In my travels, I came across a woman at an intersection. She had set up a table on the corner, and insisted I sat down. I obliged, out of curiosity of who would do such a thing. There was nothing remarkable about my appearance or affect, and so she had no reason to single me out. She gave me a warm smile, her face young and bright. "Hello." She said, and her voice was a song. "My name is Melissa. And yours?" I told her my name, and there was an inaudible stutter before she replied. "That's a beautiful name!" She said brightly.
I was still curious what she had taken my time and hers for, so I decided that, with introductions made, I might be able to learn of it. "Thank you, yours is too, Melissa. Do you mind if I ask why you wanted to talk with me?" Her face dropped, and she shook her head. "I'm sorry, I hope I didn't offend." I said quickly. "I didn't mean anything by it, I was just curious." She was visibly crestfallen, so I stayed quiet until she collected herself.
After a bit, she gave me a sad smile. "It never gets any better, sorry. No, it's not you. Not what you are, but what you aren't." I raised my eyebrows and let out a little hum. "I've been looking for him, and you're not him. He wouldn't ask that." I was still confused, but didn't want to offend. "I hope you find him soon." I said tentatively.
"I will!" She replied, almost automatically. "Every day is the day I'll find him. After so much searching, it has to be where it pays off!" I chose my next words carefully. "And why is that?" Declaring myself ignorant of what she meant would make me not worth the effort of explanation, I could tell.
"Because I've been waiting for thousands of years!" It felt like butterflies were fluttering in a halo over my head, the way she said it. "All I've done-" All she's suffered. "every day, making sure I'm perfect for him, too. Keeping my youth, so we can grow old together. Keeping my cheerfulness, so I don't drag him down. Staying perfect, so when he arrives, we can be perfect for each other."
I had a better sense of what she meant, now. But the idea was so strange to me. The aggregate man would say she was chasing an unattainable ideal, but I had suspicions.. "And how do you know he exists?" The butterflies in my halo dispersed under a rainstorm. "I met him, once. And I let him go. I wasn't ready, and I thought there would be others. That's what people tell you, when you're scared. To let go and wait. They take it as a matter of faith that you will always have a second chance, because otherwise the world would be unfair. How fair is millennia waiting?"
What happened to him wasn't important. She had and she lost. "There's many people you must have met in a millennia. Surely you've met someone close." Her laughter only made the storm winds pick up. "No. Nothing close to him. There are so many little ways a human can be completely different that you don't see until each one has broken your heart and hope a hundred times. Not just little things, like clothes or wealth. How they see the world, in fractals or integrals. If their heart breaks for the heavy-hearted king or the fiery rebel. If they believe that in the end, it will be all right, and if so, who will balance the scales and right all wrongs. If righting wrongs is about retribution or mending, and why. A million degrees of freedom, all fundamental. I will wait a million more years, and it will all be worth it. When I meet him. I won't miss him this time, won't be too scared. Too timid to try."
I had to leave and continue my travels, but I thanked her for her time. She seemed a little crestfallen I was leaving, even though I thought that I wasn't who she was looking for. It seemed like she wanted to say something as I left, but I didn't want to keep bothering her.