All the World Needs is Me

I don't need people. Just leave me alone. You're just getting in my way. Let me do things my own way. I don't want to have anything to do with you. You don't belong in my world. I live in a place I have created. I don't need you or anyone else here.

I pull on my headphones and start walking.

I don't need these people. I'll just shut them all out. It's the simplest solution.
I walk down the street. I see a child getting mugged for what little he has. It doesn't concern me.  I walk on.

People are so stupid for letting these things happen to them. Relying on others makes you weak. I'll never rely on another person.

I look around. Where am I? How did I get here? I peer up at a street sign. The name of this place is unfamiliar. I find someone on the sidewalk and ask where I am. I see him answer, but hear nothing. I ask again. Again, I hear nothing. The man taps his ear with his index finger. I look at him quizzically for a moment, then realize what he's getting at.

I hesitate. My hands are over my 'phones.

Should I really let someone else into my perfect world?

My hands hover for a moment before I pull my headphones down to where they rest around my neck.

I suddenly hear everything. I peer around, syncing sounds with sights.

But I deny what I hear. This is all nonsense. I debate pulling my headphones back up. I want to go back to my silent world, free of worry, free of catastrophe, free of other people that could cause these things. All my world needs is me. No one else.

Then I hear the man speak. I see that he has two small children with him, one of them with an ashen complexion.

That's their problem.

The man tells me what I wanted to know as the healthier of his two children looks at me with an expression I am unfamiliar with.

I stare back at the child, lost in my thoughts.

I have nothing to do with you people. I don't know you. I don't care about you. So what do you want from me?

Then I think about why I would even care what the child wanted from me.

At that, it finally clicks. It's so obvious. I was wrong. All this time, I was wrong.

I pull off my headphones and drop them in a nearby trash can. I won't need them anymore.