approximately 1,690 words

 

 

 

 

 

 

MR_RIGHT ©

by Mercedes Pecunia

 

Janice was a tiny woman with an enormous heart and a very warm presence. What she lacked in stature, she more than compensated for with her witty, loving, friendly personality, and disposition. Her pettiteness made her appear almost mousy, but she was quite stunning with her penetrating green opaque eyes, which unlocked the souls of everyone she encountered. It was almost as if she had a gift to disarm even the most resistant aggressive personality merely with her striking smile and soothing voice.  She always found the most appropriate words to spark warmth and goodwill from strangers.  She had rich, long auburn hair, which she always kept restrained with numerous hairpins, which disappeared and only served spotlight her expressively lovely face.  She had a countenance which was all too easy to read.  You could always sense what Janice was feeling just by looking at her long enough.  She would turn thirty this year and she continuously wondered where all the time had gone as twenty-niners often did.  She fondly recalled her careless teenage years as she read the morning paper while riding the subway on way to work.  She worked as a computer programmer for a budding .com company with under fifty employees.  She loved her work, but there was always that gnawing feeling of something missing in her life.

It seemed she always followed the same monotonous routine. She rushed to work everyday along with a million other faceless specters.  No one spoke to anyone else, no "good morning", no "good evening", just "get outta my way!" and "watch where the hell you=re going!"  She had grown to love New York, the town she now called home.  The grafitti-ridden municipality with the dirty overly crowded streets and tall buildings.  She had moved from her small hometown in Pennsylvania almost five years ago and she adapted herself to this new lifestyle.  She had even mastered minding "own business".  Something that at first had been very difficult for her coming from a town where you intimately knew your neighbors.  It was a place where she had been forced too many times to "watch her back" and it had now become second nature.

Janice lived in a small studio apartment in one of the narrow dimly lit cobblestone streets of >the Village=. It was all she could afford for now.  Sometimes, she was nervous coming home alone, especially at night during the winter months when it darkened even earlier, but she always managed to make it home safe and unharmed.  She had no friends in this place aside from the acquaintances she worked with.  She spent most of her time at home banging away at the keys on her computer keyboard trying to come up with some new program that would give her some sense of accomplishment, recognition and deep-rooted satisfaction.  Aside from her work and her life on-line, she lived a very quiet and secluded life.  Besides not having anyone to confide in, she had no prospective male companions.  She felt a loneliness that was now only appeased by reaching out to another desperate soul while engaging in amicable electronic text based interactions.

She had developed a certain affinity for a MrRight as he chose to coin himself in the chat rooms.  He was mysterious, romantic, handsome, caring, and every other endearing quality Janice could possibly conceive and desire.  He had sent her a picture of himself and he was nothing like Janice had imagined him to be.  He was alluring in an inexplicable way.  She had thought he would be another one of those men she was fond of until they sent her the long awaited picture.  Janice was neither shallow nor fixated on physical appearances, but somehow the pictures never failed to disappointed her. However, this time it was different.  She was actually attracted to the man she saw in the portrait, in fact, very much so.  He had thick dark wavy hair combed back with a side part, lovely green eyes and a charismatic smile.  He was tall, lean and his loose fitting dark blue cashmere sweater and gray slacks expressed a wonderfully sophisticated sense of style and taste.  He seemed to be a >class act=, unlike all the many others.  It did not take long before she dared to take the initiative to arrange her first meeting with the enigmatic stranger.

They agreed to come together in a popular bar near her home.  She felt it would be best if they met in public for the very first time.  She had learned over the years that one can never be too careful in a big city with all "the loonies" running around.  She had arrived fifteen minutes early and ordered a beer, which she quickly guzzled down to calm herself.  Her hands were cold and clammy, and she was overly anxious to finally glimpse MrRight in person.  They had been chatting for six months now, and she realized she did not even know his family name.  All she knew was that his Christian name was Richard and he lived somewhere on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.  She signaled to the barkeep and ordered another beer, but decided to drink this one very slowly.  She did not want to appear drunk when he finally arrived.  She reached out to grab the frosty mug and felt a tap on her shoulder.  She jumped back slightly from this touch and spilled a bit of the ale on her flowery dress.

