Legendary Short Stories

Is there anybody out there?

"It would seem the answer is no," I told myself dejectly. The pain I experienced at this notion grew and grew and so I consulted experts with the hopes that they would cure me of the pain of my loneliness. "There is no pain," I was told. "It's only in your head," the doctors, experts, and specialists reason blankly to me. "I guess that's why I have become comfortably numb," I thought curiously to myself. "Okay," I thought, "I will just get through this damned day by sure determination and frustrated cowardice," I said to myself as tears well up in my barren black eyes as I cried out:

Is anybody out there?

When I was a child I never thought in one single minute that I would have to deal with such a fate as this. I thought that I would become an astronaut soaring through space in the rocket that NASA had designed just for ME! Or a doctor, a lawyer, a race car driver, a police man, a firefighter, maybe even a teacher, yes, I became one of those. But alas, that wonderful opportunity was taken from me as if a thief had grabbed it from my hands and stole it from me only to have it never returned to me. I starred across the horizon of my life and felt like just a brick in the wall of the countless masses that made up the "tapestry" of the boring and mundane edifice which was society in general. I was, in fact, just a small piece of that giant wall. Upon considering this truth-or was it really a truth?-I wonder to myself:

Is there anybody out there?

As a young man, I wanted to be something special and unique in this world in general and in my world in particular. I planned to do this by making the most of every opportunity before me and taking advantage of my education. I listened attentively to my teachers and professors hanging on their every word. While others cried, "I don't need any education. I don't need that shit," I cast such foolish notions aside and did my best to learn all that I could. How can I forget all of those nuggets of wisdom and those viens of gold that led me to riches of knowledge untold? And yet, I look back on my extensive and fine education and realize, and painfully so, that I learned absolutely nothing from those educated fools who sat in their ivory towers and proferred nonsense to me like a used car salesman trying to unload the worst car on his lot to me which I naturally bought thinking it was a luxury car only to realize it was just a piece of ordinary shit. And I call out:

Is there anybody out there?

The day I tried to live, I wallowed in the dirt and mud, I tried to make it, I tried to do it. That was the day I tried to live and there have been countless days since then. Where were you that day? I called out your name but you didn't answer me? Where you with someone else? Were you avoiding me on the day I tried to live while I was wallowing in the mud with all of the other "sinners?" One more time aroud," I said to myself. "Just try to live another day even if there is nobody out there just like you, the good friend who has gone away from me and from my life," I cried to myself:

Is anybody out there?

I looked upon myself and there upon my shelf was my second best friend, my stereo, a friend who has never let me down as you have. A friend who was always there for me, who didn't judge me, who didn't cheat on me, who didn't give a flying fuck that I am a loser, a weirdo, a misfit, or what have you. I reached over to click the power button on, turn up the volume, and enter a world where all of my dreams and fantasies come true, at least in my mind. I begin to groove to the music when I all of a sudden realize:

Is there anybody out there?

No. No, there isn't anybody out there. But surely there must be! I scrunch my eyes and place my hand flattened hand out on my eyebrows as if to create a trusty spyglass that will allow me to see for miles. I search the horizon both far and wide in search for at one other soul who might rescue me from my solitude. Upon discovering nobody on the horizon, I begin to weep bitter tears. I think to myself,

Is anybody out there?

"No more tears. No more tears. No more..." and stop myself for a second. I see an ancient holy book next to the stereo. "Who had placed that there," I wonder. I brush off the layer of dust from it and try to read it's title. The letters had long since been worn off. The book had a tattered leather cover and it contained many pages which were dog-eared and well worn. Whoever owned this book consulted it many times, that much was true. I wondered what it was in that book that would make a person use it so much to cause it to gain so much damage. Was there wisdom in this book that might help me? I carefully opened the book to a random page but I was interrupped by that nagging thought yet again:

Is there anybody out there?

The ancient book fell open to a certain page. I was curious as to the meaning of the words on the pages before me. To be honest, most of these archiac words were nonsense to me. I scanned the pages to see if there was some small thing that I could understand when I came upon these words: My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. These words caused me to think:

Is there anybody out there?

I read those words over and over again. What did they mean? Who would be with me and who would go with me and what was this peace that was spoken about? Was there someone out there who actually cared for me? Was there peace like this that would ease my weary soul and let me, for once in my life, enjoy life? Could there, or would there be a person out there who might answer, "Yes," to the question:

Is there anybody out there?

I closed the book and silently considered these things. I looked back out onto the horizon and began to feel a sense of tranquility and peace. I was just as alone as I was previously but I began to feel as though my aloneness was no longer my problem. My problem was that I had not come to terms with the fact that I must live my life in such a way so as that I would not rely on other people for fulfillment and purpose. Sure, having other people in my life was a great source of encouragement and joy to me but it could also cause me sorrow and distress when those people failed me. And they failed me often as I had failed them often. And while I waited patiently for them to assist me, when they would ultimately fail me, I would cry out pointlessly:

Is anybody out there?

I concluded that I must learn to be my own man, my own person if you prefer, and gain my joy and happiness through my own actions and behaviors and supplement this with actions and behaviors of the friends that I enjoyed and trusted most as they were able to help with my needs. I learned that I must be the captain of my own ship and take command of the rudder, guide the sails, and direct the path of my life myself without relying on people who would not or could not be there for me. Sure, I needed other people in my life, but what I had learned through the course of my life was that I alone had to direct my steps, because relying on others to do this would only leave me staring out of the window of my life and constantly wondering:

Is there anybody out there?