Opening Story - 002

I didn't really like how I lived my life when I was staying with my relatives. There, everything made me angry and unhappy. It wasn't like there was any one thing that made me feel like I had to leave, but rather the accumulation of everything that made me feel I had no choice in the matter, and that I had to leave. That I had to leave everything and everyone that I knew, without a word. But I think this is probably a good thing for me. It's like a fresh start, a chance to start anew.

And that's exactly what I intend to do. I'm going to live my life differently now that I'm here. I'm going to make sure that I'm not the same person that I was before. I hated that person. I want to be better than that person. And for that reason, I'm going to be different from now on. To do that, I think I want to live my life as ideally, and with as few regrets as possible. Surely, that's what will make me happiest, I think. And to do that, I think, what I want to do is be as close to ideal as one really could be.

That, I suppose, is what I want. To live my life by a code of ideals, to the best of my ability. What I've decided on, is that I should try to be kind and honest to everyone. If I live that way, I think that I'll come to like myself. Or at least like myself more than I currently do.

I work at a restaurant near the local shopping mall. Though it would be much quicker to bus, it isn't like I have much else to do in my spare time, so I like to walk there. It saves money too. I was walking out of the door, on my way to the restaurant, when a man's voice called out to me. It gave me such a shock. I hadn't been expecting someone to say 'hello' as soon as I walked out the door. Looking around, I was quickly able to locate the person who had called out to me.

Leaning against the fence between my home and the next one over, was an old man. He must be my neighbour, I assumed. He had olive skin and a white, but still full, head of hair. His eyes seemed to twinkle a bit, but that may have just been because of the angle of the sun. I walked off the path that led up to my front door, walking in his direction.

"Are you the new renter?" he called out again as I approached.

"Y-yes."

"How long are you planning to stay there?"

"How long?"

"Yes, how long."

"I haven't decided yet."

"Really? Most people don't stay there very long. I hear it isn't a very nice house."

"Even so, it's better than nothing."

"Well… I guess that's true," he says in reply.

"Sorry, where are my manners? I should've introduced myself. My name's Massimo Giovanna."

"Alexander… just Alexander."

"Just Alexander, huh? You know, it's rude not to tell someone your name."

For a moment, when he says that, I think to myself that maybe he isn't who he says he is. That he's someone that my father sent to try and find me. He could be. But, no there's no way that even my father would be able to find me this quickly, I don't think. And besides, he lived here before I did, so there's no way that he 'found' me here. I shouldn't be so suspicious of people. It'll make me paranoid.

"Sorry, I've had a few names throughout my life, but none of them sound quite right. So, for now, I'm going by just Alexander."

"Hmm," the man, Massimo, regards me coolly, "well, I guess that's fair enough. To each his own and all. I can see that your busy at the moment, but you should come over to chat with me sometime."

"Okay. Yeah, we can do that. See you."

"See you."

Walking on the way to work, I thought about Massimo. He seemed like quite a nice old man. A good neighbour. Thoughts along those lines were how I'd describe him. Though he seemed to have a strong respect for manners. Funny, considering that he had said all those things about manners and rudeness that he didn't shake my hand.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened while I was at work. If anything, it was almost too ordinary. I'm starting to get the hang of working here. There isn't much to it now that I understand what I'm supposed to be doing. It isn't very difficult work.

My shift lasts for six hours, from five to eleven, plus an extra ten minutes for clean up, means that its' already pitch black by the time that I'm done. Since the restaurant is so near to a shopping mall, it isn't a far walk to the bus stop. I'll be in time for the last bus of the day. It's only about a ten-minute bus ride, and I certainly could walk it like I did on the way here, but I'd rather not walk through some parts of town this late at night. The bus I'm waiting for, only comes by every half an hour, so I have to wait about fifteen minutes for it. So, in reality, it isn't that much quicker to bus, but like I said before, I'd rather not walk through this area this late.

Time passes, and I barely see anyone. One bus stops and leaves while I'm waiting, but it only has two passengers plus the driver. Not a single soul walks past. For that reason, I'm almost shocked when I see someone, a girl, walking in this direction. She's quite far away. The roads are almost as quiet as the footpath. It's so quiet that I can hear cars driving past a block or two away, without ever seeing them.

There's a bus at the lights. Not the one I want, however. I almost sit back down, when I notice that the girl I spotted earlier, is running in my direction now. Or rather, running in the direction of the bus stop. She must be trying to catch this bus, I realise.

As the bus approaches, I flag it down, and explain to the driver that there's a girl running to catch the bus. When he hears that, the driver tuts, and says something along the lines of, 'well isn't that nice of you?'. I couldn't hear him very well over the engine of the bus, but it sounded like he was being sarcastic. I don't think he's very happy that because of me and this girl, he has to spend longer, waiting with the door open letting the cold air in.

Even though the girl is running, she's quite far away and her dress keeps catching at her knees. I can also see now that she's a bit closer that she's holding heels, and running barefoot.

As I'm looking at her though, my attention is caught by something else. Another bus, the one that I've been waiting for, sails past without stopping. I let out a large sigh in exasperation. I guess that I'll be walking after all.