Look up...

{{ This is a short story I once wrote... Can't remember right now why I wrote it... But some people thought it was nice and maybe... just maybe... it's worth reading... }}

Once upon a time there was this man. He lived in a gray world, surrounded by objects and matter. He didn't have anyone left. His parents had died; he had fallen in love once but she was long gone now, she left him for another man. He was still young, around 30 years of age, and he was a very healthy person. Healthy in body, but his mind was troubled. He felt like he was all alone despite all those people he knew, despite his friends from work, despite the fact that every morning at 6:35am he'd walk outside his house, pick up the newspaper and start a very friendly conversation with Mr. Caldwell, his neighbor. Somehow it all felt empty...

Life had no color anymore; it had no scent and it was filled with cold. He could still remember those years of youth, when he was still in school, how everything felt so vividly, everyone was so loving and caring and he was another man. He sat down at his table, coffee in hand, newspaper in the other hand. Mr. Caldwell was just telling him about the new medicine he had bought to treat his cardiac disease. For a moment there he just looked straight ahead, glaring at a distant past. He thought of the day he met his ex-wife. Oh how beautiful that day felt. He was just hanging out with his friends at the local coffee house, chatting about their latest math class and how horrible the mid-terms are going to be. All of the sudden he was dragged into silence by this beautiful woman who had just walked in. He forgot about his friends, forgot about school, even forgot he was leaning back with his chair and fell down making this horrible noise. A small grin shows up in his face as he recalls how she looked at him with that heavenly smile. He picked himself up while his friends where just laughing and joking about how 'gracefully' he had sat on the floor. He could do nothing but look at her. Then she walked out of that coffee shop and he just stood there; watching her leave, wishing he was brave enough to walk up to her and talk to her. He didn't. But that was not the end of it... Like I said before, his ex-wife...

He finished his coffee, finished reading the newspaper. Nothing new, some dead people, murdered by other men who have just lost every bit of humanity left in them. They're nothing but breathing beasts that take what they want and leave. Sometimes they even take lives. The new mayor had made some changes in traffic routes and he just knew how chaotic today's driving was going to be. He didn't really care. Spending time alone in traffic, waiting to get to a place I don't really want to be, having to spend 10 hours sitting behind a desk which brings me misery... Yes, it doesn't really sound that bad... He thought to himself...

Yet another day of nothingness and gray lives. Yet another moment in which nothing is felt, nothing is hoped... This day when you just don't find anything to live for. He was having yet another day like that. Nothing to look forward to. This was his life, and he was sure nothing was about to change.

He had the car keys in one hand and his laptop in the other, walked out of the house waiting for nothing, thinking this was the beginning of another pointless week. However this time it was different, somehow he stopped right outside his door, looked up... And he saw the wind blowing the fallen leaves away, he heard birds singing, saw kids playing down the street. Somehow it was different, somehow he felt different. It was like, for a very brief instant, life had stopped moving, everything beautiful was standing still before him; a brief moment to hold on to... He didn't pay much attention to it, a bump on the road he thought.

He got to his desk and it was all where he had left it, all but a note. This is strange... A bright post-it glued to his desk saying: "you're gonna have a great day today" and a smiley next to it. Who had left this here? His secretary knew nothing about it. This is strange... He thought...

At noon he was called to his boss's office. "You've been doing an amazing job lately! So much, that we have decided to give you a raise and paid vacations in Aruba!" His boss had a great smile as he spoke this words. He could simply not believe it... What's this? I'm smiling?

About to leave, everything packed. He was closing his office's door and he heard a soft voice. "Did you get my note?" He turned around and there were these two green pearls looking back at him. He couldn't really respond to that question, but somehow managed to blurt out a simple: "yes..." "Well I hope you did have a great day, and I hope tomorrow is even better than today" she turned around and walked away. He stood there, looking at her. She stopped, turned around, looked at him and smiled. He smiled back. She left.

"This was a very good day" he thought. He then remembered one thing: God had given him life. He was still breathing, and it was because he was still breathing that he could live that day. Life was still worth living... What started out as a very gray day, a day which promised nothing but loneliness nothing but cold... Turned out to be a very good day... It all started... When he looked up...