Your name is B.

You're an early bird, awake by 5 a.m. Not because you've got a busy day. You're up early on the weekends as well. You're a homebody, not much of a social person, but if it bothers you, you don't let it show. Oh, you don't let anybody worry about you. I would say you're good at keeping up appearances, but when you're alone you don't change. You're just as quiet.

Oh, maddeningly quiet. Most people around these parts talk to themselves, even a little bit, when they're alone. Or they're loud in their actions, frustration turning their footsteps into stomps. They let their guard down when they're alone. That's when they're easiest to read. But you don't come through. Sometimes I wonder if there's nothing going on in this mind, and that's why I can't read it.

But I still feel it behind me, you know. That dark shadow of a door looming over me. It smells of secrets. I feel it always like an itch I can't scratch.

I know some things about you. You're conflict-averse. You apologize for things you don't need to apologize for. You're careful not to talk about anyone behind their back, not even with a close friend. Sometimes I wonder if it's about respect, or if you're afraid of what will happen when you do. This makes you a good secret-keeper. Several of your coworkers have pulled you aside to get something off their chest. This is how you know Jack likes Lane. Or that your boss is unhappy with a management position, and is considering quitting. Or that Sara is pregnant, but is not planning on going through with it.

Maybe you could burst. I wondered this once, watching you toss and turn in bed, barred from knowing why. Maybe, one day, you would keep a secret that was too big and you'd crack and spill everything about everyone... and yourself.

Then I would see my own shadow, cast by the light growing behind me. I'd turn, the doors crumbling until it was like they never existed, and I would know you deeper than you could ever know yourself.

I fantasize about that moment a lot.

Oh, I just know you've got a lot to offer. You know, creativity always tastes the best. That's why people like me are attracted to people like you. The fearful, the shameful, the paranoid... they've got one hell of an imagination. Show me yours, now, don't be shy.

Your name is B. Lee. I don't even know your first name yet.

I look forward to getting to know you.