Not that long ago, not very far from here, there was a man, walking through a city park. He wasa very business-like man, despite his youth. His chestnut hair was well-combed, and a tie held tight about his neck. He wore a smart gray suit and in one hand held a leather briefcase. In the other, was a piping hot cup of coffee.
This man was hurrying along in his life. The park was a short-cut to the office to him, nothing more. Consequentially, he did not see the child playing happily on a blanket with her mother. Nor did he see the elderly couple, sitting close together on a bench , celebrating fifty long years of their love. None of these things had anything to do with him and his busy life, so what reason did he have to see them?
The man turned a corner, and suddenly found himself quite alone. It was odd that one part of the park should be so crowded with people, and yet around the corner there should be no one. Well, almost no one. There was an older woman, seated behind a table on which strange odds and ends were scattered. She was watching the man closely, her eyes following him as he approached. Of course, he noticed none of this.
"You." She said as the man passed. He stopped and looked at her, judging her quickly. To him, she appeared like any other ex-hippie trying to make a living without actually getting a job. "Come here." The woman gestured to him with her finger.
"I'm in a hurry, I can't." The young man said stiffly. "I've got an important meeting in an hour. I can't miss it." He began to move, but was stopped when the mysterious old woman began to laugh. It was a high, slow sort of laugh, not intimidating, but not all that comforting, either.
"Believe me, my boy, to the rest of your life, it is not important. Now, come. I am sure you will find something among my many wares that you lack. But remember, nothing upon my table is as it seems." She said to him, her eyes dancing with mirth. The young man was unsure as to how he felt about being called 'boy,' but he approached the woman's table nonetheless. There was a certain air about her that made him want to hear what she had to say. Her silver-gray hair was held back by a dark purple cloth, and a large amount of beaded necklaces and bracelets obscured her clothing.
Upon the table was an odd assortment of miscellany. The strangest thing, the man thought, was that everything was individual. There was no more than one of each item. There was a beautiful pure-white flower, a pink crystal heart, a picture in a frame, a gold pocket-watch, a little book, a strange coin, and many such things.
"So tell me, boy, is there anything that you need?" She pierced him with her gaze, an odd knowing look that said she already knew the answer to her own question. A smile still played upon her lips.
"Anything I need?" The man said, looking down at the table. It was just a bunch of junk the old woman collected and was then pawning off, he thought. Why would he have any need of it? "Nope. Can't say I do." He finished.
The woman laughed again, more so than before. The man began to feel angry; he felt like a child in her presence. "Can't say you do, eh?" She said through her laughter. She looked quickly at all the items that were displayed before her, and picked up the picture, presenting it to the man.
"Do you have this?" She once again looked at him, like a teacher guiding a struggling student towards the right answer. It was a strange picture. Not because of its subject, no, that was quite ordinary, but how it made the young man feel. In the foreground of the picture was a pretty, young blonde, giving the man a sunny smile. She held in her arms a happy, laughing child, waving towards the camera. Behind them was a group of people, all smiling, goofing around, and having fun. The man felt as though he should know these people, but his head told him that it was impossible. They were strangers. And yet…
"Of course not. Why would I have a picture of a bunch of people I don't know?" The man said, trying not to appear as irritated as he felt.
"You do not know these people yet, my boy, but you could. You only have to choose it. With this, you would never have to spend your weekends at home petting your cat, watching TV, and eating instant noodles." The young man was struck by her words. That was exactly what he had done the day before. How could she have known? Feeling a slight bit uneasy, the man tightened his tie, a nervous habit of his. He did not say anything. The woman waited a moment, then set the picture back down with a sigh and a small smile. "Well, alright, if that does not suit you, how about… ah!" The woman picked up a little book, handing it to the man. He set the coffee on the old woman's table and accepted it. It looked more promising than the picture, at least.
"A joke book?" He said, looking at the cover. It seemed old for a joke book, and well-worn. "Jokes don't go very far at the office." The man set the book back down on the table, shaking his head.
"This may not get you very far in your career or anywhere else, but it makes you happy, you know. All the studies say so. It even burns calories." The woman said with a wink. The man felt very confused. It was almost as if the woman was talking about something else entirely. He once again remained silent as the woman returned the little joke book to its place. The man opened his mouth to bid the woman good-bye, hoping that now might be his moment to get away, but it seemed she was not giving up. Before he could say anything, the woman was offering him something else.
Gingerly held in the palms of her hands was a delicate pink-crystal heart. "Look at this, my boy, look closely. I'll tell you from experience that everyone needs this. It is fragile, true, and breaks easily, but it is quickly mended and will bring you great joy throughout your entire life. Take it, my boy, you won't regret it."
The man scowled. Why would a cheap, crystal heart make him happy throughout his life? This woman was crazy! "No, I'm sorry, I really don't need anything like that. I got to go now." The woman's expression changed with unsettling speed from joyful and teasing to grave.
She took a deep steadying breath and said in a firm, but not unkind voice. "Listen to me, young man. I am the Crone, and I have appeared to you today offering gifts. All of them were things needed by you. However, I will trust you. If you do not need family and friends, or laughter, or even love, that is your decision. I will not force my advice upon you." And then, she winked at him, again filling with mirth. "I told you nothing was as it seems." And then she was gone.
There were no theatrics, no bright light, no mist, no noise. The man just blinked, and she was gone. Feeling confused and disoriented, the man began to once again walk towards his office. Although he would have much rather have been thinking about the presentation he was going to listen to in twenty minutes' time, he could not help but think about the odd encounter he just had. Who was that woman? He thought and thought, brooding upon it as he walked.
Once again lost in his own thoughts, he did not notice those around him. As a result, he did not see the young blonde woman walking towards him until he knocked her down completely. He dropped his briefcase, paper scattering on the dirt path. His coffee fell to the ground and spilled everywhere.
"Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry!" The blonde said, bending down to help him with his papers. The young man joined her on the ground.
"It's fine, it was my fault anyways. I wasn't watching where I was going." He stood up, and the woman handed him the papers, which he added to his own pile. She smiled at him, a bright, sunny smile that the young man recognized from somewhere. The man couldn't help but laugh at the blunder. "My mother did always tell me to get my head out of the clouds."
"Oh, and I ruined your coffee, too!" She said with a smile and a laugh as she spied the paper cup, surrounded by spilled coffee, looking rather like a war victim. "Let me buy you another one." She smiled at him again, a playful glint in her eye that the young man liked.
The man's mind spun. Had she just asked him out? But that meeting he had been hurrying all morning to get to… And then the young man realized something. It wasn't important. He didn't even need to be there. Why did he ever think it was so important? And so the man consented to coffee. He reorganized his briefcase, and as he and the woman walked, smiling and laughing, he could have sworn he heard that old woman, the Crone, laughing along with them.
So this is a short story I wrote as a part of a submission for a $30000 scholarship. So I'm trusting you all to help me make this $30000 good! So tear it to shreds! Go mad! You are the Kraken and this is the maiden sacrifice! Devour it like rabid, starving wolves! Oh, and I'm still questionable about the title, I'm always terrible at them, so if anyone has a better suggestion that would be greatly appreciated.
But do you see how I intertwined Annie's description with her actions?
). I like the way your MC develops from a stuck up workoholic into a less stuck up cool dude. I also liked the way you didn't use names-this is really hard, especially when you have more than two characters, because you have to rely almost completely on pronouns. So! No complaints here. 