She hopped on the bus like this was no air beneath her. Her build was angel-esque, as if it chiseled by by hand in dedication to her mere existence, a shrine. Her method of transportation was her choice, and hers alone. Her fear of driving herself couple with her party lifestyle was an accident waiting to happen, if not worse. Lovelene was the furthest thing from vain, but valued her facial structure enough to care whether she flew front first through a windshield. As she paid her bus fare, she reshuffled the forest green backpack that dangled from her left shoulder, tucked just underneath her blonde locks. Lovelene ’s first course of action was to decide whether the back of the bus or the front of the bus was more suitable for her work commute. She made her way to the back, it was more spacious and offered the room to place her backpack next to her on a separate seat. She did just that, and preferred the solitude that came along with it. “Just her and her Air Pods against the world,” was something she always thought to herself but never said out loud. Too cringe. Even for her. She knew she didn’t have life figured out in entirety, but who does really? We are nothing if not a collection of regrets, mistakes with the occasional success story thrown in. As life would have it, we focus on the regrets and mistakes more than the triumphs. Just thoughts she had on public transport. Well, actually, that was a lie but it sounded good. She had random thoughts like that all day, every day. Like the cat she spotted outside the storefront she spent her nights at. The tip money alone was worth it, but she took home much more than money. Wise beyond her years, she observed life through sober eyes and appreciated the life lessons that came along with it. To be able to witness a serious man turn into a drunken asshole was something to behold. Not that she wasn’t guilty of it herself, she rationalized the only way she knew how. She was young, hot and knew she could, Lovelene could go out broke and come home with much more than a buzz. Hell, she sometimes even ended her night with enough oh afford an Uber home and anything her heart desired on Door- dash the next morning, but the case of the human condition was worth more than any paycheck or tip jar could ever offer. The bus hit a pothole that jerked her, and her bag in the air and back down to the seat. Her laptop hit the floor of the bus about four blocks from work and she scurried to pick up to ensure it was in working condition. As long as the screen wasn’t shattered she could make it work. Saved inside was a work project she had been working on in secret for the past seven months, two days and eighteen hours. The inspiration bloomed just as she did, from timid, anxious young girl to a marginally stronger grown woman. Well, by her standards. She was only twenty three years old but felt like she’d lived this before. Not this life in particular, but nonetheless. Never before had anybody had asked her about past lives and what hers may have been like. She could write a novella on who she thought she was before. She was royalty. She was royalty and she knew it, but present day her carried it with grace and elegance, not vitriol and contempt. Though she was stunning herself, she viewed the world realistically. She did not run nor hide from her pretty privilege. She loved every second of it. She adored every time a child jumped in her lap, someone randomly asked for help for something she knew they already knew. To live life on that level was a blessing and not a curse with the right perspective. The old version of her, the imperial princess of a land that was sunnier than the Los Angeles she now occupied was a cat lover. It was why she carried a cat pendant hooked onto the zipper of her book bag. Oh fuck. The book bag. She day dreamed herself into forgetting about the most important project in her life. She scrambled to pick up the backpack and check the laptop. Reaching into bag, other members of the bus began to ask if the laptop was alright. A burly gentleman sitting adjacent to her on the neighboring row of seats. He reached for the backpack, his hand touching hers, causing a jolt of electricity between them, causing him to drop the bag itself back to the floor. He apologized and reached him arm back to his own space and shortly after pulled the lever above granting his exit off of the bus. At once, he raised up and entered out of the side exit of the vehicle at a corner he clearly knew nothing about. Stumbling off of the bus and walking in a hurried, disoriented fashion, he stepped towards a cafe and through a nearby alleyway. As Love watches it unfold she screams for the driver to “stop the fucking bus!” who responds back that she has the option to request a stop just as the last passenger did, which got a hearty chuckle from the rest of the riders on the vehicle. She lets out a deep sigh and complies. The laptop was no longer her top concern, it was tracking down this mystery man in a suit whom she shared this ‘connection’ with. The bus came to a stop as requested and she gathered her belongings, laptop dangling out of the bag meant to carry it, rushing to the front of the bus to leave out of nothing more than pure instinct. Love hopped off the bus, hair in her face be damned, she was hunting this guy down. What they shared was more than just a static cling and it was clear they both knew it. Whether they wanted to admit it was an entirely different story that nobody reading this has time for. One thing she hated dealing with was hypothetical situations and questions. The ‘what if’ conversation got old. What happened to just letting it be? These were all thoughts that had absolutely nothing to do with the matter at hand, but this was how she came to learn herself. There was a clear difference between the definition of the word happiness from 1972 than the one in 2025. Either way, situations just like this one showed her who she truly was. She was tired of ignoring the signs of her past life. The color purple would follow her everywhere, a very specific cat would cross her path several times a month. Not enough to keep a journal entry of it in her notes app, but enough to take notice of the pattern. She quickly turned the direction of her target and started sprinting across roadways, causing numerous car horns and brakes screeching from approaching traffic. Slurs and derogatory marks flew freely like a ticker-tape parade after a World Series championship win. After wading through the wave of pissed off humanity, she continued on her journey, laptop barely hanging in place from the bad she attempted to stuff it into. She had to improvise to speed up the chase. From afar she thought she spot him entering a cafe casually, which is what she would expect one in this situation to do. After shoving her way through a crowd of people tossing obscenities as she did so, the laptop once again fell to the ground, except this time it was clearly destroyed. The screen was completely detached from the keyboard panel. Game over. As she cradled the pieces, revealing a shattered screen and cuts on her arm from the tiny shards of glass spilling out of it. It wasn’t enough to warrant a crime scene but it was visibly watch droplets of blood roll off of her arm and onto the pavement below. A culmination of the last decade and a half, career dreams notwithstanding, the red below her feet mixed with tears dropping from her eyes. Just as she was having thoughts on giving up on the whole thing, the life, the sex, the human condition, hopes, dreams, getting high, the feeling that came with being sober didn’t feel worth it anymore. The tender lick of the ever familiar sand paper tongue of a checkered black and white stray cat strided out from a nearby alleyway and rubbed up against her legs, no fear for any potential cuts he may receive himself. People crowded around her to check on her safety as the cat began to lick away at the open wounds on her arms. She shooed away the congregation om favor of her newfound animal friend. Love patted and stroked the moo cow colored tabby cat as he continued to lick her wounds. She rose to her feet and scruffed the cat up with her, bringing her eye to eye with him. After a four second stare down, the cat jumped down and darted away from her and back to where he ascended from, behind a blue dumpster in between an abandoned mom and pop store and a thriving Italian business. She couldn’t help but think that she had made a new friend today. Somebody to play cat and mouse with. Her mind filled with thoughts of tomorrow, exclusive to this fresh set of circumstances. Gone were with the thoughts of the laptop, work, disappointing her boss. None of that mattered in the moment. The only thing that mattered was to meet up once again she believed was now confirmed to be an entity. She knew it to be true, and she would stop at nothing to prove it. She had something to prove with nobody to believe her. It wasn’t for the first time she had been here, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. Thoughts of tomorrow consumed her like a solar eclipse. Visions of cashing out with cat food at local Dollar General dominated her thoughts. She checked her banking app to ensure she could afford it. As well as a new work laptop.
No comments:
Post a Comment