The Man with Honor

Laura opened her eyes. Her pupils are dilated, lips trembling, her pulse monitor screaming at a hundred bpm and any person can conclude including Laura herself that she just got back from hell. She knew she had worse nightmares than the one she just had but the feeling of panic and terror differ every time as if it was felt the first time.

She slowly climbed out of bed, grabbed her graphing pad and pen, and began observing her blinking eyes while facing the Victorian mirror.

“Record 03/22/2021: 43 times”

She finished plotting the points and was relieved it came out well. “I’m glad it was an odd number”, Laura muttered to herself. She grabbed a glass of water on the kitchen table and breathed deeply. Glancing at the shiny glasses arranged on the tray, she roamed her eyes around until it reached the glass windows. The sky looked magnificent and the city life was vibrant. Laura thought to herself, “People’s vigor has gone beyond expectations and it’s glaring at me.”

She opened her glass windows to let the hot air in. Laura expected that the weather will change sooner and so she can experience the slow change in temperature thus heightening her senses while she writes her stories.

“Knock, knock, knock.” Three succeeding knocks from her apartment door were heard.

“An odd number”, Laura whispered to herself before standing up and attending to the stranger’s request.

She slowly opened the door and there was a man standing in front of her. He was wearing jeans and a leather jacket, approximately 6ft in height, slim but has a strong impression. Laura initiated the conversation, “What can I do for you, sir?”

“Good day miss, do you have any extra shoes or sandals, any footwear you wish to give away?”, asked the stranger.

“Well I do have sir, but may I ask for what purpose?”

The man scratched the back of his head and then he calmly answered, “I work for an organization wherein we offer homeless kids hope. I was trying to generate the money to fund the program, but unfortunately, I was robbed by gangsters while I was resting on a bench one night. But I still want to continue with the plan so here I am going door-to-door to find good Samaritans who can help me fulfill my goals.”

“I can’t quantify what you’ve lost but you are admirable sir. Please wait for a moment, I’ll get my shoes.”

While searching for the item, Laura felt something ominous about the stranger by her door. Although she was trying to dismiss her negative thoughts, she just couldn’t. She tried to act normal while handing out her property. The stranger’s eyes gleamed with tears as Laura presented her white rubber shoes.

“Thank you miss, this is more than enough. I wish that soon you will find your hope.”

They paid their respects to each other and waved goodbye. Laura inattentively went back to her work while leaving the door unlocked. She had never met someone like that before with such an exceptional trait and honorable cause. She tried to put her imagination into words but couldn’t focus, she’s still quite occupied with the words of the stranger. “I wish that soon you will find your hope.”

Those words kept replaying on her mind. And then she thought it doesn’t even matter. What’s the point of fighting for a reason, finding hope, if you’re lonely enough? She let out a deep sigh at the exact moment she pressed the enter key to save her work as a draft. She decided to explore the internet and hopes to find something interesting for the time being since she couldn’t put her mind to work properly. As she was searching for a good movie, she stumbled upon a strange website.

It contained photos of the dead, their body parts were uncensored. Laura came across a photo of a human brain sliced in half with a caption in bold font “Pride 51%”. Laura became interested with the contents, so she explored the site further. She saw an amputated leg with a caption “Sloth 75%”. Laura was getting the hang of it and she do have an idea of what’s going on. On the second page was a video of a man but the upper half of his face was covered. He’s saying something but Laura couldn’t hear it clearly, so she plugged in her earphones and increased the volume. Laura noticed that the lips of the man were not moving at all and so she thought maybe the audio was pre-recorded or there was another person in the room narrating the story.

“….In this life, curiosity is a sin.”

After that statement, the man in the video gently removed what’s covering the upper part of his face but as he was on the verge of his final reveal, an Error 404, Page not Found appeared on screen. Laura frustratingly pressed the F5 key many times to recover the connection by unfortunately, it was of no avail. Instead of trying to get her work done, all she has now were frustration and disappointment.

“Maybe I should also refresh myself,” Laura muttered to herself as she took off her clothes and hopped into the tub. The cold water felt relaxing for her. She stayed there and after several minutes, she fell to sleep.

Laura discovered herself in a mediated white room. The room’s lights were blinding, and it seemed to be that the four walls were expanding endlessly. She took her forward steps then she found herself transported into a room full or mirrors. Everywhere she looked and turned, all she can see was herself wearing a hospital gown with tubes and wires connected to her head and hands but all she could feel was void. And by that, although she wasn’t conscious, she’s aware that she’s dreaming.

Suddenly the space she was in started to dwindle. Laura closed her eyes because she knew that this too would pass. When she opened her eyes, she found herself wearing a pink dress. She’s back in her apartment room. She heard four knocks from her door and so she opened it. There he found the good stranger she met holding her shoes. There was a note attached to it and it read, “You found your hope.”

Laura glanced back to examine the man’s face but was horrified to see that his eyes were now burrowed.