"I=m sorry, I didn=t mean to startle you, Janice."

Janice looked up and saw him.  It was MrRight. "It=s you. It=s really you.", she said dreamily.

He smiled took the drink from her, and set it on the small circular table as he guided her through the crowd to an empty table.  It seemed as if they talked for an eternity before he suggested they leave the pub and go out dancing.  Janice could not recall the last time she had been dancing, but she agreed to go with him after one last beer.  She needed that last beer so she would not lose her nerve.  She did not care if she danced like the others or if she did not know how to dance at all as long as she was next to her beloved MrRight.  They danced for hours until Janice=s feet ached and the beer she kept consuming did not allow her to stand straight any longer.

"You=re lucky I remember where you live", MrRight said during the cab ride back to her home. "Now, where are your keys?"

Janice giggled and reached for her pocket book, but was unable to open it.  She then looked up at MrRight and reached out to passionately embrace him, an intimate kiss.  She caressed his face with both her hands and stroked his velvety hair.  And, as he drew closer to return the embrace, everything went black.

She woke up during the afternoon of the next day and looked in the mirror.  She noticed the little bite marks along her neck.  She sighed and smiled to herself and remembered her very wonderful evening. She did not have any recollection of how the bites were inflicted, but she was certain it had been a very pleasant experience.  It was truly unfortunate her drinking had obscured her all too wonderful memories.  She decided to email MrRight a note thanking him for the lovely evening as well as for bringing her home.  She sat in front of the terminal for a long time trying to come up with just the right words.  Her note read awkwardly, but expressed her sentiment so she sent it anyway.  She went back to her computer a few hours later to check if any reply had returned, but none did.  She waited all day, but still there was nothing.  Eventually, she decided to go to bed since she had to be in at work earlier than usual the following morning.

The workweek seemed to last forever, and she still had not heard or received any messages from MrRight.  She had been staying up late every night in an attempt to seize him if he was to show himself on-line, but he never made an appearance.  Janice was beginning to think that maybe she had done something to wrong him and therefore must be avoiding her.  She thought about it again and again, but she could not discern what could possibly be so personal that he could not tell her.  After all, they had shared so much of their lives together.  Just when she was about to log off, an email came in for her.  Finally, it was his reply.

Another week passed, and she met him in a small café as the note had instructed.  He was fashionably tardy and looking as dashing as ever.  Her heart began pounding as soon as she spotted him.  They spent a while in the café engaging in trivial conversation over icy "Frappuccinos" and ended the evening with a late movie.  In the darkened theater, Janice placed Richard=s hand on her lap and held it gently.  She was expecting him to explore some of her forbidden places, but he did not.  He just held her hand tightly and remained fascinated by the story being unfolded on the large screen.  Again, he was the "perfect gentleman" and walked her to her door to guard her as she found her way inside. "Would you like to come in?" she offered.

He chuckled lightly and kissed her on the forehead, "My dear, I will take you up on your offer when you least expect it, trust me! But for now, you will just have to be patient."

She pouted, "but why not now?"

"The offer is very tempting, really.  However, it is very late and I must return home.  It is almost morning."

He kissed her hand lightly and hurried off.  Until now, she had not noticed how loud his footsteps were or the eerie resonating echo they made.  Maybe it was because there was utter silence; no one was walking the halls at this time.  She sighed and locked her door.

The next morning, she felt unusually drained and examined her now bluish pallor in the bathroom mirror.  She had not noticed how awful this light made her look or could it possibly be that she was sick? The bite marks had started bleeding again.  She must have scratched off the scabbing while she slept.  And to top it all off, the sun was irritatingly bright this morning.  She closed off the curtains to seal in the comfort of the soothing darkness.  Again, she sat in front of the PC.  She turned it on and saw MrRight awaited her once again in cyberspace.