Off the Coast of Canada

A satire.

 

            Lawrence sat in his dark and grey kitchen staring out the window early in the morning on a rainy day. He watched as the raindrops hit the window, lingered for a while, and then slowly rolled down until they joined with the pool of water sitting on the windowsill.

            Lawrence could faintly see his sad reflection in the dark window. His chocolate brown hair was tousled and stuck out in so many directions at once that one could almost assume he was sporting one of those messy hairstyles. But he wasn’t. His dark eyes were full of depression and gloom as they stared vacantly in a forward direction. His eyes were almost lost within the dark circle that told everyone he hadn’t been sleeping well for weeks or months… but in his case it’s been years; six to be exact.

            Many people would argue that what happened to him wasn’t at all as bad as he made it out to be… but he had loved her more than anything else in his life. And he still did. He always told himself that nothing could ever change the way he felt about Sophie.

            He had loved her since he very second his eyes had the ultimate pleasure of meeting with hers. Her eyes had been a soft golden brown color that reminded him of caramel, his favorite candy. Her eyes were perfectly placed within her elegant face that was perfectly framed by dark brown waves that spiraled down almost to her elbows at her sides. He couldn’t look away from her, and noticed a faint smile playing upon her lips. He thought the smile was directed at him so he smiled back even as he watched the dog happily bound up to her and into her arms. In that moment he could do nothing but be envious of that golden retriever. But even though her gaze quickly left his eyes and she probably had no recollection of seeing him, he had felt more alive in that moment than he ever had before.

            Four years ago almost to the day, Sophie had agreed to go with him on a date. He was so thrilled that he spent hours getting ready for the walk in the park with her. He put on his favorite nice clothing, dark jeans with a navy blue button-down shirt and a silver bow tie. He spent nearly twenty minutes on Google trying to figure out what the appropriate amount of cologne to wear was.

            When it came time to pick her up for the walk in the park which happened to be the first date had ever been on, he became very nervous and raced through his mind to think of the right things to say to her. Should he say, “Wow, you look nice?” Or should replace nice for beautiful. Would that be too forward? As he stepped through his front door and felt the soft warm air on his face and began walking down the front steps of his New York apartment building, he tripped on the skateboard his neighbor always left behind. Lawrence recovered quickly from his minor heart attack and continued on his way toward Sophie’s house.

            As he walked, all he could think about was how beautiful Sophie was going to look on this summer day. He wondered if he was going to make a complete fool of himself, and if he did, would it happen right off the bat? He watched as several couples walked past him; he noticed that for once his depression did not get the best of him. He wasn’t full of infuriating jealousy like he always was. He now had a girlfriend. At least that is what he had thought.

            His mind came back from the flashback he’d been stuck in for the last hour or so. Her face always did this to him. The very mention of brown wavy hair, or gold trim on any object set his mind back to the beautiful Goddess that had broken his heart the moment he learned that she had given him a fake address after agreeing to the date. Suddenly he was filled with fury and anger at the thought of her being so cruel to him. But for some reason he was okay with it. At least she has spoken words to him; at least for a few days he felt as though she belonged in his heart forever. Now she was just a shadow forever cast over his heart and mind.

            He let out a loud, deep sigh that relaxed him enough to catch a few moments of sleep before walking outside to gaze upon the frozen ocean that surrounded his secluded private home off the coast of Canada. He tried to tell himself that she wasn’t the reason he banished himself to a god forsaken frozen island… but the truth is she was the exact reason why he was there alone.

 

            He was aware that this was how he started his day every morning, and would continue to be the opening scene to his depressing life for the rest of his days.

Author's Note

Grammar?