Lorene would often just wander onto a busy street and watch people. The fact that nobody ever noticed her allowed her to avoid awkward stares and simply look. One day, though someone DID notice her. Someone bad...
It was a normal day. Lorene had left school, gone home, left a note for her mom that she was out people watching ( It seemed like this was the only way they communicated anymore, which was one of the few things that bothered Lorene, she missed human contact), and gone downtown on the subway. She was at a street full of tourists, just watching them wander around, when a few tears began to creep out of the corners of her eyes. She wiped them away, wishing that, just for once, SOMEONE would look at her. She looked up, trying to hold back the unfamiliar tears, so different from when she had fallen and hurt herself on the playground as a child. That pain washed away quickly, those tears were a reaction to the pain and shock of injury. These tears, and the reason for them, were completely new, and frightened her. Had she become one of those whiny, wimpy emo kids who cried and cut themselves because Mommy and Daddy didn't get them the pony they wanted for their fifth birthday? No, she was stronger than that. This must have been brought on by that dead homeless man, Paul or Raoul or something like that, that she had bought a cheeseburger for when she was twelve, his body now sitting in an alleyway while people passed him by, not wanting to acknowledge that, if society had cared, he would have been alive and fine. No, they were too involved in everything else that was so unimportant to care that a good man died right there, she thought bitterly, then shook her head, telling herself to snap out of it. She couldn't control society. She could only observe, and take notes. She didn't really exist in most people's minds. She was a girl they used to know, but she moved away years ago, they thought. Right then, though, Lorene realized something. She had never really TRIED to mingle with people, to break into society. She had simply accepted it, and let time push her away. This feeling of pain, rejection, disappointment, misery ,and rage that had been looming in the back of her mind for so long was directed at herself. She had not just let society push her away, but had walked away herself, just accepting it. More tears flowed down her cheeks, as she realized that she hadn't said "I love you too, Mom" in so long, that her mother just stopped saying "I love you." She had pushed the world away from her, for no discernable reason. Silent sobs wracked her body. She vowed to herself that she would go home, hug her mom, and say "Mommy, I love you." She was suddenly pulled out of this reverie by the realization that, across four lanes of traffic, a man in a trenchcoat was staring directly at her. Not THROUGH her, as usually happened, but right at her. And he wasn't looking away at all when she looked up.
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