Secret

This Week’s Theme: Pick a famous fictional character (for our purposes here it can be any character from fiction, mythology, legend, comic books…whatever) and give them a secret vice—at the very least it should be distateful if not outright illegal. Now give the character’s rationale in their own words.

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He’s known for his sour disposition. Whenever there’s a discussion he always goes the opposite direction. Not that he does that to make a point, it’s just who he is.

But there is a part of him that a lot of people do not know, a secret that he guards closely like his heart. It is a secret that he keeps with a vengeance for fear of ridicule and loss of reputation. So he is always careful when it’s time to go back there again, ensuring that he is unobserved.

Today, like other similar days, he sees himself walking the same path far from the place he calls home. There is a spring in his walk his destination giving him inspiration. He slows down as he nears, careful not to be observed. Fifteen minutes past five. He arrived just in time.

A bus stopped and down walked a little girl, in ponytails and red ribbons. And he let go of the breath he didn’t know he was holding. She does not walk but skips like she’s always playing all the time. She then smiled and giggled, that precious sound a balm to his soul. He felt a twitch in his face, his usual dour expression changed. He realized he is smiling, just because he saw her again.

Her parents met her at the doorstep, a kiss was exchanged and hugs shared. He turned away and moved, at peace again inside. That is his vice, a routine he follows when he needs absolution.

But as he walks back through the same path he passed earlier, he started to feel the pressure again. Down the path he saw them gathered outside the house playing and sharing a game of ball. As he nears them he had to remind himself to put his game face on.

“Grumpy! You’re back home! Welcome!”

“What are you hollering about? It’s not like I’ve been gone a long time! Stop fussing about me Snow White! I don’t need to be mothered.”

It feels good to be back to being his usual self. Back with his friends and family. But he knew that one day he’d be back in that same path again searching for her sunny face and gay disposition.

I didn't manage the distasteful, illegal vice but I figured for Grumpy, being happy might be distasteful to him as it is against his usual disposition.