Brain Buddies

I wrote this as part of a Writing Prompt found on Reddit. The prompt was: Everyone on earth has a "brain buddy", half the time you hear their thoughts, and half the time they hear your thoughts. Nobody has ever realised this or met their brain buddy, until you find yours accidentally.
(http://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/2s9zou/wpeveryone_on_earth_has_a_brain_buddy_half_the)

Here is my submission:

     I feel like I don’t always know myself. I mean, I guess that’s not uncommon - many people don’t feel comfortable in their own skin. Normally, I do feel comfortable, but my recent breakup made the subconscious voices louder in my head and I was a little off lately. Who doesn’t occasionally think “why did I do that?” or “hmmm, I never thought about it like that but it seems perfectly obvious” or even the more practical “why did I come into this room?” And then there are the more bizarre thoughts we all have like “if I just suddenly took a few steps forward, I could jump off this building and nothing would stop my fall but the pavement below.” They say when you have those thoughts, it means you’re mentally healthy because you have the rational mind to understand the consequences of that kind of action and it keeps you in check. I don’t know if I buy that. Those dark thoughts are, after all, dark and foreboding, and I’m generally an upbeat kind of guy. And besides, they had gated the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower long ago, so really, it was just a passing thought.

     I got a bit of a chill at these thoughts, so I stuffed my hands into my pockets and stepped back from the ledge.

      “The view is a bit unnerving, isn’t it?” a voice behind me said. Its owner’s hand touched my shoulder stopping me from backing up farther. I nearly stepped on his toes.

      “Sorry. I didn’t know anyone was behind me.” He nodded casually with a no worries look on his face. “I don’t know,” I continued, “I kind of like heights. When I’m on the ground I feel… contained. Up here, I’m free. I can see everything, look over it all, and I enjoy how everything flows.” I took my hand out of my pocket and waved it over the view to emphasize my point.

      “You’re a braver man than I. This is as close as I get.” He paused then took a step back to demonstrate his opinion. I smiled.

      “I’m Sam,” he extended his hand.

     He looks like a Sam, I thought as I shook his hand. “Ethan,” I offered. “Nice to meet you.”

     Sam was one of those guys you just instantly liked. He had a friendly face, looked you in the eye, and the conversation was always easy, effortless. I felt like I’d known him for years. “You too,” he smiled back. “You here on holiday, I take it?”

      “Yeah, I flew in from Los Angeles two days ago.” Sam looked around, a little puzzled. “Oh, I came alone. Long story.” I shook my head, expecting to leave it at that, but I was compelled to explain. Sam was easy to talk to. I shrugged. “I was engaged to be married. Three days ago was the wedding, but… Things happen. Anyway, we’re not together anymore and I couldn’t let the honeymoon tickets go to waste. I sold one and kept the other, so here I am.”

      “Sorry to hear that, mate,” he clapped me on the shoulder. “Look, if you’re not busy, how about you join me and the misuses for lunch?”

      “Oh I couldn’t intrude,” I began but was cut off by someone else approaching.

      “What do you think, Sam?” A beautiful woman skipped up to Sam and wrapped one arm around his waist. “Lovely, I say, but I can’t shake the thought from my head that if these gate things weren’t here, I could step forward and just toss myself off!” She swept her free arm wide to demonstrate, and nearly hit me.

      “Oh, I’m terribly sorry,” she clapped her hand over her mouth, apologetically. “I honestly didn’t see you there.” And then she frowned. “You must think I’m mad. I don’t really want to toss myself off the tower. I just have these weird thoughts all the time. They say it’s alright to have them, because it means you’re aware of actions and consequences.”

      “Laura, this is Ethan. He’s on holiday and I’ve invited him to lunch with us.”

      “Wonderful!” Laura smiled and shook my hand vigorously. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

     Then her tone changed and she frowned. “Oh, on holiday alone? Did someone...? I mean…” and she was fumbling awkwardly. Was it that obvious I had come alone? Maybe my wife was just around the corner for all Laura knew.

