The Missing Peace

Every day was the same for Bryan, walking to and from work through the sea of people that make up the bustling city. Bryan is a tall and slender man in his mid-thirties with shaggy dirty blonde hair, his soft sleepy blue eyes make him somewhat unconventionally attractive. Bryan is too focused on his career to even attempt to find someone to share his time with, his days filled with long hours at the office, and even though he is not particularly happy with his job, it does pay well enough to enjoy a decent apartment with a dreamy view of the city. Most days, Bryan keeps his head down, oblivious to his surroundings during his morning commute to work, simply following the crowds of bodies from point A to point B, but today something was different. As Bryan crossed a busy intersection he noticed a park full of beautiful mature trees. He stood there for a moment to enjoy the scenery and his glance then shifted to a man sitting alone on a bench. The man was curiously watching the endlessly changing faces walking passed him. He was a finely dressed older man, a few decades off of today's current style, but never the less wore a nice suit. His pants looked freshly pressed and his shoes looked so shiny you could almost make out your reflection in them. The man had almost a full head of hair, tightly combed back off his face, it was almost all white, a reflection of his old age. Bryan took a moment to watch and with every person that passed, he noticed a sadness come across the old man's face. He could see how desperate he was for some sort of human interaction. Bryan looked down at his watch which read a quarter after 7:00 a.m. He didn't have to be in the office until 9:00 a.m., but most days he prided himself on being the first one in. He looked at the old man again and decided to move in. As he approached they locked eyes and Bryan said, "Excuse me, sir, I couldn't help but notice you're sitting all alone. Are you waiting for someone?" "Sort of," replied the old man. "Well, while you wait would you like to grab a cup of coffee? My treat!" said Bryan. The man's eyes softened and a smile lit across his face, "Yes I would like that very much." Bryan looked around and noticed a diner just across the street, "How about this place over here? I've never been but it looks like a nice enough place." The man replied, "It looks like a great spot to me!" Bryan reached out his hand introducing himself, "It's nice to meet you, my name is Bryan." The man reciprocated the gesture, responding, "My name is George." The two made their way across the street. The diner had a resemblance of something you would see if you were around in the 50s. Sadly, it just wasn't able to be kept up over the years, and yet, still had a certain charm to it. Bryan tried making a joke upon entering to lighten the mood and clear any tension you might have when agreeing to sit down for coffee with a stranger, "I'm sure a place like this makes you feel right at home." "Well, I guess you can say I've seen a few diners in my day," chuckled George. "Take a seat where you like," said a waitress across the room as she poured a cup of coffee for the adjacent customer. The two made their way over to a corner booth. While waiting for the waitress to come to take their drink order, hoping to break the awkward silence, Bryan asked, "Who were you waiting for?" George didn't respond, he just sat there with his eyes focused on the people through the window. Bryan paused, waiting for George to answer but it was clear by his face that he wasn't going to. Bryan looked down and noticed George was wearing a wedding ring, "Were you waiting for your wife? Or maybe your kids?" George's eyes still fixated on the window, "I don't have any family left, no friends, no kids, and my wife passed some time ago. I'm counting down the days until I can see her again, I guess you could say I'm just not ready to move on." Bryan could see how upset he was by this, not sure of what to say that could make George feel better at this moment. Bryan uttered, "Well I can be your friend George." George's face glowed with excitement. "You would want to be my friend? "Yeah, sure why not, I don't have many friends myself," replied Bryan. The two spend the next hour talking and laughing just like old friends. George told Bryan about his wife which he sweetly referred to as 'the love of his life' and their long life together. Bryan looked at his watch to notice it was nearing 9:00 am and he thought to himself he ought to be getting to work. "I'm enjoying talking with you George, but I do have to get to work soon," said Bryan, "maybe we can exchange phone numbers and plan for another time to meet up." George smiled and said he wishes that was possible but unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to see him again and it was now his time to go. Confused by this Bryan asked, "What do you mean? Are you moving away?" "Something like that" replied George. "Well let me grab a piece of paper and a pen and give you my number. You can call to talk or if need anything at all." Before Bryan could leave the booth George grabbed his hand and looked into his eyes and said "Thank you for this, it feels as if I have been waiting forever for the right person to stop and talk to me, I can finally go home now." Unsure of how to respond Bryan just replied, "It was my pleasure. Just give me a second to grab some paper." By the time Bryan returned to the booth, George was gone. Confused by this Bryan found their waitress and asked if she has seen where the older gentleman that he was sitting with went. The waitress looked at him with great concern before responding, "Um honey, you weren't sitting with anyone. You've been here all alone talking to yourself." Bryan was shocked by her response, "What do you mean? I came in here with an older gentleman. We sat in that corner booth together for the past hour." The waitress stood there staring at Bryan, "You came in alone, ask everyone in this diner if you like." Bryan frantically ran over to the booth to look for anything to prove the man existed but found nothing to help his case. He ran outside to see if maybe he could find the old man walking away, surely he couldn't have gotten far. Once outside, Bryan was met by a crowd of morning commuters, taking up all the space on the sidewalk. Trying to find the old man he looked across the street to see him standing there staring back. Before Bryan could make his way over, George lifted his hand and gave a friendly wave, then slowly started to fade away. Bryan wasn't sure if what he just witnessed was real and looked around for confirmation from anyone but no one seemed to take notice. He stood there in shock, trying to take in what had just happened and out of nowhere, an overwhelming feeling of calm and peace came over Bryan's body. He looked up into the sky to find the sun peaking through the clouds and an honest smile came across his face. Bryan turned around and started walking to work, becoming one with the sea of people again.