Hijacker

It is a casual walk, one with feet that tap in time as his mind narrates a song to accompany them, his face betraying naught but that he's in his own musical world. A mental image fit for caricature, but implicitly of a nature he strives to live by.

80s hipster sunglasses, horn-rimmed, sans Croakies, a big smile, perpetual 5 o'clock shadow, comfortably dressed neither up nor down, smack in the middle of life. People know him. He knows them too. He greets them all, a swell of smiles matching his own as confirmations of gladness to have seen the other.

A wave of the hand, two fingers extended, the other two suavely crooked, emphasized by a grin; a gust of wind, clouds racing each other from one mountain ridge to the next, the sun making a photo finish with shadows on the ground.

He is a Hijacker.

Taking them along for the ride, implying everything, promising nothing, on a grand jaunt to somewhere over by the finish line.

But there are always storms along this road.

Maelstroms, awe-inspiring fits of racketing chaos, frightening explosions of light and sound, unforgiving in their delivery of nightmares, blackness made all the more oppressive by piercing glints of hope, no time to breathe between thoughts, swirling waves and folds, spinning and winding, flying, falling, crashing, rolling, splashing in unknown mires, deceived by welcoming ghosts, will o' the wisps in throngs, immerentium cum metu, and nothing to guide them, only double-backs and dead ends, hands pointing with no direction, footprints with no toes, and a voice imploring them for confidence.

Yet the skies will clear and and show the road ahead, ambiguous in its direction, promising no solace but for its clarity and an eventual end.

It is a cautious walk, one with feet that touch the ground inverse, hiding the tap of their footfall with poetic grace, toe to heel, steps kept in time by heartbeat.

They will see him as he walks, a casual meeting between friends. He knows them. They know him too. He will wave with two fingers extended, the other two suavely crooked, and emphasize it with a grin.