The Jump

I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – too?

Iris sat alone on a park bench, drawing aimlessly in her sketchbook. She was not completely focused on what she was doing; she wasn’t completely focused on the outside world, either. She simply existed in a moment of time while everyone around her was jumping from minute to minute, like frogs. 

So when a girl suddenly asked her what she was drawing, Iris didn’t realize that she was talking to her. People rarely took breaks from their jumping. 

Iris looked up and said, “Oh, not really anything. I’m just doodling.” 

The girl looked down at her paper and said, “Hmm, that looks really good. Do you want to join me and my friends? We were thinking about getting some ice cream.” 

 Iris thought this was really strange, completely out of the ordinary. No one really talked to her. No one really thought about her, and she liked it that way. It was easier to exist only in herself. 

Iris wearily told the girl, “Sure, but what’s your name?”

“Oh, I’m Isla. What’s yours?”

“I’m Iris.”

“I love that name.”

* * *

Iris looks up to the sky, azure with puffy clouds shifting from side to side. She’s sitting in her favorite field, which also happens to be near her small, yet cozy, home. A field with long pieces of grass stretching high to the sun and weeds daringly poking their heads up, hoping to not be noticed. 

Almost every day after school, Iris comes to her field and lies in the grass for hours, looking up at the clouds. Almost every day, Iris comes to her field and merges with the nature around her. Almost every day, Iris leaves her field to the hustle and bustle of the world with a renewed feeling of peace and isolation. 

Today, Iris didn’t lay in her field at all, but sat, alert and contemplating the day’s events. She was surprised by how much fun she had. The girls she met were nice, and Isla’s confident and inclusive aura began to pervade through her as the day wore on. The other girls must have felt the same way, because they seemed to be glowing. Iris still felt glowing. 

Today, she decided to leave her field earlier than usual. She wanted to see her parents, who would be pleasantly surprised to see her home so early. They know that she never comes home until the animals greet her. 

As Iris went home, she walked through a thin margin of woods with moss carpeting the ground and leaves carpeting the sky. She still couldn’t shake her feelings of elation and happiness. 

Maybe it was time for Iris to make her leap. Maybe Iris has been living her life wrong. Maybe everyone around her knew that, but didn’t know how to draw her out of her secluded life. Maybe, this one trip to the ice cream shop was the best thing that could have happened to her. All of these thoughts raced through Iris’s mind and for the next few days, she was unable to shake them. 

Now, whenever Iris is at the park, she seems to catch glimpse of Isla, but every time she approaches her, Isla disappears. It’s as if she’s not really there. 

For the years to come, Iris wishes that she could see Isla again: to see the girl who changed her life by offering her the chance to jump. 

To meet her first friend.

I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don't tell! they'd advertise – you know!

How dreary – to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog –
To tell one’s name – the livelong June –
To an admiring Bog!

• Emily Dickinson