Mystery Woman

A few weeks have passed since John had met the mystery woman. Since the New Year’s Eve party, the thought of the stranger had been ruminating throughout his mind. Every waking moment her imagery presence never leaves his mind; her scent, smile, touch of soft skin, and cheerful laugh was there for the duration of each day. John remembered the mystery woman smelled like sweet pea lotion and freshly cut roses. Her smile shone brighter than a thousand suns, and her hair was red as the crimson moonlight. She was short and slim, not usually to his liking, but the thought of her made him really happy. He then begins to wonder why she mattered so much to him, for they had only met once. He also wondered if he would ever see her again.

The first day after the party, John woke up to his usual routine of making breakfast and heading to work, however things felt a bit different. As he started to prepare breakfast to start his day, he was making fresh grape juice and it reminded him of the night that him and the stranger were drinking wine as they enjoyed a plate of spaghetti together. As he started to drink his juice, he felt at peace as if she was there in the room with him again. After breakfast, he glanced outside to see the clouds pouring and went to grab his trench coat to head for work. As he walked to the bus stop, he saw a couple sitting on a bench. The gentleman had a bouquet of roses and a large box of dark chocolates for the young woman. He saw them talking and smiling at one another as they slowly devoured a few of the candies, taking turns popping one after the other into one another’s mouths. They were talking quietly, enjoying one another’s presence but John was close enough he had overheard them discussing plans for their bright future because they were newly wedded. Seeing this couple reminded him of the night with the mystery lady when they sat together speaking of where they want their future lives to go. 

As John kept walking a grin washed upon his face because hearing the conversation the married couple just had brought John happiness, despite how gloomy the weather had been. His heart was gleaming, feeling as though it had just skipped a beat. Suddenly, he remembered the mystery woman had given him a note at the New Year’s party, and he placed it in the back pocket of his jeans. He had never seemed to find it when he arrived home. As he kept walking to the bus stop on his way to work, he kept thinking of the beautiful black dress the woman was wearing that night. He saw someone walking with the same dress and thought to himself that might have been her. He then remembered the mystery lady’s name--Sarah. So he walked towards the lady with the dress and asked her if she was Sarah. The lady said, “I'm sorry you are mistaking me with someone else”, and at that moment his hopeful heart sunk as he was convinced that was his mystery lady. He looked at his wrist watch and saw that he was going to be late for work if he didn’t stop lollygagging. So John rushed to the bus stop with a few minutes to spare. He kept thinking about Sarah and the note that she gave him. John couldn’t quite grasp this concept as part of his reality although the thought of her never left his mind no matter how hard he tried to forget about her--after all, it was just a New Year’s party. He now thinks highly of her with great importance. He wishes he had made a move that night, he truly thinks now that she was his one.

As John entered the city bus heading to work, he sits all the way at the back row. This is part of John’s regular morning routine because he loves to appreciate the scenery. He noticed a lady walking in front of him and she sits next to him in the back row of the bus. John notices she has a rose tucked behind her ear as if someone just gave it to her. It appeared to have no thorns--it was flawless. The rose could have been made of plastic. John was thinking maybe this lady could have been Sarah, she even had a similar aroma to the one the mystery woman had the previous night. John then chuckled, thinking to himself that he was probably a bit obsessed with Sarah and he didn’t want to make himself embarrassed by asking this lady her name, just like the lady in the black cocktail dress. As the bus was stopping to drop him off at work he walked away with one last glimpse at the lady on the bus. She looked so familiar and had red hair like the lady at the party, but John kept thinking it was foolish to ask this lady anything because he would be making the same mistake once again. As he entered the building it never left his mind to ask. The entire day he worked vigorously thinking about the lady from the party. At the end of the day, John received an email notification on his desktop from somebody named Sarah. He had high hopes that would have been her contacting him. John then clicked on the message and saw it was his coworker Sarah emailing him a file. He then closes his eyes and takes a deep breath because this is driving him insane. As John recollects his thoughts and reflects back to that night, he tells himself not to give up. He tries to make a list of all of the possible places he might have placed that note she had given him.

On John’s bus ride back home from work, he noticed a red Pontiac Firebird and white Chevy Malibu that had flipped on its side that had collided with the Pontiac off the side of the road. It was too foggy to see everything that was going on but there were several red, white, and blue lights rushing up ahead. At the scene of the accident as the bus passed by, there was already an ambulance assisting the passengers. The bus then dropped John off back to where he boarded that morning and he ran the rest of the way home. The moment he walked into the house he turned on the television and saw that the accident he had just witnessed involved two drunk teenagers, an elderly woman named Amelia Glaspey, and a younger lady named Sarah Glaspey. This was the Sarah he had met at the New Year’s Eve party. John’s eyes lit with utterly shock, he ran for the door but stopped in his tracks because he saw a paper on top of his refrigerator. He glimpsed at it quickly and realized it was the note she had given him. The note contained her phone number, so he dialed her number a few times but it went straight to voicemail. He waited about fifteen minutes and called again, this time an older man had answered on the second ring, and it was too late. Sarah had passed. 

To this day, John dreams of Sarah and what he thinks could have happened between them. They could have gotten married, had children, and lived a long life. However, what John cherishes the most are the thoughts of her that brought him joy and the night of the party where they exchanged lots of stories, laughs, and memories. Sarah lived a short and lonely life but dedicated most of her time to assisting the elderly and needed a companion the most. John will forever remember her as his mystery woman.