      “No, no,” I said. “It’s okay. I mean, yes, someone did, but it’s okay. Shall we?” I pointed to the elevator.

     I sat down with my fresh frites and quickly burned my fingers. Laura gasped with me and empathicly stuck her fingers in her mouth as if trying to sooth mine. I resisted the urge to mirror that action and resorted to cooling them on my cold drink. We lunched on the benches at the base of the tower and chatted about nothing really. Laura was chatty but I liked talking to Sam. It was almost an attraction and I had to shake it out of my head more than once. Laura clung to him like he was going to get away if she didn’t. I couldn’t shake the thought of her empathic gesture and the way she mirrored my dark thought about jumping from the tower. And then there was this strange attraction to Sam.

     I focused my thoughts on the back of my neck. Let’s see if I can make myself itch. I thought of leaves brushing the back of my neck. Nope. Not itchy. I thought of bugs crawling around there. A little tingly at this thought. Then I imagined the bug biting down hard.

     Laura reached up and slapped the back of her neck. “Ouch!”

      “You alright?” Sam asked. Laura nodded. Sam continued to talk but I wasn’t listening.

     The back of my leg, I thought. A bug is climbing on the back of my leg. Laura reached down and scratched the back of her leg.

     Okay, this is really weird, I thought. My chest. I’m going to grab my breast, now. I smiled to myself. This was a little twisted but I was getting lost in the fun of it. Laura slowly reached her hand up to her chest, then stopped suddenly.

     She looked up from her frites and stared me in the eye. Her voice, yes it was most definitely her voice echoing loudly in my head: “Don’t you dare, Ethan! And quit eyeballing my husband.”

I Lost My Step-Father This Weekend

I lost my step-father this weekend. He had some health issues in recent years, but he was active until the last few weeks, and his final battle didn't linger long. Thankfully, I was able to see him and talk to him before he passed. I was able to tell him how much I appreciated and loved him. Not many people get that chance. I will miss the man who taught me how to work on cars, how to handle, shoot, and respect firearms - “plinking” we called it, how to fish, and how to camp. It was he who taught me how to truly appreciate nature and took me on some of the best hikes and camping trips I’ll ever experience. And I’m talking about REAL camping. We’d strap on backpacks and hike a couple of miles into the mountains. We’d set up our tents and campfires and we’d fish the stream for our dinner of fresh rainbow and brown trout. We’d clean them ourselves and make silly puppets with the fish heads. We’d lay out under the cloudless night sky and watch the occasional satellite pass by in orbit above. We’d cook oatmeal or fresh pancakes and bacon in the crisp morning air and explore the area around an old mine he’d found decades before.

He was a drag racer and took us to many events. I can still feel the rumble of the stock eliminator cars beating against my chest and the smell of racing fuel and oil. I remember being in awe as a child when he’d clean his car in preparation for a race. The shiny, Armor All-ed leather seats, the freshly washed red paint with all the sponsor stickers covering its doors and fenders, and the giant racing tires mounted on the rear axle made me think he was super human, larger than life - I suppose he was in many ways. And when he fired up the engine to make the final adjustments, my heart jumped and beat in time. It was so loud but I never minded that. I fell in love with the American muscle car because of those races.

He took our family on my first road trip when I was eight. We drove from California to Missouri exploring along the way. On this trip, he took us to see the very first Star Wars movie that had just been released in theaters, and a new love of mine was born.

When my son was born, and I began having to do dad stuff, I was able to better realize and appreciate what he had done for me. I told him so - I needed him to know that I appreciated him for that. He loved my son, and my son loved him for the short time he knew him.

He loved geography and geology and anything that had to do with the natural world. He had the gift of gab and could talk you for hours, and that’s not an exaggeration. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. We didn't talk too much about it, though he would if you asked him, and he earned a Bronze Star while there. He was a great many things. He loved us, he loved my wife and my son, and we loved him. You are missed Al Etter. Thank you. I love you.