Fiction: Seeing is not always believing

Fiction: Seeing is not always believing
One cloudy winter's morning commute, Nona mistakenly looks up from her book and finds several faces askew. She quickly glances down. She has forgotten her own rules of not looking up. It is normal for her to see someone's true expression and then back to normal.
    When Nona had been a child, she had started seeing these true expressions and told her parents but they thought it was due to her wild imagination so they kept her from reading anything too fantasy-like. It had not cured her of seeing those expressions but it made her realized how much easier her life would be if she keeps certain things to herself.
    After work, Nona visits the eye doctor's office. On one wall, it is decorated with three paintings of abstract faces in various expressions that mostly convey a certain type of terror. Nona keeps her eyes away from them. The doctor's assistant, Cass, is one of Nona's favorite people. Cass always expresses what she feels, there is never a second expression.
    After examining her eyes, Dr. John says everything's well but Nona's vision is not good. She will need eyeglasses. Downstairs, she gets herself a pair with plain black frames. An hour later, she walks out of the building.
    A crowd of tourists step out off a bus. Each face is twisted in some cruelly expressed glee except for one old lady who looked like she might start sobbing. Nona notes the name of the bus - Graves Tours. It is not unusual to have tourists visiting graves. Nona turns away and crosses the street. Down the flight of stone steps, she makes her way toward the underground subway.
    At this time, the station is quiet and half empty. Nona makes her way to the middle of the platform, careful to stay far from the edge. Two teenagers, standing side by side, had their heads down toward their phones. One man sits on the bench with his head bend low as if he's asleep. Two seats from him, a woman is knitting what looks like a sock. Nona turns away but not before she sees how the woman's eyes bend and lips quiver as if she wants to cry. Nona's eyeglasses has made her visions all the more clearer. 
    Nona stops a little away from the people. She looks up a the electronic signs to see when the next train is arriving. Two minutes. Not too far off.
    As Nona fumbles to get a book out of her large bag, she spots a man walking toward her. He is barefooted and carrying a pillow. Nona has seen homeless people going without shoes but this man wears a suit that looks quite new. Compare to him, her coat and suit are shabby.
    No one else gives the man a second glance after the first but Nona can't help it. Why is this man barefooted when he clearly could afford shoes? A light wind comes from the direction of the stairwell and makes Nona pull her scarf closer. Is he not cold without shoes? She dares to look up at his face and finds a pleasant surprise. He is smiling in a sheepish, happy way. There is no second face. When he meets her eyes, he smiles but she swiftly turns away.
    A 5 train rattles into the station. Nona gets in and so does the barefooted man. Nona restrains from looking at him but her eyes veer his direction when the train stops about half an hour later. When he gets out, she follows him.
    Up the stairs and out of the station the man keeps on walking. The sun has come out and the air is warmer. Nona pulls her scarf off and puts it inside her bag. She isn't sure why she is following him. She just has the urge to do so. Ideas floods through her mind about the pillow.
    The man walks on without much hindrance. The pavements are smooth stones but filled with tiny pebbles and dirt. Nona couldn't understand how the man walks with such ease and the back of his feet appears clean.
    Nona isn't sure how much time has passed but the sky is brighter and the air is a lot warmer. Then the pavement changes into wooden panels and Nona looks up. There are the stone arches and steel cables. The Brooklyn Bridge looks spare with so little people today. The barefooted man is still walking. But then he stops and sits down at one of the benches with the pillow at his side.
    Nona stops two maybe three feet away. She hesitates. She has walked the bridge many times but she has always took a straight route and rarely stopped.
    "Sit down, miss," the man says. "I don't know why you're following me but you are welcomed to do so but you must be tired. Sit." He pats the place beside him on the bench.
    Nona stares at him for a moment. The man is smiling and again, there is no second face to indicate anything other than a pleasant smile. She sits down but only because her feet are aching. Today, she has forgotten to change her heels to her sneakers.
    "I'll bet you're wondering why I'm barefooted and carrying a pillow. If you're curious, I'll tell you but if not, then I'll just be silent." He smiles again.
    Nona turns away from the man. She wrecks her brain for an answer. Yes, she is curious but she also likes the mystery of not knowing. The answer might make her sad or it might gave her a reason to never ask anyone why they do the things they do.
    Slowly, she turns to face him. "I guess I do want to know but kind of don't at same time."
    He nods. "Of course, a mystery is more enjoyable not knowing. Maybe I will only tell you one thing." He smiles. "I gave my shoes to a homeless man but the pillow, you can decide why I have that. What do you think?"
    While they had been walking, various ideas has clouded her mind: The pillow is a symbol or code to enter into some secret society; the pillow lets him dream insanely impossible dreams; the pillow grants wishes when he sleeps on it. But they are all silly and not worth mentioning. "I don't know. I haven't any answers for the pillow."
    "And perhaps keep it that way but what if I say I got the pillow because I meant to buy it because I need a new pillow, would you be disappointed?"
    "We all need pillows for sleep." Nona almost believe that reason but wouldn't he be carrying it inside a bag or wouldn't he have gotten it home instead to the bridge?
    "True but what if I say I'm not using the pillow for sleep?" He turns to look up at the sky.
     The pair of clouds in the clear blue space looks like they are having some sort of battle with swords. "I hope it's not for anything nefarious. I hate to think you're going to commit some crime with it." Maybe she should leave. This conversation is beginning to turn toward something she might not want.
    There is a quiet chuckle and then it grows into a guffaw. She turns to glare at the man.
    "You are an amusing lady. I will tell you I'm not going to do anything nefarious, if you're worrying about that." He takes the pillow and stands up. "I'm going to walk all the way to the end of the bridge and then walk back. You may join me if you like but you will be missing dinner. But I might give you a hint or two about the pillow along the way."
    She looks up at him. He winks and turns and is walking.
    She doesn't know what to do. She wants to follow and yet, does she really want to know about the pillow? What if he won't say anything worth listening? What if it's all a joke on her? But she can't pass on a mystery and besides, she doesn't want to use her imagination when reality is right there in front of her. What's the harm of following? Slowly, she tucks at her coat and pulls the handle of her bag over her shoulder. If she doesn't like his answer, she will just leave. She runs to catches up with the man but stays a few steps from him.

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This week's Words for Wednesday prompts are: missing, pillow, rattle, flight, beginning, shabby, time. For more Words for Wednesday, go here.