The silhouette I always dream of

The dream was always the same. A stage bathed in violet light, a dull throbbing that was more a vibration in the chest than a sound. And him. A boy whose silhouette, thin and hunched over an invisible guitar, was the only thing sharp. His face was a blur, a smudge of shadow, but Mio knew he looked at her when he turned his head. Then she held out her hand. It was a shy gesture, a wordless question. The warmth that welled up in Mio's chest was so real that....

¡BRRRRRING!

The shrill sound of the alarm clock was a direct stab in Mio's brain. The vibration of the stage transformed into the vile vibration of the device on the bedside table. The warmth of the hand vanished, replaced by the cold sweat of the nightmare that was waking up.

"Five more minutes, please.... " He groaned, groping in the darkness until his fingers found the button to silence the torture. For one glorious second, silence reigned. Then, reality smashed through like a sledgehammer.

"Not light, please, not yet, why is the sun so visually noisy?" She reluctantly opened one eye. Her room, a pink-hued sanctuary she had sworn was aesthetically pleasing, seemed to have fallen victim to a small hurricane called " Mio's Life." Mountains of clothes in varying shades of pink were piled on the chair. Half-washed plates with bunny pictures awaited their fate on the desk, next to a couple of empty cans of Nexus, her energy drink. 

"It was worth it... wasn't it? Getting to level 80 was important.... wasn't it? The guild needed me. Or at least, my healing character. Not me. They need me to clean the fryer." Her internal dialogue didn't convince her. With a sigh that seemed to take half her soul, she sat up in bed. Her feet instinctively reached for her bunny slippers at the same time her hand, grabbed a can of Nexus from the nightstand. The sound of the can opening was her real alarm clock. The first sip, chemically sweet and effervescent, was the nectar of the gods that separated Mio from becoming a blanket golem.

"Energy level: 2%. Rising to 5%. Processing... mission: Survive the day. " he thought as he finished his drink.

The drive to work was a blur of sidewalks and traffic lights. As she walked, her mind was a battlefield of regrets and justifications.

"I should have gone to sleep earlier. You know that. But the guild leader said one last raid!" and her smile emoticon had tears in it. You can't say no to that. It's an unwritten social law, right? Although now I'm failing my dark circles under my eyes. And my dignity. Will I have time to grab another Nexus before the boss arrives?" So engrossed was she in her debate that she didn't see the lamp post until her forehead hit the cold metal with a resounding "clanc!".

" Ouch... " she whispered, blushing as she checked to see if anyone had seen her crash into the street furniture. A small miracle: no one was looking.

"Did anyone see it? Any witnesses? Any hidden cameramen? Please, no, no one saw the pink girl smash into the pole? Confirmed, zero looks of concern or mockery. A minor miracle. Shame score: 7/10. Could be worse."

The rest of the day was a repeated script: First, work. The uniform, the apron, and the smell of grease and chips that clung to her hair and clothes. The incessant ringing of orders, the complaints about the wrong sauce, the screaming children. It was a whirlwind of stress that she only managed to navigate thanks to the caffeine coursing through her veins and her internal mantra: I'm a rock. An unfeeling, pink rock. Nothing gets to me.

Or at least I was trying to

Then, the university. She sat in the back of the classroom, as usual, becoming a decoration to go unnoticed. The professor would talk, and she would take notes automatically.

"Am I writing something coherent or am I just transcribing my own anxious thoughts? go.... The theory of relativity... relatively speaking, I'd rather be in my bed." oh no.... "

"Look, it's the strawberry girl with her cotton candy hair " she heard the whisper of a couple of classmates two rows ahead.

Mio shrank back in her seat, pulling up the hood of her pink sweatshirt until it almost disappeared.

Don't listen to them. They are just NPCs. Generic unimportant dialogue. They don't matter. They're just noise. Noise, noise, noise... but... Why does my heart beat so loud if it's just noise?

On the way home, he needed to restock. He bought a few more cans of Nexus, but as he left the store, the thin plastic bag ripped. The cans fell to the pavement with a metallic clatter, rolling in different directions. Mio froze. It wasn't because of the cans, it was because of everything: the exhaustion, the taunts, the pole, the dream boy's hand she never got to touch.

