Unseen
Photo Credit: Jim Adair
Clean
I used to imagine that the pneumonia I had as an infant stunted my growth and made me small. But now I know I was cursed to roam this planet taking up such a tiny amount of space that no one would notice my passage or miss my absence. I spent years fighting the oblivion that followed me. I tried to make my presence known. I wore strange outfits, with bright colors and, of all things, fringe. I heralded my existence with odd mannerisms and boisterous attempts at joining ongoing conversations. But afterward, I would hear my classmates refer to me as “the odd girl, you know, I think she wore glasses?” Or my co-workers, after I had been home sick the day before, would wonder aloud near me why there weren’t donuts in the break room yesterday. The more I worked to belong, the more I was overlooked. And my affliction seemed unbearable.
It wasn’t until I noticed my first secret that I learned to embrace my shadow life. Sitting in the back of the break room I saw Meredith follow David, the head of Human Resources, into the men’s bathroom. They scanned the rooms near them, heads swiveling back and forth, eyes darting around, but they never saw me. And I finally realized my newfound power. I traded my over-eagerness to fit in for plain t-shirts and a book to hide behind. I slipped into rooms and flew under the radar of water cooler gossip.
And I learned. I learned about Meredith’s affair with David. I learned about Seth in payroll’s daily early departures, that somehow, he still managed to get paid for. And I learned about Anna’s daughter’s cancer that they couldn’t afford treatment for. I learned that it caused her to cry in the last stall of the bathroom every day after spending hours on the phone talking to the hospital about payment plans that she couldn’t afford. I heard her whispered conversations with her husband as they discussed selling their car so they didn’t have to take her out of the medical suite and move her to the outpatient county hospital.
I grew stronger knowing that all their secrets were mine to hold and wield as I saw fit. The first time I sent the email telling David that if he didn’t want his beautiful, rich wife to find out about his weekly lunch appointments with Meredith, then he would make sure that Anna’s medical benefits would cover her daughter’s treatment, my hands were shaking the whole time. Even after I hit the send button, I was so jittery I couldn’t stay in my apartment. I walked the streets for hours, alone and unseen. But that is how I learned that I did have a purpose on this planet. Maybe no one would ever notice me, and maybe I would be the justice that they never saw coming.
I didn’t start my vigilante career taking down corrupt governments and warlords the world over, I started with the people around me. The underpaid, the abused, the wrongfully accused. And even though I was the hand that brought them justice, I was never the face that they saw. I used to imagine that the pneumonia I had as an infant stunted my growth and made me small, but now I know I was allowed to roam this planet taking up such a tiny amount of space that no one would notice my passage or miss my absence because nobody fought what they didn’t see coming.
Part 2 of Unseen coming soon! Subscribe to my newsletter on my home page to have original fiction content sent to your inbox, including the rest of the Unseen series!
Writing Prompt:
Write a story from first person point of view where a character realizes something about themselves that they had always misunderstood. They can come to view a short-coming as a strength, or discover that something they thought of as a strength was actually a hinderance.
Bonus Content: Challenge yourself to include a map, an airplane, and an orange in your story.
Post your piece below in the comments. I can’t wait to read it. And be sure to let me know what you think of my story Unseen!
