My short story for English
Quiet as a Mouse
By: Meredith Preston
He sits in the very back of the subway train. It never fails he’s always there. The people on the train fear him. He is different than what they are used to seeing with his black clothes, spiked collar, and his tall mohawk hair radiating blue. He un-purposefully attracts their attention, but they quickly look away. She sits alone as well but towards the front. She wears a matching suit and has a professional look about her. She’s neatly groomed and no one fears her. She doesn’t attract much attention. Strangely enough as different as they both are no one ever talks to either of them.
John is a very simple guy in his own mind. He gets up, gets dressed and catches the subway to and from work. Once at work he can let loose bartending at his favorite club with loud punk music and different colored lights changing every couple of seconds from the ceiling. He is around the people that look like him and think he’s normal. There are no awkward stares and no one fears him. This should make him happy, but he can’t help but feel empty inside where his loneliness eats away at him. All he wants is someone sober to help him through the rough times as he recovers from his old habits and alcoholic ways. So he works at a nightclub serving hundreds of people liquor and cleaning up after drunks. There he searches for someone to befriend that can have a good time without drinking. When the night is through, he wipes off his happy face and gets on the subway back home. He lives in a one bedroom apartment that he pays for based on his income which is very little, and he has no extra cash so he only has the bare necessities. Tonight while he sits in his usual spot on the subway, he notices a beautiful woman sitting close to the front reading a book. She flips her brown hair to reveal her pale flawless skin, and bright features. Her eye brows are scowled with emotion for what ever she is reading. She is so beautiful to him partly because she is everything he is not. She looks very successful in her matching pin striped suit, and briefcase. This infatuation, if it could even be called that yet, went deeper than her beauty. Something about her was different that made him feel something he couldn’t explain. He can’t help but wonder what she was reading about that could be interesting enough to block out the world around her and evoke such emotion that is revealed on her face. He thinks to himself, “Why am I so drawn to her? She will surely laugh if I try to say something to her or maybe even runaway.” The subway stops and John was so memorized by this woman that he would have never noticed, but she was getting up and gathering her things struggling to tear her eyes away from the adventures her book held. Ironically, they both got off, at the same stop! He wonders how he has never noticed her before. Inside his head he converses with himself, “Have I been so wrapped up in my own self pity that I did not recognize her un-failing beauty?” It’s almost as if she won’t look at him but he can’t take his eyes off her. They part ways and he goes home where he can’t sleep for all the thoughts of her swimming through his head. He stays up all night listening to music, lying on his back on top of a mattress on the cold tiled floor staring at the ceiling of his apartment. He decided to say something to her the next day. Since he doesn’t want to screw up or stutter when he approaches her, he burns her a c.d., a more modern mixed tape of songs that would tell her a little something about him if she takes the time to listen to it. He entitled it “hello” which seemed appropriate since he’d never said it to her before and more than likely wouldn’t be able to. He finally drifted off to sleep after several hours of recording a piece of his life on to a disk.
John awakes the next day feeling very groggy, but it switches to anticipation as he prepares himself for his first impression on her. He gathers his things together and heads to the subway station. As he boards the train his hands begin to sweat. His heart beats a little faster and his short breaths ensure he is a little nervous. His eyes came to her seat and she wasn’t there. With his hopes defeated, he sat and waited to get off at his stop.
The night at work seemed as though it would never end. There were times when he swore the clock was not moving. He couldn’t stop thinking about her, someone he’d never even met, and strangely he was drawn to her by some hidden force. When the clock finally moved and the time came to leave he rushed to the subway in anticipation of his first impression on her. He boarded the train as he always does and approached her seat. He breathed heavily as recognized her and the matching brown suit. He watched her read and pulled out the c.d. from his pocket and held it out with shaky hands for her to see. She looked up from her book, not at his clothes or his hair, and not even the c.d., but into his eyes. This was the first time in a long time that John could remember anyone truly looking into him and not just at him. She smiled but did not say a word. She noticed the c.d., took it and put it in her purse. She pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled a time and address of somewhere to meet her later. John couldn’t figure out why she didn’t just tell him, he could remember it; he would never forget anything she had to say to him. He took the paper and went to his seat where he dreamt about what this place might look like and what they might talk about. When he got home he freshened up, and then walked to the address at the specified time. When he arrived at the little place he shook his head but headed in to the café where he never would have gone in a million years. The people inside stared at him, making him feel a little uneasy. Their looks made him certain that he did not belong there. He wanted to get to know the girl so on he searched. He saw the coffee drinking poetry readers and couldn’t fathom why he’d go to all this trouble for a girl, but there was no backing out now. He kept searching and holding in his excitement, he finally spotted her. He barely recognized her in jeans and a tee shirt, but she was sitting by herself reading the same book. He made his way to her and stood in front of her for a few minutes eager that she would say hi first. She never looked up. Astonished, he tapped her book hoping that he didn’t startle her. She looked up and smiled, which made him feel the long lost feeling of happiness that he thought he’d forgotten all about. She waved, which was odd because he was standing right in front of her, not on the other side of the room. But he decided it must be some kind of game and thought it kind of cute that she wouldn’t talk to him, like he had to start the conversation if he wanted to get to know her. He gave in and said “hello”. She made a gesture with her hands. Startled, John took a step back trying to understand what was going on. She silently laughed and wrote something on a napkin and pushed it towards him. He read it, “I’m deaf”. At first it didn’t register with him, he took a step back as if to take the whole picture in. He felt so embarrassed and was shocked, but that made him like her so much more. The fact that she was deaf made her exotic to him. There was so much he wanted to know and he hoped to learn how to communicate with her. No one understood him and no one understood her, in entirely different ways they were the same and for the first time in a long time John’s empty space was filled.
