Chapter 9 "Breathe Out Your Soul"

"Don't forget that no one can ever see your truth." When I was younger, I was supremely confused by this line. Now I really think I understand. There are some advantages to working and living in a small town. The commute to anywhere is nothing, including work. I was surprised to find the ice on my monotone gray steps, had melted. The white powder on my beige Honda clung to my car for dear life. The sun massacred the beautiful snow of the night before, relentlessly. It was a very bright day, and the bare trees gave me no protection from the Sun's piercing rays. Still, the air was crisp with winter. People were shoveling snow across the street. The scrape of their shovel on the sidewalk could be heard for miles.
My locks were still semi-frozen and required some key coaxing to open my door. Still though, my engine woke up immediately from it's cold slumber happily. I wish it was that easy for me. My iPod decided to shuffle up a favorite song of mine. While I awaited my engine to warm itself, I sang the lyrics. "Been around the world and found that only stupid people are breeding..." I loved that line. When I echoed the words, it just reminded me of my disdain for so much this world has to offer. My car popped into drive with a click.
The small town movie theater that I work at is exactly as you'd expect it to be. An old, white, beaten up building. It sported ceramic shingles on it's semi-peaked roofs. Very large glass windows in front, and large glass entrance doors as well. Privacy was not included in the design for this theater. The parking lot was filled with plowed snow, so I parked on the street. The large glass door opened with a whoosh. My feet clicked on the sticky tile floor.

"Hey Max, What's up?"
"Same old stuff, Pretty much. You just wake up?" Said the figure behind the glowing silver MacBook Pro.
"How can you tell?" My humorous sarcasm is all too common. But at least we both enjoyed that.

I opened the safe, and sorted the money for the drawers with ease. After doing this for so long, counting isn't an active process anymore. I let my mind drift as I prepared for opening. I hummed the lyrics to my song. "I'm not sick but I'm not well... And I'm so hot, because I'm in Hell" I couldn't tell you how true this felt. The process of preparing the projector had become second nature as well. Without a second thought, I walked back downstairs to join Max at our staff table behind the counter.
Max and I met up during the summer through some friends. We both got along really well, for the simple fact that we are very similar. Neither of us care what people think, as long as we're having a good time. I have a lot of respect for people like that. My iBook powered on with a cheerful orchestra chime characteristic of Macintosh computers. My aimless surfing grew tiresome after a while. I grabbed myself a small fountain Coke. It tasted good, and caffeine was going to help get me started again. The sound of the dispensing soda was still ringing in my brain. Fsssssssh.

"Think we'll get anybody for this show?" Max had worked the previous shows this week, so at the very least would know if anybody was coming to see it.
"Doubt it, this movie sucks."

The show time came quickly, and without any takers we were forced to waste time until the next show. I neglected my computer for a while, and walked outside to enjoy the cold. The bright sun had already started to fade behind earth again. My favorite part of the winter is the short days and long nights. The stone patio of the theater looked out upon a perfect spot for watching the sunset. I stood in awe of the beautiful array of clouds and colors projected across the sky for what seemed like hours. I floated in between time for a short while, and allowed my head to clear. I let out a sigh, satisfied. It felt like I had breathed out my soul.

I returned to my computer with a message waiting, from my terminal.
"Terminal 01#Relinquished@nny.optonline.663-net: Soul, We have got a problem."
Maybe today isn't going to be as boring as I thought.

(End Chapter 9.)