Disclaimer: I don't or am affiliated with anything Friends related.
It was a cold, blistery morning on the corner of 1st and Front in the city of lights. The wind made the cold bite, and there seemed to be no relief. This was the part of town you didn't tour or experience. Streets lined with broken lights, endless concrete and construction, and no hope to speak of. Phoebe Buffay stood at the corner bus-stop, the bench riddled with gum and graffiti.
She was waiting for the number 9 bus to take her to her artificial life just downtown. At her job as a receptionist at a low-end law firm she was busy, disrespected, and underappreciated. At her humble existence in the feeble, yet rotten suburb where she lived she was hopeful, misguided, and a dreamer. Her thoughts were always distant and gazing, never focused.
Sure she was a good receptionist with a sharp wit, but in reality she was lost and confused, hoping desperately for a way out of the day-to-day droll of everyday life.
She was a single 19-year-old mom and struggling. She had a good life before...white picket fence kind of existence. But that was all gone in one instant..one mistake, one miracle, one life changing event.
The birth of her son, Jamey.
She named him after his father, Jamey Gunnison Thomas. Jamey was her world, her all-consuming imperative. He was her "little man."
She loved him like no other and cherished him with all her heart. Without him, she was just a memory, just an illusion in a devastated reality. Without him, she was nothing and had nothing.
She looked at her now numb fingers, thinking how they paralleled her life. Even though she had Jamey, numbness was all she knew lately. From the time of the accident fear replaced pain, pain replaced regret, regret with anger, anger with desperation, and soon desperation with numbness. It was a cycle she never saw coming, but it had happened and she was dealing with it. However, despite her present condition, her personality allowed for a small ray of hope...hope that dissipated with every tear shed over every heartbreaking experience.
The bus came to an abrupt stop, the road's icy exterior not bothering this beast. Phoebe entered the bus, the bus driver never looking at her. She dropped 80 cents into the machine and proceeded to the very back of the bus. The bus ride seemed as if it was her only real tranquil time...the bus was for dreaming.
She just hoped that maybe some dreams become reality...
To Be Continued...