[WP] You attempt to mug a man.

[ruien]

[WP] You attempt to mug a man. “Your money or your life pal!” He promptly hands over his ID, phone, keys and social security card before running away. He calls out over his shoulder “You’re late for Steph’s recital!”

You dump the ID and sell the phone. You don't even look at them.

That night, a girl played piano on a recital stage in a dream that starts to fade as soon as you woke up the next morning.

You never even think about her.

You forget her name.

You forget the mugging.

It was just one of many petty crimes you commit in your pursuit of cheap thrills and small luxuries.

Then one day, you look up -- in the subway, at a ticket stand, in line for a hotdog, you don't really know -- and you see her… just for a moment.

Her face was drawn and hardened. Her eyes were cold and steely. Sharp. Ninja stars looking for a target. You remember that look. You used to see it in the mirror all the time when you were young, before Annie, before Stephanie.

Little Stephanie tugs on your hand and you look down at her.

You forget the young woman.

You forget where you've seen her before.

Just another face in the faceless choir of the city.

You've started noticing her in all sorts of places. The alley corner, the street lamp, the crossing in front of your corner smoke shop, the concession stand at the park with Stephanie's favourite playground when she was nine and still wanted to hold your hand everywhere you went.

You don't know how you even know that face, and it scratches at you now, every time you see her. Behind the tomatoes, on a coffee shop poster, on a ticket stub in the bottom of the dryer.

You forget why she is important.

You forget why you feel this way.

So now, you are just unsettled, somehow, in the darkest, quietest nights, and you can't remember what it's called to feel this way (which is making it worse), to have nothing to be afraid of and still be afraid to close your eyes, to hear a piano, and dream.

https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/fw7mzp/wp_you_attempt_to_mug_a_man_your_money_or_your/