Momentous
He looked at his face. It didn't look quite right... he didn't feel right, so it suited him just fine.
The elevator doors, polished to a mirrored gloss, allowed him to stare back at himself. Or at least a harshly lit, scowling version of himself. He hated waiting for elevators; for anything really.
The arch of his twin's right brow became more pronounced, the bags under his eyes darker. He'd spent the last four days flat on his back and heavily medicated. But today, work beckoned. Not because he enjoyed what he did, far from it.
It was the hermit-itus that was concerning him. He hadn't left the apartment in nearly five days. He hadn't felt stir crazy in the least. That was not like him. Normally, he would have been crawling the walls after two days. Not this time.
The doors parted, and he stepped into the elevator. Fortunately, he was alone. He came into work early for almost precisely that reason. Nothing worse in his mind than starting the day in a complete crush of people. The subway was bad enough, though this early in the morning, one could occasionally find a car that was hardly occupied.
The doors slid shut, and he was presented once again with an image of himself. These doors were not polished to the same sheen. Instead of an exact replica, he saw a subtly distorted version of himself. The grey surface presented a doppleganger which suited his mood much more accurately. Slightly fuzzy around the edges, indistinct, capable of fading into the background. Unimportant. That's how he felt.
His mind mocked him vaguely, offering to set up a teapot at the pity party for one. Perhaps a slice of lemon, it chortled. Two lumps, or do you feel you've taken more than that?
A slight twitch in his eyebrow warned the mocking voice that today was not the day.
Today was going to be momentous. He wasn't sure whether it would be the events, or the meanderings of his consciousness. He was certain that he would be different at the end of this day than at the beginning.
The elevator doors, polished to a mirrored gloss, allowed him to stare back at himself. Or at least a harshly lit, scowling version of himself. He hated waiting for elevators; for anything really.
The arch of his twin's right brow became more pronounced, the bags under his eyes darker. He'd spent the last four days flat on his back and heavily medicated. But today, work beckoned. Not because he enjoyed what he did, far from it.
It was the hermit-itus that was concerning him. He hadn't left the apartment in nearly five days. He hadn't felt stir crazy in the least. That was not like him. Normally, he would have been crawling the walls after two days. Not this time.
The doors parted, and he stepped into the elevator. Fortunately, he was alone. He came into work early for almost precisely that reason. Nothing worse in his mind than starting the day in a complete crush of people. The subway was bad enough, though this early in the morning, one could occasionally find a car that was hardly occupied.
The doors slid shut, and he was presented once again with an image of himself. These doors were not polished to the same sheen. Instead of an exact replica, he saw a subtly distorted version of himself. The grey surface presented a doppleganger which suited his mood much more accurately. Slightly fuzzy around the edges, indistinct, capable of fading into the background. Unimportant. That's how he felt.
His mind mocked him vaguely, offering to set up a teapot at the pity party for one. Perhaps a slice of lemon, it chortled. Two lumps, or do you feel you've taken more than that?
A slight twitch in his eyebrow warned the mocking voice that today was not the day.
Today was going to be momentous. He wasn't sure whether it would be the events, or the meanderings of his consciousness. He was certain that he would be different at the end of this day than at the beginning.
posted by Surly Canuck at 1:47 p.m.
3 Comments:
Nice mood capture... Sooo much talent is wasted under flourescent office lights.
Very vibrant, smooth writing - I can relate to your character well. After reading your other posts, I'm guessing this is at least loosely based on real life, eh? I can relate...
Thanks for the comment Jamie... like your blog as well. Congrats on the NaNoWriMo win! I discovered it around mid November, and didn't want to push my luck. Looking forward to next year though.
Harley - You're telling me my friend. Of course there's a lot of wastes under fluorescent lights too.
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