Break

Ultimopaso. Pretty Puddle. Digital image. Deviant Art. Deviant Art, 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 6 Jan. 2016. <http://ultimopaso.deviantart.com/art/pretty-puddle-286317906>.

After working all day in her little cubicle at her workplace with coffee as her stimulus, she stood up from her desk and moved herself to the window. This was the first time lifting herself up from the office chair since this morning when she went to the bathroom. Looking at all the festive decorations outside, she placed her hands on the cold one-way window. The weather was getting cooler and the sun setting earlier. It was just the right time to watch the sunset, just before six. Resting her forehead on the window, she admired the sky that was painted in arrays of pinks, light blues, oranges and yellows. The clouds were lingering about, sparsely spaced out in the wide field of the infinite sky. From the small gap of the slightly opened window, she could smell the remnant scent of the rain. A crisp and gentle breeze of December flowed in. It was refreshing. She loved the rain. It was too bad that she missed it. Gazing at the delicate, yet imposing scene, she thought about all the work on her desk waiting to be completed. While the sunset was tranquil, her work place was demanding. Focused on her work, she hadn’t even noticed that it had rained. Will I ever reach that peaceful state if I keep working like this?

One of her best friends from high school had called her a little earlier. Like her, he had gone into working in an office after college four years ago. However, her friend had recently quit his job and begun a new career playing the cello which he had played since the age of six.

“It’s so much better,” her friend had said. ”No stress, no pressure. Freedom!”

Of course she had thought about quitting, but things were different for her. While her friend greatly enjoyed playing the cello, she had never discovered her passion. She had never found something that she truly loved doing. With the amount of work she had as an office clerk, she knew that she would never be able to develop her passion. And besides, she thought it was already too late to start something new.

Looking down from six floors above, she saw the bright yellow light from the entrance of the building. Festive decorations including large mistletoes, ornaments, and peppermint sticks, were displayed outside each establishment. There were still some puddles from the rain here and there. One. Two …  Five. Six. There were six puddles. From the reflection of the puddle near the automatic sliding glass doors, she could see the faded pink sky. And from the reflection of the one by the streetlamp that was wrapped with Christmas lights, she saw the cirrus clouds. However, the one near the west side of the office building, where hardly anybody resided, had something strange about it. Instead of reflecting the light blue and pinkish sky, it was dark blue. And something made it seem as if it had depth to it. From high above, she couldn’t see very well. Forgetting that she was still on her shift, she decided to go downstairs to look at it from a closer view.

“I’ll be right back,” she whispered to one of her closest co-workers, after scurrying inside.

“W… What?” her confrere yelled.

But it was too late, she was already in the hallway running to catch the elevator. Sorry, I’m sick of working until midnight non-stop. Please give me a break. Something about the puddle gave her courage to finally say that she needed a break after her overnight shift. Within a few moments, she was at the lobby, then rushing out past the sliding glass doors, squeezing through the horde of people, and quickly approaching the corner, behind it lay the peculiar pool of rain.

She came to an abrupt halt after turning the corner. There it stood, the ambiguous puddle. Panting, she took cautious steps towards it as if there was some monster within it. Now, peering from directly above the small pond of rain, she only saw her reflection. Squinting, in hopes to see any better, she noticed that the puddle was not really a puddle. It was something much greater. She gathered six pebbles from around it, and dropped them in, one by one. That’s weird, the stones should settle down on the concrete beneath. For some unknown reason, the stones were disappearing into the ultramarine puddle that perhaps was not a puddle. In a crouching position, she put her face close to the surface of the water. Determined to discern this obscure puddle, she closed her eyes and dove head first into the water without second thought.

Silence. Not even a splash.

Where am I? I can’t breathe. She opened her eyes and found herself in a vast blue space. When was the last time I had a proper break like this? Summer vacation two years ago? Although she could not physically breathe, she was alive. And probably the happiest she had ever been.

“I’m too busy.”

“Who’s got time for that?”

“Let me finish this up first.”

In today’s world, we have many reasons to not take a break. We are so caught up in working and studying that we forget how it feels like to break away. Everyone needs a break; even the world’s most capable person needs a break from everything.