Daily Prompt Instructions: Take the third line of the last song you heard, make it your post title, and write for a maximum of 15 minutes. GO!

I don’t know him but I’m worried about him. Crowded room buzzing with hubbub and attitude, he’s in that far corner, slouched tilted because his chair has a broken leg. He could have moved – there are empty chairs on either side of him – but there he tilts.

I don’t have kids. Watching him tweaks a maternal streak I didn’t know I possessed.  His hair looks like it was wet when he went to sleep with a hat on. It frames an eternally baby face, with a nose that’s been broken more than once. His eyes are decades older than his face, and when there’s a motion into his corner, they dart like the eyes of an animal who’s lived all its life in a cage.

Some girl talks to him and waits for an answer. He stares at the air between them like her words are written there. He shakes his head in reply, about two seconds after the girl turns away with a huff of a shrug.

Maybe he’s high, but that explanation’s too simple. He’s checking out, he’s had enough, he’s done. I  won’t see him again anyway but I fear no one will ever see him again, come tomorrow.

The song lyric of the title is from “No Name #1” by Elliott Smith. Click here to watch a cover version to which I am addicted.