A New Beginning
My favorite bench had someone new sitting on it today. A man, hunched over with his hands hiding his face. I sat down, the wood creaking gently under my weight. Sounds of doves filled the air, as the sun peaked behind puffs of clouds.
“Hello.”
“Hello,” the man looked up at his new visitor. Little did he know, but he was actually the new visitor.
“What brings you here?” The words rolled off my tongue easily, as they always did when a newcomer sits on my bench. There is something about this bench that draws people here, and often, I am here to help.
“I just saw this bench sitting lonely and thought it needed some company. The next thing I knew, I started to remember things I don’t want to remember.” His eyes followed a butterfly, flying high over our heads.
“This bench has its ways, maybe you want to talk about it?” Though most newcomers see the therapist here, I am mostly the one to help people, for my job is the Welcomer.
“No. That is a stupid idea! Why would I want to talk about it, let alone remember?” he got up and stormed away. And I let him go. Tomorrow he would be back, they always come back. It isn’t like we are forcing them to talk, or stay here. But most of them come from a totalitarianism ruled society.
The next day, I was sitting on my favorite bench. In the ice cream parlor across the street, I could see the man watching me. His face contorted into confusion, as he decided whether or not he should come back and talk to me. The doves flew in circles, and a feeling of serenity washed over me. I was so focused on the doves, I did not notice the man had walked to me until he cleared his throat.
“Hey. Do you mind if I sit?”
“Oh, no! Of course not! Here, sit.” I scooted to the left as the man sat down on the bench. We watched the doves in silence for a while, then suddenly he turned to me.
“I am sorry about yesterday, I shouldn’t have stormed off like that. You were sitting here being nice to me, and I was rude. My past is just, a hard topic with me right now.”
“I understand, you are new here and finding it hard to forgive your past. But trust me, it is better here. No more people telling you how to live your life. By the way, my name is Katniss Everdeen. I am the Welcomer to Haven. I help people transition from their past lives to here. I don’t think I caught your name?”
“Leonardo Montag. You say you are a Welcomer? My therapist, Dr. Mitchell told me about the Welcomer and that they help more than he can.” A smile crept onto his face.
“Yes, Mr. Montag. I have been told that many times before. But as to my question yesterday, do you want to talk about your past? Talking helps a lot.”
“Well, you see, I don’t quite know where I came from. All I know is that everything there was totalitarianism. We weren’t allowed to have books, you see, books were said to be for professors and intelligent people. Books gave people knowledge, and the government was afraid. Afraid of what the books say. People were offended by some books, so we, the fire-fighters(although we really started fires), destroyed them. But with all the different opinions, all books needed to be destroyed. I stole some books, then
Photo From of KyivPost
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