Madness and Women
Stories
Poetry
the farewell gift
he once watched a movie called flowers for algernon.
it's about a mentally challenged and low-functioning man named charley.
he undergoes experimental brain surgery and becomes a genius.
they tried the experiment first on a mouse named algernon and both operations were a success.
unfortunately the effects wore off and they went back to the way they were.
he knew what that felt like after he broke it off with his latest girlfriend.
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he was an empath around women and that was his fatal flaw in having a lasting relationship.
once he got close to them he sensed and experienced their emotions and heard their thoughts.
their pain and sadness affected him in the worst ways.
he tried drinking constantly in an attempt to drown all that out.
he tried to continue the relationships but the drinking always got out of control.
he’d wind up in sanitariums and treatment centers.
______
he knew this girlfriend for only a week and she was already sending him empathic signals.
except she was different from the others.
she shared with him her feelings of joy and happiness instead of pain and sadness.
their hearts and souls mixed and blended their love and desires together.
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their connection stopped when he became sick and contracted a hundred and seven-degree temperature for a week.
the fever changed his wiring and he wasn’t an empath anymore.
he tried drinking to reconnect with her but that didn’t work.
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he decided to meet her at their favorite park bench just before sundown.
he explained everything to her.
she told him it didn’t matter but in his mind everything was different.
he kissed her goodbye and handed her a gift.
_____
she held the mouse doll next to her heart as she watched him walk away and fade into the evening.