I craned my head to the side to see the immediate change in the girl's expression. No longer robotic like, her face shined with the same aura of an excited child about to learn something new. To be honest, I never really liked children, finding them rather cunning in what people would claim are their "cute ways". So you can't really blame me for thinking, Is she toying with me?

Was this her plan all along when she saw me marching towards her table? To ignore me, then as I was leaving, call out to me for the sole purpose of testing my reaction like I were a specimen in some experiment of hers? Somehow--other than the unlikely scenario of her being a scientist with loose ethics--that didn't seem to be the case. The girl's face dripped with innocence and sincerity, two properties too real to even have been an act put together by the world's greatest drama troupe.

I nodded my head, "Yeah, I saw that you were alone so I thought I would say hi...that's all..." What would her reaction be? Positive? Negative? Indifferent, yet maybe, slightly amused?

"So...so..." She held one slim finger towards her face as confusion oozed out its every pore. "You can...see me?"

The last two words "see" and "me" were spoken softly like they were a top government secret that even she shouldn't know.

"Umm...yeah?" What did she mean by that? See you?

Closing her eyes, her lips twirled into a wide, warm smile looking unnatural, yet, somehow, human in every form, just far more sincere than all the cynical acrobats I've grown accustomed to.

"I'm relieved!" She exclaimed, clasping tiny hands together and dilating her already big smile twice its length. "I had a feeling that you were talking to me, but I wasn't sure. This way, I'm not disappointed!"

I scratched the back of my head, a nervous behavior, not knowing where to go from here. I thought at the most I would get a hello back, but this was a bit too much. I have never met someone who seemed so...I don't even know how to describe it. Happy is far from being the right word, but it's definitely a descendent of the right word hunkering in this useless brain of mine. To be honest, her demeanor kind of scared me because it caught me off guard. That and I didn't actually have a plan for what would happen after I got her to talk to me. Funny how six months of quietly observing her, carefully crafting so many outlandish backgrounds for her, and whipping up future scenarios of us together never ventured close enough to step two: what I would say in response if I managed to get her talking. As if, all it would take would be me casually saying hello then everything else would line up perfectly without a half a hiccup.

Hoping to extend back some of the courteous manners that she gifted me, I held out my hand for a formal greeting, wondering if such an action made me look like a dork, gentleman, or simply a jackass. Do people even shake hands anymore? The last time I shook someone's hand, it was my history professor who was 70 something...not exactly the type of presence I wanted to invoke in front of a cute girl.

"I'm Terry Rochester, pleased to meet you." Her eyes darted to my hand with a faint glisten. She seemed hesitant at first, like she was expecting my hand to be wired to a bomb fitted to destroy all of Eastern Europe, but soon grabbed my hand with a light grip which matched up perfectly with her light handshake. Her skin...soft. It sent an intense shiver through me. Okay, time to wane myself of such thoughts!

"Terry...Rochester? That's a strange name, isn't it?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Well, I guess my last name isn't the most common name but..."

Confusion flashed upon her dainty face once more, like it never left in the first place. "Last name...what's, that?"

"Ugh...what do you mean?" I forced myself to laugh, hoping that it was an amateur attempt at making a joke. "What did you think Terry Rochester was one whole name or something?"

She nodded her head. "That's why it seemed so...unusual."

"Really?" A scratch to the back of the head.

She nodded her head. "Yes, it's quite" Insert smile. ...unusual."

Another scratch to the back of head, this time fingernails probing for lice.

I moved along the conversation to a similar, yet different topic, not wanting to lose my new discovered social momentum. "Okay, what's your name then?"

"Metsa."

Ugh...what? Is she being serious...Metsa? I've heard more normal names in RPGS, even the ones with obscure titles where you have to sift through thousands of pages on the internet until you located a translated patch.

"Metsa, huh?" I said nonchalantly like it was the most common baby name ever used. I could have dealt with something like Angelica or even Queen Latifa...but Metsa? I'd very much like to meet her parents. "So where are you from then?" With a name like that, I seriously doubt that she could be from, say Idaho or Arkansas. Maybe Venus.

"Where...am I...from?"

Mesta placed a hand to the side of her head, thinking of a response which struck me as odd as if my simple question was really a quadratic equation in disguise.

"Where am I from...where am I from...where am I from..."

She tapped her fingernails to the table several times, this act locking her deep in concentration. Despite her dead serious face, no one takes that long to answer such a simple question. It seemed too absurd, too surreal. There had to be something else to it, some sort of jagged meaning, curled up in a crevice just outside my peripheral vision. If not, then could all of this really just be an elaborate prank, aimed at me, the unsuspected target?

Finally, though, a light-bulb shined over her head as she turned to me with a face of sudden realization.

"Ohhhh...where am I from?! I get it now...here!"

"So, do you sleep under one of the tables then?" I joked.

"I don't understand."

For the next half hour or so, the conversation was constricted to me mainly asking her out-of-the-blue questions to which she would reply always confused. Not only did she not know what a cell-phone was, she also never heard of fast food, comic books, satellite TV (or even normal TV for that matter), or even a toilet plunger (how the conversation spurred its way onto toilets, I have no idea).

"Okay, seriously are you messing with me?" I laughed with so much force, afraid that not only my lungs, but also my larynx would cave in. "I mean, it's alright if you are. Really, I just want some closure here!"

"I swear!" She answered back in a defensive matter like I were questioning her sanity, which by the way, at this point wasn't exactly off the table. "I have never been to school a day in my life!"

"Home school??"

She nodded her head no.

