My monologue was over. I got up and was about to leave when I saw a person. He seems to be lost as he kept circling around the park.
I have seen him do 8 rounds and I think I should ask if he is okay.
"Excuse me, do you need any help?"
I ask him while approaching him. He looks at me. His face has a blank expression. His eyes are that of a dead fish. His whole being is giving off dead energy.
"Thank you for the offer but I am not lost. I simply do not have a destination. I kept walking around because I was brooding."
His answer is acceptable if I judge him to be an eccentric.
"If you want to brood, I have a good place in mind."
"Really? I would love to brood over there if possible. Walking around a neighborhood park is tiring and questionable."
He gets that he was being suspicious. I take out my phone and call Ariel.
Well, Ariel is the first entry in my contact list so I called her. I told her to relay the message that I would be late.
"Then shall we?"
"Yes."
I grab his shoulder and teleport us to the Empire State Building. I know it's not the tallest building ever but the view is nice and it's often used as a brooding spot by comic book superheroes.
I was also in the mood for some brooding. Sitting in a park to brood isn't the ideal choice.
"You do have the administrative privileges."
He said as he gazed over the entire metropolis.
"Well I am a creator."
I get the feeling that he will understand what I am saying. He feels different as if he isn't from this world.
"Would you like to hear a story?"
"I guess I can. I have time on my hand. What should I call you?"
"Call me Joy. The story that I am about to tell is that of a young man." (Joy)
He goes near the edge and sits down with his legs hanging down. I sit next to him.
"It's a story older than time itself. When the current world did not exist and there was only one world in existence. That world was a different world.
Different rules, different gods and an overall different system. Humans existed in that world too but it was only humans. Other fantastical creatures went extinct due to a certain someone.
The main character of our story is a normal young man. He was average. In every sense of the word, he was average.
Humans have a habit of overestimating their abilities. The young man had that habit too. But he saw the reality early in his childhood.
Since then, he stopped believing himself to be special. He observed others more objectively and saw the similarities. He was nothing special. He was a dime in a dozen and there were more like him.
He was expendable and not necessary. So he decided to let go of his grandiose ambitions. He decided to lead a normal life.
He was only 12 when he chanced upon this realization. He wasn't alone though. He had another friend who shared the same process.
They lived next door and were basically inseparable. Time went by, they both grew up. From elementary school to high school, they were together.
Their classmates were teenagers brimming with energy and drive to pursue their future dreams. The two of them didn't have any ambitions. They were going through the motions of life.
High school ended and they got separated for the first time. Our protagonist, let's call him Jake for convenience, shall we?" (Joy)
He looks at me to confirm if I am with him or I can't follow the story anymore. I confirm that I am indeed following the story and that we can call the protagonist, Jake.
"Jake's best friend shared his worldview but they had one difference. His friend was a hopeless romantic and was in love with a girl since their childhood.
Jake knows the girl well and he had warned his friend to stay away from that girl.
After high school, they went their separate ways with his friend following the girl he liked. Jake knew that he will not see him any longer.
Six months after their separation, Jake got the news. His friend had perished at the hands of the fanatics. They were not religious in the slightest. Jake knew it would be dangerous.
Losing his friend like this shook him. The only one who understood him was gone. Jake was depressed but kept on living. Not to fulfill any grand mission but simply because he would not kill himself.
A year after his friends demise, he got another shocking news. The girl his friend liked had died as well. From what he heard, she lost her mind after his friend was gone.
She was kept at a mental hospital but she somehow managed to get her hands on some dangerous medications and overdosed herself.
It got Jake even more confused. She showed no signs of mental illness in their childhood but Jake assumed that it was a sudden change.
After her death, everything somehow changed. Jake paid no attention to such changes as his life had not changed much.
His life came crashing down on a random Tuesday. He woke up in the morning at an unfamiliar place. He was buck naked and a woman was sleeping beside him. She was exposed as well.
He didn't react immediately and took time to think. He had no recollection of ever meeting this woman and how he got to this room.
He decided to dress himself and cover the lady and wait for her to wake up.
What followed was nothing short of dramatic. The lady woke up and broke down in tears accusing Jake of forcing himself onto her. Jake did not react in any way as he has that much confidence in his self control.
The situation worsened as she screamed and gathered a crowd. The crowd tried to lynch Jake which he escaped by running away.
He had a police case filed against him. The charges were of sexual assault and fraud. Jake analyzed the situation and figured it would be better to let it pass. He had no way of turning this situation around.
The court's verdict was a 14 year sentence and a hefty fine. The medical tests also revealed the woman to be pregnant. She decided to keep the baby and was ready to actually marry Jake.
They got married and the 14 year sentence was dropped since she needed him by her side.
Jake never once complained about the whole debacle. He had a plan. His marriage was not how he had envisioned his life. He was 23 at the time. He lived normally with his wife. He took care of her greatly.
Then the child was born and he made his move. Jake knew that he was impotent. Due to typhoid in his childhood, his potency disappeared.
Jake knew it. The child couldn't possibly be his. A month later, the results of the DNA tests arrived. For the first time in a while, he was shocked.
The child was completely his. There was not a single doubt. It was his and her child. Jake only relied upon his skills in life. He had absolute confidence in himself. But how could it be?
He them tested his potency. Was he misremembering things? But the test results suggested Jake to be impotent.
It created a contradiction. This infuriated Jake. He started searching for answers. His search drove him into a corner. His wife and daughter were worried about him.
So he just gave up and accepted it as it was. Time went by and his daughter grew up. She left home and married someone. Jake was 60 when his wife suddenly died.
It broke him in a way. A year after that he also died. That should have been the end of the story. But it wasn't." (Joy)
The story is intense. A simple twist and it somehow became a mystery. The ending isn't this, I think. Joy looks at the sea and sighs. This is sounding more like a recount of person experiences. Maybe I will get my answer soon.