Pain Pain Go Away

122
shape of icicle makes you want to crack it off from its root, like
certain kinds of petals make you want to pluck them off one by
one... There exist things in the world that, regardless of how cruel it
is, you just feel like destroying.
Maybe it was the same way with this girl, I considered. It could even
explain my sudden impulse to attack her last night.
But I shook my head. That’s just the selfish reasoning of an
aggressor. A notion that put the greatest blame on her. That
couldn’t have been right.
No matter what properties she had about her, it was no reason to
hurt her.
We bought a fresh cheese croissant, an apple pie, a tomato
sandwich, and coffee for us both, then ate in silence on the terrace.
A few birds circled around our feet due to the breadcrumbs we
were dropping. Across the road, children were playing soccer on the
playground. A large tree in the center cast a long shadow on the
not-so-green lawn.
A man in his forties wearing a gray cap came out of the store and
smiled at us. He had short hair, a chiseled face, and a neatlytrimmed
mustache. The badge on his chest said “Owner.”
“Want a coffee refill?”
We agreed, and the owner filled our drinks with a coffee server.
“Where’d you come from?”, he inquired kindly. I told him the name
of the town.
“Why, that’s quite a ways, isn’t it? ...Then you must be here to see