Perfect Loneliness

She walks into the room and I can already tell that she is perfect. I work behind the front desk and have seen many people, but she is perfect. For the sake of this story, lets call her The Perfect. The Perfect wears a veil, covering her face from the world. She is also alone. This is strange.

The Perfect walks up to the counter and asks where the bathroom is. I don't know her and I already understand why legions of men would throw themselves at her. I tell her it's second door on the left.

Once she enters the bathroom, I try and gather my thoughts, contemplate what I will say upon her exit. I realize that allowing a non-patron to access the bathroom is against company policy. I don't care.

The Perfect emerges from the bathroom and walks back towards the door. I ask her "what is wrong." You see, I have developed this game were I walk up to random people and ask them what is wrong." I can receive two responses. The first is that the person says "how did you know" and proceeds to tell me their life's problems. The second is that the person internally thinks "how did you know" but then becomes embarrassed and walks away. You see, something is always wrong.

The Perfect answers the question by saying "that her beauty has led her to lead a life of loneliness" and that her name is Woe. I don't really pay attention to the second part. Woe says that "Men were always scared of my beauty, constantly starring but never actually talking to me. I didn't really exists to them, always just an object they assumed they could never have. While women were jealous of me. I wanted to connect to people, but my looks never allowed it."

I tell Woe that it can't be that bad, she is beautiful after all. I also think that this girl is having a serious case of first world problems. Woe lifts up her veil and shows me her face. It is covered in scars. She says that "One day, I came to the conclusion that I didn't want to be perfect anymore." With that, Woe walks out into the busy street.

I make a mental note to myself "that girl is damaged goods."