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It’s only a matter of time until they find out.

My fingers danced on the air above the table, never striking the surface, never making a sound.

I looked around at everyone. Wearing their formal clothes, talking about their vacations, their children, their mortgages.

I was already the odd one out. The one who began nothing and responded to everything.

“My son is in mechatronics,” said the guy who decided whether or not I would get the money I need to live.

“Oh yeah, tough program, building R2-D2 is hard work,” I said.

The boss chuckled, it wasn’t uproarious laughter, it was a chuckle. There were so many little games, so many little bits of manipulation.

At this dinner where everyone was friendly, nobody was truly a friend.

Was that because of them?

Was that because of me?

“Have any of you seen the new James Cameron’s Avatar?” I asked the people of the table, as if I cared.

“Nah, how was it?” my colleague asked, as if he cared. Couldn’t look too impolite, we were in public, in a hotel, everyone brought their spouses even.

“Oh well if you remember the previous movie, and you know that this is a sequel about water, you’ll get exactly what you expect,” I said.

Who knows if any person I talked to liked or hated the previous movie. Did I care, did they care? It was just dishonest noise to hide the silent truth.

“Well I don’t remember the previous movie, except that there were blue alien people, and the protagonist couldn’t walk or something,” my colleague said.

This was my life, hiding in plain sight from the species I’m supposedly a member of.

“That’s all you really need to remember. Nice visuals, basic plot,” I said.

Little did he know, not all aliens are blue.

Notes

This was written in 15 minutes during a Joy of Writing meetup.