"I am the main character of a story called [My Life]."

My brother proudly declared to me years ago.

"If my life was a story too, I wouldn’t read it," was my answer back then and that didn’t change till today. 

“Whoever the writer of this book is, they clearly have no skill being an author. The plot is boring, the character writing sucks, and what is the genre anyway? Instead of the main character, I’d rather be the author.”

“Can you move your bag?”

Reflexively, my head shot up. A handsome young man stood before me. His eyes were glued to the seat of the bus station next to me. The schmaltzy song playing on my headphones gave the situation a strange air.

“Ah, yes! Sorry.” Hurriedly, I picked up my backpack and placed it on my lap. 

“You work on the third floor” he stated and looked straight to the front. I looked around, but there was no one. He was staring straight at the bus sign. It was like he was talking to an imaginary person in front of him.

He proceeded to stare into the void, so I got back to scroll through the novel titles on my phone. Nothing interesting again. It was Friday afternoon and I had not planned what to do for the weekend yet. Reading was out of the question.

“You work on the third floor”, the man said again. Now his light brown eyes were fixated on me. I took out my headphones.

“I do indeed work on the third floor. But uhm... How do you know?”

“I am a ...affiliate.”

“Ah, I see.” Now that I looked at him, he seemed familiar. 

“You are the influencer who started working with us recently, aren’t you?”

He hesitated for a moment and then nodded.

I remember him getting viral after this one video, ‘handsome cashier moving beer’. A few female colleagues had a crush on him and had talked a lot about him at the time.

So, I was very surprised when we suddenly had a marketing contract with him, but that was not the only time I had seen him.

“I’ve seen you in the store before the hype, you know? It’s close to my home. Well, it’s been a while, so you probably don’t remember.” 

“I do. I do remember.” His mouth curled up slightly, and I could understand why people liked him. He had an angular, manly shaped face and looked somewhat cute with his long lashes and shy smile. He gave the air of a tired lion cub. Cute, but has already seen the ugly side of the world.

The silence became awkward, so I tried my best to start small talk. “Do you always take the bus? I’ve never seen you here.”

“Ah, no. Normally I take the train but as you can see”, he hinted with his head to the subway station next to us. A few construction workers and a huge excavator were digging a big hole on the sidewalk next to us. “They’re replacing the pipes. What about you?”

Now I remembered as well. There has been a sign for the incoming excavation for a few days. 

“I take the bus every day. It stops exactly in front of my house.”

He nodded. 

“I see. You are Anya, right? I can’t remember for sure.”

“I’m Yu Anya. What’s your name? I can’t call you the ‘handsome cashier’, right?” 

“Please don’t!” Smilingly, he shook his head. “My name is George Kruger... uhm, Is Yu your first or last name? How should I address you?”

“Sorry. Force of habit. Yu is my last name. Just Anya works fine.”

“Nice to meet you... Anya.” 

He put his hand forward for a handshake, but since we were sitting so close to each other, his elbow collided with my side.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine. Nice to meet you, too.” I shook his hand.

Still 14 minutes till the bus came. 

“How is the life of an influencer?“

On social media, the life of influencers always looked so perfect. Amazing food and great locations. 

Of course, that was not all there was to it. I’ve read an article a while ago stating that influencers are like every self-employed person, very busy and often overworked. There were a lot of stress involved to present oneself like that all the time. But an unexpected answer came from George Kruger’s lips, “It’s easy.”

“Really? How so?”

“Before I was working all the time to earn enough money to pay for my living expenses, and it got really stressful with university too. Now I just have a shooting every other day and can fully commit to my studies for the first time.”

“Maybe I should become an influencer too... Is it difficult to run a social media account?” I didn’t have any social media except the messenger since high school.

Well, you probably need to post continuously and be mindful of your image. He could do that. His manners were good. And of course he was good-looking. Subconsciously, my hand found its way to the hair covering my right eye.

“Actually, I don’t know about that. My manager is posting and writing captions. I’m just the model.” He shrugged his shoulders and looked back to the bus sign.

He was truly lucky having a manager, but what was the use of studies?

My eyes followed his gaze to the sign. 12 minutes left. A big van drove across the street behind the sign. A cyclist followed right after, as if he wanted to catch up to the van.

It was a big street in the big city. To my left was George Kruger, on the right sat an elderly woman and next to her stood a tall, very thin man, who was checking the time on his wristwatch. Closer to the street stood a laughing couple with a big fluffy dog.

