased. Whatever, your brain does that for a reason.

     I checked what there was to eat in the fridge, not much. I'll just have a bowl of cereal, I grabbed the milk. There's something about cereal, it's filling and refreshing. I had about 45min until I had to be at the apartment. I got up and left my bowl on the table.

     I grabbed my jacket and out loud I said, “fuck it rains a lot around here”.

New Batteries

     It felt like I was the only one. Always here early. It didn't bother me, not as much as some of the people that arrived late. I stared at my screen, typing as usual. Sorting through numbers and looking up text. My mind would always drift away. I worked almost as a machine. Everything lost it's meaning. Except for the clock, it was the only thing that ever mattered at the office. It was our master. Gave us something to look forward to. It told us when we could eat, and more importantly when we could leave.

     “How early was I?”, I thought. Usually there are people here by now. The screen lit my face, and helped me find my coffee in the dimly lit cubical. The clock was never late, it's always on time. It's promises were always kept, hardly ever broken. Unless our promise of new batteries was never fulfilled.

     Again I got lost in my work. Scrolling down in what seemed like an endless database of customer information. “It's important to have time to yourself” I thought, or else you just go crazy. You can't think clearly in this place anyways. But you can't have free time unless you give your time up for others. Plus I was due for a promotion, I knew then I would have much more free time, so I'm better off just pounding away on this machine.

     I was still sitting in an empty office. “Whats going on?” I said under my breath. Fuck me, it's Saturday. Nobody switched my batteries.

Disconnect

     Everything just stopped. Noise, sight, and feeling. Just gone. I wouldn't say I was panicking, but I wouldn't say I was OK with it either. Paralysed by what had overcome me, I just accepted it. It seemed like the only option at the time.

     My sight came back, but I wasn't in the place I had just been. It was a place I'd been before, but not sure when. Maybe it looked a little different, or it's possible that it was a place I'd never been with familiar features. Either way I was curious, and somewhat more accepting to explore it.

   

     My movements were very strange. Backwards almost. My left hand controlled my right, and to go forward I had to run. Slowly adapting to my environment, and becoming more comfortable with myself I began to explore the somewhat familiar features. There was a tree, a tree that I was sure I passed by everyday on my way out of town. It was healthy and it always made me wonder how old it was, what it had witnessed in it's life. I placed my hand on it, instantly I was overcome with sound. Startled at first only because I had become comfortable with the silence I was thrown into.

     It wasn't any direct sound that I could describe. Just an ambiance of noise, an ambiance of life. It felt nice, and it filled my mind with thoughts. Not questions, just thoughts, statements almost. I felt as if I could have stood there the rest of my life. It was beautiful. Reluctantly I removed my hand and fell back into the silence knowing that there was more then just this tree to explore.

     Beside the tree stood old power lines. They were also very familiar to me. I was certain they weren't in the right spot though. I knew that the tree stood by itself which made it so apparent in my mind that either one was out of place. The power lines were unique, they weren't perfectly straight, only about two or three of them were. I never understood why they were like that, but it gave them the feeling that they weren't placed there by man, but somehow naturally occurred. It's eerie, things like that. People pass by them everyday and it's just become part of the landscape. It's become expected.

      

     Suddenly I was thrown back into my living room. Ripped out of the strange landscape I was visiting. I was saddened that I couldn't explore more, but I felt more secure that I was back in reality. I'll never understand where I went, or why. I don't think I needed to, It made sense to me not to connect the dots in this situation.

     Exhausted I decided to go to bed.

Unburied

     The thing that made it really special, is that there wasn't much thought behind it. There didn't need to be. She stood there looking at me and all I could do was smile. She smiled back, we just couldn't help ourselves. It's an intoxicating feeling, knowing that so much takes so little effort from both of us. What felt like forever, only lasted a couple seconds. Interrupted by a noise in the other room, both our heads turned sharply.

      

     As she spoke my mind was still stuck on the seconds before. There's something different about this feeling. Different in an extraordinarily good way. It's a feeling that I welcome. You can't look for something that you didn't know existed, and that's why it feels so unfamiliar. Like treasure you stumble upon. Like I'm a wealthy man, but not by work, by simple means of destiny.

      

     It speaks for itself, and that's just what we did. We spoke all night and dug through the treasure, exploring what we both had found and forgetting what was around us. I couldn't help but think to myself, “is she as lucky as me?”.