The Green-Eyed Monster

What does he have that I don’t? I thought as I climbed onto the bus. We went to the same school, got the same grades. Why does he get to be Mr. Big Shot and I’m stuck in a dead-end retail job?

I plopped down in an empty seat and stared out the window. I knew it wasn’t a good idea to go on social media during my lunch break, but I had done it anyway. And who should show up on my feed but Devon “I’m better than you” Myers? We had graduated together – same class, same field. Only, he had managed to get a full-time job in that field with decent pay and room for upward movement while I was still stuck in the same part-time job I had worked all through college.

“It’s not fair,” I muttered to myself.

“Not fair, you say?” I looked up at the voice that addressed me and immediately recoiled. Standing in the aisle in the middle of the bus was . . . a monster. There was no other way to describe it. It was lime green and oozing slime. Its eyes stuck out above its head from thin little stalks and it looked remarkably like Jell-O when it moved. “Is this seat taken?”

On pure instinct, I shook my head and then instantly regretted it when the thing sat down beside me. I looked around at the other people on the bus. Why was no one bothered by this monster? Why was no one screaming? But no one acted as though there was anything out of the ordinary. Was I the only one who could see him?

“Now, what is it that is so unfair?” the oily voice asked me.

I hesitated for a moment but finally decided that I needed someone to vent to. Why not this thing? It couldn’t hurt. So, I told it everything. I told it how hard I had worked, how passionate I was, how much I wanted so much more than what I had.

“But what is it that you want?” the thing asked.

“I want everything that Devon Myers has. I’m stuck, going nowhere fast, and he’s on the fast track to Easy Street! He’s got a good job, a decent car, a nice house, a gorgeous girlfriend, and all I’ve got is my parents’ basement and this lousy bus.”

“You’re right,” the monster said, but its voice sounded different. It sounded much more . . . human. Or maybe I was just getting used to it. “That doesn’t sound very fair at all.”

“It’s not!” As I exclaimed, I felt something catch in my throat. I coughed hard, but it didn’t seem to want to move. Speaking wasn’t particularly comfortable and my voice didn't sound right, but I was on a roll and finally had someone who agreed with me. “I worked just as hard as Devon, probably harder. Why should he get all that stuff?”

“I couldn’t agree more!” the monster encouraged.

I tried smiling at him, but my face didn’t feel quite right. It felt droopy and damp – slimy almost. Was I getting sick? Wouldn’t that just be the icing on the cake? “I should be the one to have all of that, not him!” I continued. “I should have that job, that car, that house! It should be mine!”

The monster put a hand on my shoulder. I looked down at it and suddenly realized that it was, indeed, a hand. Not a lime green slimy appendage, but a human hand. I looked at him in surprise and realized that there was no longer a monster sitting next to me, but a normal-looking man, perhaps ten years my senior.

“Thanks,” the man said. “And sorry.”

The bus stopped, and he got off. What did he mean by that? And what happened to that monster? I shook my head to clear it and looked back out the window, but my reflection caught my eye. Except, it wasn’t my face that I saw. “Oh, god.” Suddenly, I knew what happened to the monster.