andcrscns:
This is Chicago. Here the winds of change are blowing; whispering their discontents into the very hearts of her citizens. It was raining, but even in it’s near squalor appearance and the dreadful chill of the streets below, Nolan couldn’t wait to get outside.
The man had been holed up in his apartment for what seemed like weeks— perhaps months. He returned not long ago from a life of isolation. Metaphorically speaking, of course. His first step into the real world, as he recalled, was heavy and euphoric. He’d recognised things he’d long since forgotten. How the world operated and how easy it was to walk without looking over one’s shoulder.
He stepped out from beneath the awning, letting the rain pelt him from all sides as he ambled down the street to wherever it would take him. It was almost cathartic. Letting out a heavy, content sigh as he sauntered into the small coffee shop, he stared forwards. Allowing himself play with the change in his pockets. A voice sounded from in front of him and he nodded vacantly, the temptation to reply tugging at his impulses.
“Lines, amirite?”
George wasn’t exactly one to make small talk in public. It never really ended well for him. He used to not mind it, being completely comfortable with the occasional chatter while waiting in the lines of a city. Nowadays he kept his head down and to himself. He had hoped moving out to Chicago would help, that moving to a new city would get him out more. He thought moving to a new city where he knew no one would force him to interact with people.
He thought wrong. In fact, it almost made him worse. During the day he would go between work and school with his head down. And then at the end of the day he would go home to his dog, which he got to cope wit the fact that he had almost no friends. Yet, he still had no interest in meeting new people.
Except for today, when he heard a voice behind him, he felt the need to respond. Maybe it was because the voice sounded vaguely familiar. He was probably hallucinating the familiarity though. It had happened before. Thankfully not since he moved, but it still had happened.
“Yeah, it’s kind of a mess,” he said with a slight laugh before turning around. His smile quickly faded when he saw the man standing behind him. God he wished he was hallucinating. “Hey,” George said softly biting his lip.