By: Meredith Preston
He sits in the very back of the subway train. It never fails he’s always there. The people on the train fear him. He is different than what they are used to seeing with his black clothes, spiked collar, and his tall mohawk hair radiating blue. He un-purposefully attracts their attention, but they quickly look away. She sits alone as well but towards the front. She wears a matching suit and has a professional look about her. She’s neatly groomed and no one fears her. She doesn’t attract much attention. Strangely enough as different as they both are no one ever talks to either of them.
John is a very simple guy in his own mind. He gets up, gets dressed and catches the subway to and from work. Once at work he can let loose bartending at his favorite club with loud punk music and different colored lights changing every couple of seconds from the ceiling. He is around the people that look like him and think he’s normal. There are no awkward stares and no one fears him. This should make him happy, but he can’t help but feel empty inside where his loneliness eats away at him. All he wants is someone sober to help him through the rough times as he recovers from his old habits and alcoholic ways. So he works at a nightclub serving hundreds of people liquor and cleaning up after drunks. There he searches for someone to befriend that can have a good time without drinking. When the night is through, he wipes off his happy face and gets on the subway back home. He lives in a one bedroom apartment that he pays for based on his income which is very little, and he has no extra cash so he only has the bare necessities. Tonight while he sits in his usual spot on the subway, he notices a beautiful woman sitting close to the front reading a book. She flips her brown hair to reveal her pale flawless skin, and bright features. Her eye brows are scowled with emotion for what ever she is reading. She is so beautiful to him partly because she is everything he is not. She looks very successful in her matching pin striped suit, and briefcase. This infatuation, if it could even be called that yet, went deeper than her beauty. Something about her was different that made him feel something he couldn’t explain. He can’t help but wonder what she was reading about that could be interesting enough to block out the world around her and evoke such emotion that is revealed on her face. He thinks to himself, “Why am I so drawn to her? She will surely laugh if I try to say something to her or maybe even runaway.” The subway stops and John was so memorized by this woman that he would have never noticed, but she was getting up and gathering her things struggling to tear her eyes away from the adventures her book held. Ironically, they both got off, at the same stop! He wonders how he has never noticed her before. Inside his head he converses with himself, “Have I been so wrapped up in my own self pity that I did not recognize her un-failing beauty?” It’s almost as if she won’t look at him but he can’t take his eyes off her. They part ways and he goes home where he can’t sleep for all the thoughts of her swimming through his head. He stays up all night listening to music, lying on his back on top of a mattress on the cold tiled floor staring at the ceiling of his apartment. He decided to say something to her the next day. Since he doesn’t want to screw up or stutter when he approaches her, he burns her a c.d., a more modern mixed tape of songs that would tell her a little something about him if she takes the time to listen to it. He entitled it “hello” which seemed appropriate since he’d never said it to her before and more than likely wouldn’t be able to. He finally drifted off to sleep after several hours of recording a piece of his life on to a disk.
John awakes the next day feeling very groggy, but it switches to anticipation as he prepares himself for his first impression on her. He gathers his things together and heads to the subway station. As he boards the train his hands begin to sweat. His heart beats a little faster and his short breaths ensure he is a little nervous. His eyes came to her seat and she wasn’t there. With his hopes defeated, he sat and waited to get off at his stop.
The night at work seemed as though it would never end. There were times when he swore the clock was not moving. He couldn’t stop thinking about her, someone he’d never even met, and strangely he was drawn to her by some hidden force. When the clock finally moved and the time came to leave he rushed to the subway in anticipation of his first impression on her. He boarded the train as he always does and approached her seat. He breathed heavily as recognized her and the matching brown suit. He watched her read and pulled out the c.d. from his pocket and held it out with shaky hands for her to see. She looked up from her book, not at his clothes or his hair, and not even the c.d., but into his eyes. This was the first time in a long time that John could remember anyone truly looking into him and not just at him. She smiled but did not say a word. She noticed the c.d., took it and put it in her purse. She pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled a time and address of somewhere to meet her later. John couldn’t figure out why she didn’t just tell him, he could remember it; he would never forget anything she had to say to him. He took the paper and went to his seat where he dreamt about what this place might look like and what they might talk about. When he got home he freshened up, and then walked to the address at the specified time. When he arrived at the little place he shook his head but headed in to the café where he never would have gone in a million years. The people inside stared at him, making him feel a little uneasy. Their looks made him certain that he did not belong there. He wanted to get to know the girl so on he searched. He saw the coffee drinking poetry readers and couldn’t fathom why he’d go to all this trouble for a girl, but there was no backing out now. He kept searching and holding in his excitement, he finally spotted her. He barely recognized her in jeans and a tee shirt, but she was sitting by herself reading the same book. He made his way to her and stood in front of her for a few minutes eager that she would say hi first. She never looked up. Astonished, he tapped her book hoping that he didn’t startle her. She looked up and smiled, which made him feel the long lost feeling of happiness that he thought he’d forgotten all about. She waved, which was odd because he was standing right in front of her, not on the other side of the room. But he decided it must be some kind of game and thought it kind of cute that she wouldn’t talk to him, like he had to start the conversation if he wanted to get to know her. He gave in and said “hello”. She made a gesture with her hands. Startled, John took a step back trying to understand what was going on. She silently laughed and wrote something on a napkin and pushed it towards him. He read it, “I’m deaf”. At first it didn’t register with him, he took a step back as if to take the whole picture in. He felt so embarrassed and was shocked, but that made him like her so much more. The fact that she was deaf made her exotic to him. There was so much he wanted to know and he hoped to learn how to communicate with her. No one understood him and no one understood her, in entirely different ways they were the same and for the first time in a long time John’s empty space was filled.