Origami

As usual, it's just me and the girl waiting for the bus here. We sometimes greet each other just to fill the silence, but I still don't know her name.

She looks at me.

"You always look unhappy every time we meet here," she says. "Do you not like cloudy days?"

I snort. "It has nothing to do with it."

"Eh? Maybe you don't like me?"

Where did she get that conclusion? It's impossible. She's just someone who happens to wait in the same place as me, nothing more.

"Sorry," she says, "I just wanted to know."

I nod.

We fall silent for a few minutes, the bus still hasn't arrived yet.

"Eh, do you have a sheet of paper?" the girl asks me.

I grab a book from my bag, tear out a sheet and give it to her.

She folds it while smiling.

"I'm always amazed at the results of paper that is folded," she says. "From a normal sheet of paper can form another object depending on how you fold it. Could humans be the same?"

"Different," I say. "Unlike paper, we are shaped not only by ourselves, but also by our parents, our friends, our environment and many more."

The girl smiles, makes a fold again. "If you could shape yourself like this paper, what would you make?"

"Freedom," I say.

"Freedom?"

"I don't care if I end up in any shape, I just want to stop being forced to be something I don't want to be."

"Your parents?" the girl guesses.

I don't answer. Without answering, she already knows the answer.

"So... you're waiting for the bus just to go to a place you don't want to go to?" the girl says.

"Yeah."

"Do you know where you want to go?"

"Yeah."

She smiles. "So what are you waiting for?"

She hands me a flower made of paper that she made. "I may have folded this paper, but you can still fold everything again, right?"

I look at the flower. "But the result will be ugly. There will be a mark from the previous folds."

"Is that important?"

"Eh?"

"Is the mark from the previous folds important?"

Maybe... no.

"There are many people who influence our lives, true, but you are also one of them, right? You are even the most influential person in the world. You always have control over your life, you are still free to decide. If this still ends up the way others want it to, it is not because you have no control, it is because you gave up trying."

I looked at her and she looked at me. She smiled again.

"I'm talking big, right? Sorry, I'm acting as if I know it all. I just want to help you get rid of some of your unhappiness."

"Why?" I asked.

"Yes?"

"Why help me?"

"If you ask why," she muttered, "maybe it's because I also have moments when I feel like I'm just going through the motions and not truly living my life. It's scary, but it's also an opportunity to make a change. So if I can help someone else find the courage to take control of their life, then I feel like I'm making a difference too."

The bus finally arrives and we both get on. As I sit down, I look at the origami on my hand and smile.

***