"Of course. Of course this would happen. It is universal logic. Mio's Law: If something can go wrong, and also be embarrassing, it will go wrong. It is my life, after all. "

The next day, at work, the mood was lighter. Or at least, for her coworkers. While she was dealing with a customer who claimed his burger had too much burger, she overheard Sara and Kenji talking animatedly by the fryer.

"Did you see the ECLIPSE performance last night, the new song is amazing!" said Sara, as a perfect, catchy pop tune played in the background on the kitchen radio.

"Of course, that boy named Ren Shinomiya is from another level" added Kenji, frying kibble with an ecstatic gesture. "That young man is perfect. Voice, face, talent... he's out of this world."

Mio finished dealing with the customer, forcing a smile that hurt her face muscles.

"It must be great. To be able to talk, laugh, listen to music without thinking you're being judged. Meanwhile, I'm the shield that gets all the complaints about this place. What an envy. They talk about idols, and my biggest social accomplishment of the week was that the lamp post didn't leave me bruised."

While she was immersed in her internal debate, the door bell rang. In walked a tall figure, dressed entirely in black with baggy, baggy clothing, wearing a black cap that covered most of his face. He moved with a silence and deliberation that immediately put Mio on high alert.

"Oh, no. No. Don't make eye contact. Invisibility protocol: activated. If you don't look at him, you don't exist. Could be a yakuza. A hit man. Or a burger critic. He's going to pull a knife. No, a gun. He's going to ask for all the money in the register and I don't know the key to open it without a sale and then he'll get mad and my grave will say He died because he didn't know how to use the cash register."

The guy stood in front of the counter. Mio swallowed saliva, keeping her eyes fixed on the buttons on the cash register as if they were the keys to her salvation.

"Welcome to Happy Burger, what would you like to order?" he recited in a shaky voice that he barely recognized as his own.

There was a long silence. Mio dared a sidelong glance. The man seemed to be studying the menu as if it were an ancient, indecipherable text, a papyrus of the fast food gods.

"I would like... the element... number three " he said finally, in a deep but strangely hesitant voice, as if he was not used to using it. "But... without the circular green vegetable. And with the white garnish, not the yellow. "

Mio blinked. "circular green metal? white cherry? is it speaking in code? or is it an alien who learned our language from technical manuals?"

" The classic burger combo, without pickles and with mayonnaise? " she translated, feeling absurdly like an interpreter at an intergalactic summit.

" Yes. That. Please " he said, paying with a bill that looked freshly printed.

Mio prepared the order with hands that were still trembling slightly. The guy was not a thief. He was just... awkward. Socially awkward, even. A masculine, asocial version of her. She handed him the tray and he, instead of leaving, went to the far table, in a dark corner, and started eating quietly, without taking off his cap, like a vampire eating a hamburger.

"Interesting. Maybe not all of us weirdos are pink and work in burger joints."

The rest of the shift passed without incident. When the shift change came, Mio was asked to do the worst part as a favor: take out the garbage. She dragged the heavy black bags to the back alley. A place isolated from society, where there wasn't a soul except for the flies, the perfect place for many crimes.

He dropped the first bag with a thud. As he turned to go back for the second, his heart skipped a beat and his blood ran cold.

Leaning against the back wall, barely visible in the gloom, was he. The suspicious customer in the corner. He hadn't left.

"He is here. He waited for me. This is it. The final moment. My life wasn't a movie, it was a boring tutorial and this is the final boss. Why? Because of the pickles? Did I put pickles in it by mistake?"

She froze, muscles refusing to obey. He peeled away from the wall and took a slow, deliberate step toward her.

"This time he is. This time he's really going to rob me. Or worse. What do I do? Do I scream? Do I run? Why don't I move? My body has initiated the prey protocol. It's all so... surreal."

He moved a little closer, the shadow of his cap completely obscuring his expression. The alley seemed to shrink, the sound of her own heartbeat a frantic drumming in her ears, drowning out any other noise. She was trapped. And in the silence, all she could think about was how absurd it would be if her last thought was about how badly she needed another Nexus.

The guy slowly raised his hand and Mio closed her eyes, expecting the worst, while the echo of a melody from a distant dream resounded, uselessly, in her mind.