Insidious Wrath - K.TH.

Two

Your fingers twirled the apple--shining with red and green pigment--in your hand around, your eyes studying the fruit. Your tongue picked off the skin that got between some teeth, savoring the sweet taste that watered your mouth; a gorgeous apple like that was a special occasion you soaked in every time you had the extra money to buy a couple at the market. The money usually came with the favorable tips the wealthy handed over on the highest floors of the building. That's where they all flocked to in a massive city like this one.

Two people spoke behind you in the break room: two men that were a decent couple that bantered casually from time to time. They were from the custodian unit, mainly working on the wires and pipes of the giant place. Once in a while, you tuned in to their conversation, but today your mind was on other things: rationing your money, the rent that was due next week, finding ways to pay others back. The list always continued on and on without a pause in sight. 

"Miss. Mi, how are you doing today?"

Your mind pulled away from your responsibilities. The apple in your hand lowered close to your lap as your head spun around to find the two men standing at a vending machine. It was refreshing to be greeted with kind smiles they held, to which you managed a meek smile back to them. "I'm fine. Nothing new, I guess."

"Yeah," the taller man that leaned against the machine laughed slightly. A soda sat in his left hand. "I feel the same. I haven't done anything new. I work, go home, see my girlfriend, and go to bed. That's my schedule."

You held your forced smile, but your heart sunk to your stomach, your appetite for the waxy apple in your hand ruined. It was strange; you didn't have any close friends, only your colleagues at work. That was the time of day where you shared the little information about your life to others, but even then they never wished to hear so much of how pitiful your world was. It never crossed your mind that someone goes home to find someone waiting for them with a bright smile. It was foreign to you. Lonely. 

"Speaking of which, I'm taking a small trip to the country this weekend to visit family," the other man said. His eyes lit up with sparkles that told you he was elated for the event. "My cousin had her baby a month ago. I haven't gotten to see the kid yet, and I haven't been home with my parents for a while, so best I go visit, right? Knock two birds out with one stone."

The taller man laughed at the final sentence and took a sip of his soda. "I only see my family for the holidays. My mom is always so busy and I never have the time to see my brother while he keeps up with his growing family. Also, remind me to call my mom when I get out of work today. I haven't spoken with her in about a week."

"What about you, Miss? Have you see any of your family recently?"

"I don't visit," you mumbled. You forced your tone to sound chipper, but it was failing on you. "I... don't really have anyone to visit, you know? My parents died in an accident some years ago and all of my distant family lives out of the country, so it's usually just... me."

That halted the casual conversation, automatically putting a damper on the subject. You wished you hadn't opened your mouth. You could have made an excuse about how you weren't close with family or you moved too far away from them. You knew mentioning your dead parents always silenced everyone, so why did you keep mentioning it? Was it because you didn't care? Well, you did care. You cared you had no family, but you were apathetic about the way your parents died. You held no pity for them. 

You dropped the pity years ago. 

"I'm sorry to hear about that," the taller man muttered, keeping his glance on the tiled floor below. The air in the room grew uncomfortable, to which the other man also apologized for your loss; it wasn't much of a loss. Just a bad memory in a flood of nightmares.