A short story written for a 15+ age group

1. The Birds
His footsteps echo along the pavement, joining the chorus of the other hundreds of thousands of
footfalls.
Tweet, tweet, tweet.
Excuse me. Sorry. Sorry, I just need to get through here.
A flash of red passes by him, eyes meet.
Did they meet? Should I smile?
He smiles, into grey jackets. Dead eyes refusing to look in any one direction. Everyone concentrating
on not seeing anyone else.
Tweet, tweet, tweet.
He reaches the office steps, terraces of ascending grey to a glass tower. One way glass. Look out,
look down, watch the goldfish on the street. The hot ones can’t see you starting anyway.
“Hey Matt”
“Yeah?”
“How you doing mate? I heard your father passed away”
“It’s pretty hard actually. We were really close. How’s Erin and the kids?”
“Great, they’re great. Katie made the swim team.”
“Meeting at ten.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Tweet, tweet, tweet.
The clock tower tolls the quarter hour. A sea of people simultaneously check the time against their
watches. He does too. It matches, synchronised time. The man in the yellow coat, his matches too.
Satisfaction. Hurrying on to the bus stop he darts across the road like a mouse, trying not to be seen
by the fleet of cars pouncing on his heels.
Tweet, tweet, tweet.
Posters shout out movies ‘coming soon’; another thing to hire out on video for $2 Tuesday in a few
months. He can wait that long. He might even have a date by then.
“Hey! How are you?”
He spins in the direction of the voice. The owner stands behind him, big smile on their face.

2. He smiles, human interaction.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m really good.”
The owner turns towards him, iPhone on their hip, only now does he notice the little white cord, an
IV of social connection, nestled smugly into their ear.
Tweet, tweet, tweet.
On the bus, GoCard swiped. Not a word uttered. He sits by the window, watching others in the bus
in the next lane sitting by the window, watching him. He turns away. They turn away. Everyone
wants their privacy.
He does too.
Home again. Jacket discarded. Shoes lonely by the door. Windows theme.
3 unread messages.
4 friend requests.
Matt @ Home omg work sux. Any1 up 4 WOW 2nite?
16 people like this.
No one talks anymore. But the birds are getting louder.