I heard a knock

I heard a knock.

It was the casual every day knock. I proceeded to open the door, fully aware Anxiety tends to arrive earlier than expected. I let her in and tried my best not to pay attention to the constant blabbering. She never makes any sense in the morning and if I knew her, she must have had a couple of espressos on her way here. We had a ritual you see? I would show her to the couch, she would say she would rather stand. I would insist, and she would brush my suggestion away preferring to take a place close to the window. She knew she was not the only one invited and a big part of her wanted to control anyone coming in and out.

I heard a knock.

It took a couple seconds before Worry even noticed me standing in the open door. I asked him if he was alright, and he half smiled and said yes. Not a convincing yes, I should add, but I knew better than to insist. He sat close to Anxiety. She was talking incessantly, and he has always been a terrific listener.

Another knock.

Attachment and Loneliness came together this time. It is hard to keep up with their relationship status. Weird as attachment is, she sure is the life of the party. Never fails to notice the pictures on the wall and tell everyone everything about them. To her defence she always had a great memory. And that is one of the things I did not understand in her relationship with Lon. She is the hugging everyone type of girl. He is the stand in the bar swirling his drink kind of guy.

I put the kettle to boil. That would give an excuse to get away from my now crowded very small living room. I opened my cupboard and rummaged through my options. Green tea sounded appropriate for me. Stopping the kettle just before boiling was one of my favourite challenges. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not only because they say it is the right thing to do with green tea, but because I knew that Anxiety would come barging in the kitchen before the whistle even thought about making the slightest sound. I poured cup for me and made a smaller cup of Peruvian instant coffee I had found on sale earlier that week.

Another Knock.

This was the one I was certain to show up. Depression looked his usual: like he either stayed up all night or had been sleeping for a week straight. It was really hard to tell. I handed him the coffee cup and suggested he drank it slowly. It was still too hot.

He slowly made his way in.

The sky was clear and my tea carried something in its smell that wars particularly comforting. Going through my pockets I felt the wallet and the keys. Nothing crucial was missing.

I closed the door.

I locked the door.

I made sure I had turned the key twice.

I could not see from the outside but I suspected Anxiety was peeking through the blinds wondering what I was doing.

So I waved. And walked.