“What do you study?” My tranquil thoughts were interrupted by a question and curious light brown eyes fixating my left eye.

“Uhm, I don’t go to university... What about you?”

“I study English literature.”

“So... Shakespeare?”

“Why is everyone asking that? We had some texts from Shakespeare, but more modern artists were also in our schedule. I’ve read a few books from Oscar Wilde recently. I really like his style of describing. But also Khaled Hosseini and-“

His words became strangely distant. I felt the world through cotton. 11 minutes till the bus arrived. On the other side of the street, a boy had tripped and was now dusting off their neon yellow backpack. 

“So yes, Shakespeare, but also lots of others. Why don’t you study?”

What was the use? I wanted to say that, but I wouldn’t tell my problems to a stranger. 

His fingers were fidgeting. Was he nervous? He seemed generally interested, though. How rare.

“I will start college or university after my brother finishes his education. That way I can focus on my studies better.” And I have more time to decide on a path.

I don’t even know what I would study then. Everything seems so useless in today’s society.

“I’m sorry for asking.”

“It’s really alright.” I shrug my shoulders.

George Kruger’s eyes were fixated on the LCD screen of my smartphone. “Is this a game?”

“Ah, no... this is just an ad. I don’t even know what this is for”, I lied. 

I’ve seen this ad for the game ‘doughnut rush’ at least 20 times already and even downloaded this nonsense app.

But I couldn’t say that. 

“George Kruger, do you play games?”

“I played a lot of fantasy RPGs in my last school years, but sadly I don’t have time now. What kind of games do you like?”

“If I’m honest, I never really played games much, but I watched my brother play a lot. He was very good at it.”

“Do you live with your brother?”

“Ah, no. My brother studies in Switzerland right now. We only meet occasionally.”

“Wow, I’ve never been to Switzerland.”

“One is always short on pay, right?” I realized that I’d said something wrong when I saw George Kruger’s expression.

“Ah, no… I didn’t want to belittle you! It’s just been a while for me and well…”

Right, he was not bound to the internship contract with minimum wage and must earn quite a bit with his ads. Compared to me, he was…

I apologized again. “Ah, sorry. I got confused shortly. Haha, this is so awkward.”

“Ah, I’m sorry for you. I guess I was like you before my modeling contract... Maybe we can work something out for you too and...”

I hated to admit, but talking to George Kruger felt wonderful. It was like some anchor was securing me from my floating nothingness to a harbor. It already had been a year since I last really talked to someone for that long.

I’ve only had this feeling when talking to my brother Ellie so far. It was like I was someone.

Being the supporting character in someone’s story... It was the inevitable result. I hadn’t tried, but George Kruger used his opportunity. I’ve probably had tons of opportunities too, but preferred reading fantasy stories on my phone for all this time. While George, Kruger studies every day and so does Ellie.

“Anya... we could...”

“Yes?”

“You are pretty and hardworking... should I text my manager?” He already had his phone in his hand and I could see my reflection in the dark screen. One gray eye with a vacant look stared through me into the void. Disheveled hair was covering one side of the small face. I looked pathetic.

No way, there was a place for me as a main character. I was a supporter of the people around me. And my genre... well, I guess it was exactly what everyone needed in every moment. 

Other people’s [Romance] [Comedy] [Realism].

Not mine.

“George Kruger, it’s fine. Thank you.” 

“Eh, are you sure?”

“It will be okay. I won’t get a contract anyway. It’s really fine.”

It was. It worked before. Now, it will work out for one additional year. 

“It’s really, really fine?”

2 minutes left till the bus came. The boy with the backpack was now on the street.

My voice sounded incredibly tired and far.

“I’m an introvert.”

“Huh?” 

“I’m the most effective when working alone.”

I hated it when people disturbed my workflow.

“Oh, me too! I am an introvert too then.” 

He smiled again, and I realized his light brown hair that glittered golden in the evening sun when he got up.

“We are going the same direction, I think. I’m living next to the supermarket where I worked.”

“Ah, yes. Let’s go.”

One minute till the bus came. 

The old lady to my right stood up from her seat as well. The thin man was gone. The couple with their dog also was nowhere to be seen.

I shouldered my backpack over my gray suit’s blazer and stood up as well. The number naming the bus line on the display started blinking. The bus was about to arrive.

At this moment, the world turned gray, and nothing moved. 

It was completely silent. The whole world was frozen. In every other moment, my blood would rush, and my heart would pump, but I heard nothing except my thoughts. I counted in my head.

1

2

3

4

Then darkness engulfed me.