Chapter 6 - Unique Handsomeness

"Yeah, leave," the boss pressed his hands on his desk, looking down at it. 'If he doesn't like it, then why isn't he saying anything?' I wondered. 'Well, it's not my business, why should I care?' I left the room along with Susan. As soon as me and Susan came a bit far from the office, Susan thanked me quietly and went on her own way. 'And thank you,' I said in my mind, 'I'll only have to see your ugly face for six hours this Saturday. How lucky I am!' I grinned. I felt so happy. Now I only have to wait for Saturday to come. I went back to work and enjoyed myself in the service for others.

The cafe emptied as the night got darker and as the moon stood high in the sky. At last, it was only me who was left in the cafe. After having done my work, I sat and watched the clean and neatly kept place, the tables and chairs sitting where they are assigned, orange ambient lights hanging above each of them. The counter top is clean and the cutlery organized.

I took off my apron and hung it on a hook along with the others. I checked my phone. No calls, no notifications, I realized how lonely I am. Just then someone texted. It was Ben, saying he has kept the leftover shawarma in the fridge and that I can microwave it if I'm hungry. 'Well, I'm not all that lonely,' I thought.

I looked through other chats, the last person who has texted me other than Ben is my younger brother, two years ago, telling me he scored a 90% in his exams. And I congratulated him rather blandly. I don't really regret that, he is now considered Mr. and Mrs. Holmes's first born.

Then who am I? No one. He's in high school now, on his way to becoming a neurosurgeon. He's going to be something bigger than me, better than me. So he takes the attention and affection of my parents. He is better than me even in looks, he has dark glittering blue eyes and thick black hair. Compared to him, I look sick.

My thin white hair, lashes and brows with my white face. The only thing of color is my eyes, which are pale green. But back in my school days, I was still popular for my unique handsomeness. I laughed to myself thinking about this. 'Unique handsomeness? Who am I trying to fool? I look terrible. Like a ghost.'

I switched off my phone. And then turned off all the lights, closed all the doors and finally locked the main door. 'I should wake up early tomorrow,' I reminded myself. 'And I shall open these doors myself.'

I got inside my car. Just as I started it, orchestral music started playing. As I waited for the car to heat up, I drowned myself in the music, the high waves crashing on the shore like the banging of the drums, the breeze blowing through cracked windows like the whistle of the flutes.

The xylophone tinkling like the raindrops which come at last to comfort the seashore of the disastrous waves. The raindrops intensify as the waves calm. It intensifies and then drizzles out. The trumpets blow like the wind onto broken houses, taking away from it the burden of holding the roofs. I woke up suddenly. Brought back to my senses, I started driving.

What was that dream? I drove to a supermarket to buy some groceries for tomorrow. Onions, tomatoes, potatoes, everything Ben needs for his day. I put the groceries in the boot and drove on. I reached a 2 minute stoplight, exhaustedly sighing. I took out my phone and looked through the gallery. Not many photos. I scroll down to the oldest photo.

A picture of me and my brother at the beach in swimsuits. Both of us were smiling happily. Then came a few photos of my trip to Venezuela as a student. Me and my friends were smiling near waterfalls, with our arms around each other's shoulders. I got pretty tanned back then.

Then a few photos later, me in a tuxedo and a girl in a gown was standing. I figured this would be the prom photo back in high school. I looked very happy, and I was.

She was the most beautiful person I had ever met. She was plain by looks, dark brown eyes and long black hair. But it was her heart that touched me most. She looked happy too. She's probably in Hungary now, working as an engineer. She is a happily married wife now, with four kids. Apparently her fourth kid's name is Oscar, and she named him after her favorite author Oscar Wilde.

At first, I thought she named him after me, just like you did, but then, there, the truth was said. It was nothing related to me. But still, she has always been in my mind ever since I met her. Her adventurous spirit and funny nature has always made my days much better. I smiled at her photo, just as I had smiled back then. There's no one in this world who can make me smile like that.

I switched off my phone and looked at the countdown. 5,4,3,2,1, the green light shined. I went on my way home.

My father, Mr. Nicholas Holmes is a reputed police officer and my mother, Mrs. Lorraine Holmes is a lawyer. So definitely, I had to be something big too. I got my mother's green eyes and my father's white hair while my brother got my mother's black hair and my father's blue eyes.

My father used to tell me not to worry about my white hair when I was young, he told me my hair will grow black when I get older. But it still hasn't. He uses that as proof that he is still young. He is a very funny person when you get to know him, but once you disappoint him, you disappoint him forever.

As for my mother, she never had a heart. She has always been strict and snappy with me, since I was born. She's like that even with my brother, Oliver. I guess that's what being a lawyer does to a person. My family descends from British ancestry who settled in America later when America was a free country. We were rich by inheritance, my family lives in a mansion, has two or three farms across the country and is very well-mannered and British like, holding balls every year and stuff like that.

I was never interested in any of these. I spent my childhood in the garden, where I used to play and play and play till I grew tired of my toys. School was best, I used to study and get good scores and was pretty popular among my schoolmates. Because I looked different from everybody, I did have some bullies but my looks were better than theirs so I didn't mind them.

I was an attractive guy in my school years, even in college. I used to have a good number of friends and stuff. But none of them were real friends. In college, I took a bachelor's degree in architectural design. But it really wasn't my thing. I graduated from college with a good score and my parents wanted me to take masters but I dropped the idea and became a waiter. I told my parents this is what I wanted to be, but they told me that I was supposed to have servants, not be a servant. They asked me to dream big and achieve success, but I didn't want to, which angered them.

They told me they didn't want a son who works as a waiter and makes the family look poor. I said I didn't care and that was it. They never talked to me after that. I became a source of shame to the family. I have hurt the family's pride and honor.

I finally parked my car in the garage and got into my dimly lit house. Ben has already gone to bed. I washed up, ate dinner and sat at my desk on which my sketchbook, a pencil and a few color pencils were kept.

Every night, before going to bed, I sit and draw whatever I feel inside me. It is a habit I have had since I was young. I was a bit of an artist. One of my first drawings was of a purple dinosaur with a green belly, Barney by name, was a character of my favorite television show.

The other drawings consisted of my mansion, which I could not fit in one paper, my Uncle Leslie, and my toys.

Once Uncle Nigel challenged me to draw a rose. He plucked a rose from our garden and gave it to me to draw. I tried drawing but it looked bad. So I crumpled a red piece of paper and stuck it in my sketchbook and drew the stem for it. I showed it to my uncle and he gave me a hearty laugh. I have been drawing everyday in my life since then.

I opened a fresh page, took a few deep breaths, put in some music and started drawing. In the middle of the page I drew an autumn leaf, withered and old. And around the leaf I shaded a mixture of colors pink, purple and dark blue. Then around the colors I drew a thick ring of green and around the ring, I shaded yellow and light blue. I had no idea what I was drawing. A feeling jerked into me.

My gut told me to draw a crown in one corner, a broken teacup in another corner, a cake in another corner, and at last a golden badge with my name 'Oscar'. Now whoever sees this page, they'll know I drew it. The drawing seemed weird, like a lot of my drawings. It's just some feeling that kicks in and makes me draw all this stuff.

None of it makes sense to me, but I let it be. I held it up and looked at it, a masterpiece. I thought. I felt tired, my eyes felt heavy. I switched off the lights and laid in bed. I looked into the darkness, closed my eyes and sighed.

I listened to my heart beating calmly and myself breathing slowly. I then listened to the quietness around me. At last I fell into a deep slumber, in between the heavens and the earth my troubled soul danced.