To be unseen

To be unseen

In my mind there’re always thoughts about being unseen. Being unseen seems so remarkable, amazing, and interesting! Many things can be done if you’re unseen. No one will disturb or annoy you if no one can see you! That’s what I always think of.

I’m a father of two active children, a husband of a talkative wife, and an employee of a disturbing employer. I was born nearly 45 years ago, in a small, really small, country. My father was a farmer, and so does my grandfather. We did farming for our living, and I don’t like it al all. That’s why I go to this city and start to find a good career.

It wasn’t easy to find a good job if you didn’t have high education. Being graduated from unrecognized local high school with no special ability, I found it hard to make my stomach full. But I kept on trying. And finally I found a job as a dull clerk.

Actually it can’t be count as a clerk. I’m a slave. That’s it. There is no other closer word to describe my job. My employer gave me so many kinds of job to do. From day to day my job descriptions were longer, longer, and longer. And still, there was no change in my salary. He just paid me the same salary as the beginning. No raise at all. But I can’t quit. I need the money anyway.

I met Sarah at a small café near my office. She was a nice girl. She always smiled sweetly, talked gently, and made me happy. That’s why I marry her. But things changed since the day I say I do at the church. She started to show her egoism. Her ego was so high that I started to regret my decision.

Then I had my first son. He had just the same black eyes as mine. His small fingers kept on trying grabbing mine, his small mouth kept on muttering something we didn’t understand. And I was so grateful for that. My second child is a girl. She looked alike her granny much. We adored her smile much, it just the same as her mother’s. The smile that made me falls in love.

But they’re not little babies anymore now. Tom has grown into a young adult now, he almost finish his study in the university. Susan will finish her high school this year. They only pay a little attention to me nowadays. But maybe it’s better. They don’t annoy me much, however.

I hate being annoyed, that’s why I don’t like to go home on busy hour. The bus is always crowded. They push you here and there, and if you are unlucky, puff, there goes your wallet or cell phone.

But one day, today, was different. The bus wasn’t that full. I even got a place to sit. Whew, it makes me feel better after a bad day at the office and the awful car that speed on the road just when I about to cross. I was shocked, indeed, but feel relieved after that. Once I sat down, I felt sleepy. I yawned several times when I prepared to pay the bus fare. But the bus conductor didn’t ask me for the fare. He just passed me when he was asking other passengers for the bus fee. I smiled a little; sometimes he would even forget taking fares from some passengers.

When he kept on passing me, I felt a sleep. I can pay him the fee when I get down anyway. I opened my eyes when the bus was approaching my neighborhood. A bit dizzy because of the sudden awaken; I jumped off the bus right after the bus stop. I forgot to pay the fare. I’ve just realized it when I was walking home from the bus stop and the bus has set off. I shook my head several times; guess that getting older and older makes me easier to forget things. I felt my body is covered by pain, but anyway I have to resist it. I stretched my body as I was standing in front of my front door. I opened the door after cleaning my shoes on the doormat, half expecting my wife was there to welcome me, but she wasn’t there. I raised my eyebrows. This was unusual. Usually she will welcome me with a ‘nice’ and long speech about our children, or a hot gossip about our neighbors. But I didn’t hear her usual gossiping tone today. Where’s she? It is Friday. She’s always at home around this time at Friday, updating me with the newest gossip.

I closed the door behind me, said nothing and stepped in. My house was never silent. The sound of the television Tom’s watching, the sound of Susan giggling on the phone, the sound of my wife chattering around. Just like that. I can hear Sarah’s voice chatting on the phone from the kitchen, guess that explains why she wasn’t here to tell me some gossip. I don’t like to hear gossips actually, but still, I found something’s missing.

I left my goods on the desk near the front door and walked to the living room. I saw Tom watching his favorite music channel. I smiled a little; he even doesn’t bother to welcome his father home. I didn’t see Susan, maybe she was upstairs, in her room that nobody can get in without her permission.

I went to the kitchen to get myself something to drink. I saw Sarah walking beside me, toward the living room, but she said nothing. She just passed me. I turned my head after she did that, confused. What’s wrong with today? Guess that I’m being unseen today. No one annoy me since I went home from the office today. I sighed and kept on walking to the kitchen.

Then I heard something shocking. I heard Susan’s crying. I ran to the living room where I heard the voice came from. And when I’m panting near the bookshelf I can see Tom, Susan, and Sarah, all of them watching the news on TV. I can see the fear in their faces and tears in their eyes as the news played a video about an accident happened just this evening.

One person died in that accident. A man named Thomas. Suddenly I realized the reason why everyone didn’t talk to me, the reason why they act as they didn’t see me. I’m unseen. I died in that accident this afternoon.

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