Now You See Me

The young woman sitting in a room surrounded by people giggling and laughing and enjoying themselves. She sits there doodling in the edges of her journal trying to be courageous and speak up and join the conversation. Every time she lifts her head to chime in the people shift their bodies away, probably because of the breeze from the window, and continue their ramblings. She continues to sit there alone, on her stool, against the wall. She feels invisible to the public and she feels like if she were to stand no one would notice. No eyes would turn towards her as makes her way to the door. Some heads might turn when the bell above chimes, but would quickly turn away when they don’t see anyone. Instead this young women sits quietly and listens to the mumblings of the surrounding peers.

Being invisible is not so bad. You are able to sit alone for long amounts of time and listen to others as they talk away without the realization of someone listening. But what would this young woman do if she was to hear some scandalous news…no one would hear or even care. Someone mentions her name and her head jolts up in recognition, but the name was wrongly used and they do not notice her sudden movement.

This woman can no longer stand the avoidance. She tucks the pen in the journal and puts the journal in her bag. She stands up tall, just for herself because no one can see her. She wades through the tables careful to not bump anyone, because they would blame a neighboring table. She makes it to the door and the bell chimes as it opens. The door is opened for her. She steps across the threshold and a young man looks into her eyes and says, “Have a nice night.” He enters and closes the door behind himself. This young woman stands immobilized like her feet are glued to the floor. Her power of invisibility must be wearing off, and she follows the sidewalk to her car with a small skip in her step. Because if one can now see her, maybe there will be more.