he can’t find the words

Everyone starts with 5000 words, with the majority of them being nouns and verbs. This allows them to function and contribute to the society as a whole.

In their free time they are allowed to play games to add to their vocabulary. Collect enough gold tokens or discover enough secret chests on your device and you are rewarded with another word. The more you play, the more eloquent you become. The better able to express yourself.

Most people are happy when they reach 10,000 words. It allows them to move up in their chosen career or describe in more detail the things that they are experiencing. Anything over 10,000 is considered a luxury to the masses. Appearing unnecessary.

It’s hard to feel what you can’t articulate. Simply put, you don’t know what you don’t know. Ignorance is the third word given to people for that exact reason (Bliss being among the first 1000 bonus words).

So it was with Ryan until he met Elizabeth.

The moment he saw her he realized that he couldn’t quite say how she made him feel. So he played the game and collected gold tokens and found secret chests and accumulated more words.

Soon he was up to 15,000 words, and yet they weren’t enough. He still couldn’t tell her how he felt about her.

So he went to bed later and rose earlier, all so he could add words to his personal lexis. His life revolved around gold, chests and Elizabeth. Every new word bringing him closer to being able to string together a sentence that could encapsulate his feelings.

Encapsulate being one of them.

He would see her across the room and his mind would start rifling through his words. When he heard her laugh he felt something between his ears awkwardly fumbling around, rummaging through the filing cabinets and folders in his memory bank, knowing that longing was in the right neighborhood but not nearly adequate. Desire and passion were on the right track, but insufficient to ring true.

At 35,000 words his friends found him a bit difficult to be around. There was an unintended hubris about him.

In their opinion anyway.

Frustrated with his words, his friends and himself he finally confided in one of them about why he had developed such an interest in words.

“You mean you’re in love with her?” they asked innocently.

Love.

Of course.

Love.

The first word everyone is given.

Ryan is currently up to 45,000 words, unsuccessfully trying to explain to himself and Elizabeth what love is.

As an aside, or perhaps not, the second word placed in everyone’s nomenclature is lust.

The fourth? Hope.

There is a certain irony if you don’t remember what the third is.