Beyond
I was hungry, very hungry.
Walking through the dark alleyway, I peeked into the dumpsters.
If one thing was sure, there would be at least one or two pieces of food thrown away around these places. I couldn’t help but wonder what life could have been if I’d been born differently, I wanted more from the world. Truth be told, I didn’t know what exactly ‘more’ was but I just wanted it. As if on cue, a Silver Mercedes rolled to a stop, blocking the end of the alleyway.
There was a boy sitting in the back seat, about my age.
He turned his head in my direction.
Our eyes met.
There was something in them, a certain depth, a certain longing.
We stared at each other, neither one looking away.
‘Jonathan.’
I heard someone call out.
The boy looked forward and then returned his gaze to where I stood.
He opened the door and stepped out. Walking towards whoever was calling him.
Out of sight.
I trudged forward, wanting to see more. My hunger suddenly gone replaced by a sudden interest in this rich boy.
Peeking by the side of a building, I saw him with who I presumed to be his mother. They were in front of a pharmacy.
Again, he turned in my direction, as though he felt my presence.
In his eyes were that same depth, the same emptiness, the same longing. He blinked twice, as though seeing the same in my eyes. His mother looked at him, following his gaze and looked at me.
For a second I flinched.
And then, she smiled, the warmest smile I’d seen in a long time, motioning for me to come over. I hesitated, not knowing what exactly to do. For one, I wasn’t used to gestures like this. My kind was always chased away, treated like a plague.
The boy looked up at his mom. A look of adoration and then he looked back at me. A small smile forming on his face.
He walked over to where I stood and stretched his hand, not saying a word.
I looked at it, then at his smiling face, his deep eyes.
And in that moment, I saw.
Beyond his smile,
Beyond his wealth,
Beyond my hunger,
Beyond my poverty.
He was just like me.
A lost boy.
Wanting more from the world.
