Pisaries Creator

Augustus had tried since his teenage years to fit all of his life’s possessions and experiences into one small carry-on luggage his grandmother had given him for his eighteenth birthday. He didn’t know why she thought this would be a good present for him. His parents never instilled in him that travel was a good way to meet people, try different foods, and experience more than what he watched on his TV screen or whatever gaming character disappeared into any random room to fight off the bad guys. Here he was knowing if he let others know his true interests, he would have been called unwanted names only reserved for those he viewed as weak and vulnerable. He wanted to change many parts of his life but finally reached a point where it didn’t matter. It wasn’t as if he had given up on his life. In the moments of pure sadness, Augustus would tear up but now there was no reaction one way or the other. He didn’t feel sad or happy. His current feelings from day to day was more subtle.

When another weekend rolled around and he opened his closet door to grab a pair of his sweatpants, all his hands felt were jeans intertwined with business pants. He didn’t care either this wasn’t his ideal way to spend his first night away from work. The next best thing was to not wear any kind of pants. He technically didn’t need to wear a shirt either because no one would surprise visit him. Someone had suggested trying a new hobby or talking to a professional therapist about his excessive nail biting and eyebrow tweezing. There was a solution for everything. To hide his hideous looking nails, he wore plastic gloves. The ones medical staff wear. His lack of eyebrows could be remedied with an eye pencil. There were probably other topics to talk about if he decided to see a professional therapist, but no one would ever find out. He was adamant not to waste his time or money on such baloney.

More than 20 years had passed since he had gotten that carry-on luggage. It had been used many times over not traveling but moving from one city to the next. Whether it made Augustus any happier with his life remained to be seen. He never really found true happiness but did experience a few moments along the way of what he thought was happiness adjacent. Those little pieces of connecting with purpose and value helped him believe there was still happiness out there for him to attain. His grandmother had died years ago. He was due for new luggage, maybe a bigger suitcase. His worthless possessions had multiplied but they kept his brain busy. That night Augustus knew he had to remove certain objects from his luggage. He grabbed a half-finished Sudoku book and settled into conquering five new puzzles while eating spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream out of the carton. He would deal with downsizing tomorrow because making changes was always better after a good night’s sleep.