Open Case File [COMPLETED]

The Museum

As Sophia walked into the Air and Space museum, she found she could put aside her mental displeasure with the human race. Here the world was simple. Lives and knowledge were conveyed in orderly fashion with no complication. Successes were told in basic facts, with no tangled emotions attached.

Sophia found an empty area and slowly made her way from one display to the next. She relaxed  as she read. Guides showed groups about, families congregated together around plaques, lone tourist wandered. Sophia felt detached from the other people around her, it was enough to connect with the people that were already gone, having left their mark on the world for her to read about.

Sophia stopped in a small wing, reading the display for the Wright brothers. Men who dared to dream of a reality others only had dreams about.

"Hey."

The male voice intruded on Sophia's solitude but she didn't respond. Who would talk to her here?

"Are you on a mandatory trip like I am?"

Sophia finally looked to her side and found a boy in his mid-teens with tousled hair and symmetrical features watching her. He wore a smile. Though Sophia knew logically it didn't make sense, she felt frustrated with her parents. Why had it been necessary for them to pass on their genes to her? And in a way that made strangers, specifically boys, come up and talk to her. Yes, that frustration made no sense, she knew that. But still, she felt frustrated and her looks came from her parents.

"Why do people even come to museums?" the boy mused. "I mean we can read about all this crap online, you know."

Communication. Her father said words could take care of 85% of situations. Sophia knew she could handle 90% of them with perfectly chosen words. Her mother told her that 60% of those words shouldn't be the solution. It meant Sophia constantly had to find a medium when it came to her words.

"I don't find museums pointless," Sophia said. "I'm here of my own free will. With such opposing view points I think this conversation is best ended here."

Despite the clear reasoning Sophia laid out, the boy didn't leave. In fact, his smile widened.

"Smart and beautiful," he said. "That seems unfair to the rest of the world."

Sophia didn't care what was unfair to the world. Right then it felt unfair to her to possess both qualities.

"I understand that you are attracted to me," Sophia said. "But that feeling is not reciprocated and I would go as far to say that I find your continued intrusion in my life to be a nuisance. I'd prefer it if you left please."

Even as she spoke, Sophia knew the type of look she'd received. It was one she received many times. It was a look that, despite being the one who's solitude had been invaded, made her feel like she was the perpetrator and not the victim. But she hadn't asked for his attention, why did she feel bad?

The boy left her and Sophia remained planted before the Wright Brothers' display. The comfort she'd found in the museum felt like it had been stolen away. Was that her doing or the boy's?

"You know, I always imagined that the Wright Brothers must have felt out of place a lot of their lives," Carter said. "They dared to think of a reality that others thought impossible. Most likely insane."

Sophia didn't say anything but the words brought back the comfort she'd thought she'd lost. Carter understood.

"Which number of call were you?" Sophia asked.

"Third," Carter said.

Sophia nodded. Denying Harrison and Kennedy's offer of company hadn't meant the issue was ended. They had merely chosen to alert someone else.