"Okay, okay", I started, suppressing a hard laugh from releasing due to what I was about to say next. "Riddle me this if you would...are you by any chance a mountain girl raised by Bigfoot-mutant hybrids? Or better yet, would you by any chance be some type of freakish human experiment dropped by a highly trained research team of the most advanced extraterrestrials, perceivably in the whole entire universe, multi-universes included, who are currently using you to infiltrate and observe the human race where you, in return, send back all your findings which are to be used in a massive takeover of earth? Blink twice if that's the case, or would they be able to detect that?"

A pause followed before she answered as if it could actually be a possibility. There are things, however, in this universe that no one can perceive.

"I don't really understand...but...I don't think so. Though I guess, I'm not really sure."

"Of course you aren't." I mumbled, happy by how good my soliloquy turned out, but hoping she didn't take it too seriously. Sarcasm probably wasn't her highest point though, as she seemed to be thinking the question over with poppy seed size wrinkles printing her forehead. She's rather cute when she's thinking, I thought.

It would seem though that I would have to pay for my joke for what followed was an awkward silence, seeming to echo. I finished the last of my drink finding for the first time, in a long time, not knowing what to say next. I can't just leave it at that, I told myself, trying to rack my brain and force new thoughts to come out. Thankfully though, I didn't have to bother trying to come up with a new line of conversation as she did all the dirty work for me.

"Terry...can I..."

Her voice turned quiet.

"Can I ask you a question?"

With a look of nervousness and lingering eyes, she clutched her left arm with her right arm then turned her gaze down, almost intentionally--not wanting to look at me, instead into the comfort of her lap. It was clear that the atmosphere had just changed. Did my joke really bother her that much? Dammit, I really can be a jerk at times!

"You know I was only teasing you. I really don't think you're some type of alien or Bigfoot hybrid."

"I know. It's not that..." She responded with a tint of sorrow to her voice.

"Then what is it?" I asked, concerned, wishing she would look at me. Instead, her lap received all the attention. She continued to clutch her arm, barely saying a word, reminding me of some wounded animal.

"It's...it's nothing."

It was apparent that something was bothering her. But what?

C'mon...cheer up! Although, I have only just met you and although you are already weirder than anyone I know, it would just be depressing and even weirder to see you not all crazy happy!

"Didn't you have a question for me? Go ahead, ask away! I may not have golden pearls of wisdom or even bronze for that matter, but believe me, I'm all ears!" Despite my ridiculous attempt at trying to cheer her up, it did no good. She began whimpering--softly, yet strongly.

"Metsa...what's wrong?" I reached out to touch her, but before I could, she immediately peered up at me.

"Terry...I..." She stammered, voice swirling with emotion as everything about her transformed.

I found myself no longer looking at the same girl who was stumped when I asked where she lived. Instead, it would seem that the person in front of me was a different person entirely as even her eyes underwent a complete transformation. Her eyes, which were once bright green, were now faded blue, whitened by tears. She wanted to cry; needed to cry, needed to release whatever emotion had been building up inside her, yet the stubborn tears didn't fall. Instead, they stayed trapped, solid and motionless--resting against her eyes, seeming to have no other purpose than to just sit--sit against her eyes, that became their only role, their only reason for existing. Immediately, those eyes drew me in, captured all my attention. I became fixated on looking at those tears. Perhaps it was my own delusions, yet the tears didn't come from sadness, regret, or even pain, at least not as a solely negative emotion. No, that was too limiting. Instead, what those eyes conveyed was much much more. Yes, viewing it via surface level, they simply reflected pain, regret and sorrow; negativity; emotional trauma, but there was something much more to them than that. A true beauty that didn't feel defiled despite acting as a container of negativity. Was this her Inner World? Her Inner World, acted out so beautifully in the Outer World, seemingly just reach a hand over and you could grasp it, but the tears didn't fall.

Okay, time to take a step back in reality! A girl is crying and you're not going to do anything? Go on, say something!

"Umm...are, you...are you...okay?" I found myself asking after what felt like it could be an eternity, scratching the back of my head, scolding myself for not saying something more comforting. Like I said, I'm not too good at cheering people up, and I'm sure as hell not good in confrontational situations such as this, though I wasn't about to run away...I'll be there for you, just don't expect me to do much...I'm not that capable!

A short pause followed as more tears flooded her eyes. Again, they didn't fall. Just stayed...there, as did she. Why can't she cry?

I reached out to touch her shoulder.

Before I could touch her, she bobbed her head upwards as a look of surprise appeared, animating her fixed expression. Her mouth unfurled into a small gasp as if she suddenly felt a strong surge of déjà vu.

"Umm...sorry....I was only trying to..." I pulled back my hand, probably equally as embarrassed as her.

She bobbed her head into a small nod, closed her eyes and turned away. Did I...did I upset her?

"Metsa, I um..." I began, not knowing what to say, but knowing I had to say something. Then, with flickering life, she opened her eyes. Her tears just like the unknown emotion pushing them vanished--replaced by a warm, gentle smile. Despite the situation, such a smile didn't feel forced or even unnatural, but rather felt fitting as if the source of her pain could only be discovered through its golden aura. She fixed that same smile upon me and said something which I could never forget, for it could bring halt to anyone's life no matter how fulfilling.

"Do you...do you think the forest ever gets sad? I know I would if I had to watch all of life slowly wither away knowing I could do nothing to change its cruel fate. To just watch, knowing you can do nothing...what kind of life is that? Waiting...for my fate as well. Waiting to wither away along with all my children, separated only by time. For me, anyway, I don't think the forest should be admired as much as it should be pitied."

Those simple words sparked a journey that, despite only lasting a short span of two weeks, would be engraved in my memory for an eternity.