The Lovely Eccentricities of Time

.Our pasts are closed-off shopping malls.

Walking in front of a closed mall, I saw an empty dark version of a lively place. And with this picture, I saw my reflection while i was staring at the glass doors. I looked ghostly. Transparent, and floating through the furnitures inside the closed mall. I imagined my ghostly version window-shopping inside the dark department stores, peering through model display cabinets, checking shoe sizes, and playing in arcades. All that. Minus the living, "Real" people. The annoying people. No one would ever bother me in there, I thought. I could go where ever I want, take anything I want, smoke where ever I want. It would be my own little wonderland.

But alas, like going back in time, living like that, or even living in a place like that, would be impossible. If not sad. I could never live all alone in a dark and dull place like that. Our pasts will always be a mix of wonders and pain. Great times of happiness, triumphs, mistakes, and love. All in a dim quiet empty place. Closed-off from where we are now. And where we are NOW, is a place where everything is still the same. Only brighter. Where we are Now, is a place where you will never be a ghost inside that mall. Alone, numb and dead. Where we are now is a place where we walk with our feet.

And we're here, outside, walking, because we ought to be going somewhere.

- R.N. Adjei Aviado