Trips With Mr. Charm
I am not going to lie when I say that Mr. Charm could be a fun person to be around because he could definitely be fun. However, the fun was always short-lived because something would always occur to put him in a bad mood. His bad moods always put a damper on the fun, but somehow I would be the one blamed for the cause.
When Mr. Charm was in a good mood, we would have a lot of fun together. Because of him, I became more open to going out more and doing more things that I would not normally do. Because of my introversion, I was more of a homebody. I am the type that can stay home and never go out for any reason unless I absolutely must. I have to remind myself that fresh air is good for my body.
Mr. Charm is much more extroverted than I am and loves to be out and about. So, we would compromise on finding things to do together that would make for a balance of our personalities. Every now and then, we would hang out inside, cook, watch movies, take walks, and drive around and sight-see. Other times we might go to the movies, window shop in the mall, attend sporting events, dine in restaurants, and enjoy rides at amusement parks.
Mr. Charm and I did a lot together. Trips were the times that I would often see his fake persona slip to reveal his true self. One thing that seemed to shed light on his personality issues were road trips. Over time, I would see his mask lift in ways that I did not expect. There are enough trip experiences between the two of us that now give me reason to pause when invited by anyone on a road trip. Trips with Mr. Charm always made for painful experiences.
A Trek To The Mountain Top
Mr. Charm and I hiked on a mountain trail. We both wanted to reach the top. For him it became a competition. For me, it was more about seeing the sights and subduing my fear of heights. Somewhere long our trek, we became separated on the path. I cannot for the life of me recall how the separation happened, but I suppose I walked ahead without paying attention. Frankly, I always thought the separation occurred on his part purposefully because when we finally reconnected, he had a weird smirk on his face. I had seen that smirk on so many other faces of different narcissists that I could only identify it as the smirk of satisfaction.
Needless to say, Mr. Charm and I were separated on the trail. Although I felt lost, I kept going upward. If nothing else would be found, I knew I would find the mountaintop. Attempts to contact Mr. Charm by phone were failures because there was no phone reception in the mountains. So I followed the trail and the different markers on the trail to find my way. The pathways led me to the mountaintop where I was able to see out into the open area as well as all around the city for a long distance. With my binoculars, I was certain that I had spotted Mr. Charm. He was sitting among a crowd of others drinking water at the very bottom of the mountaintop. Since he was a most distinguished gentleman in appearance and always stood out in the crowd, it was not hard to spot him.
While staring out into the open area, all I could do was laugh. It was obvious to me that Mr. Charm did not want to take the long trek upward because he was down below. Did he get lost? I was not sure. So I made the trek back down to find him. When I reached him, he was right where I had seen him from up above. He was just sitting on a leveled rock people-watching. When he saw me in the distance, he yelled with a huge grin on his face, “hey buddy!” I just shook my head. I somehow knew. When I reached him, I asked him what had happened. He said that he wanted to see how far I would walk before turning around and realizing he was not there. He said, “and you never turned around.”
I just stared at him. He laughed. I sarcastically replied, “Ha, ha, ha!”
Him: “So how far did you go because you’ve been gone a long time … almost an hour.”
Me: “I made it to the top of the mountain, and it was breathtaking!”
Never Outdo A Narcissist When Trekking Up The Mountain (Or At All)
After letting Mr. Charm know that I had made it to the top of the mountain, I could tell that he was irritated. I laughed. He sarcastically replied very loudly like a five-year-old child, “HA, HA, HA!!!”
Him: “Well, now I guess you’ll have to show me the view because that’s what we came here for in the first place!” He was mad. He was MAD mad!
So, just like that, we trekked back up the mountain. It took us about an hour. About 45 minutes of that hour, we walked up the mountain in silence. I could tell that he was angry. His plan to make sure I would get lost backfired on him and sent him into a silent rage because I had made it to the top first. It was obvious we could not leave the site until he made it to the top of the mountain too.
Once we were almost there, he calmed down enough to talk about the scenery – the beauty of it all. His calmness took the edge off. There were less eggshells that I had to walk over. His anger had subsided. I did not address the situation at all. It would have been a waste of time and would have only reignited his anger against me. I wanted to take in the beauty of nature, but it was obvious he was not going to be outdone even though karma was the mountaintop that I reached first. In that, I had sweet but silent satisfaction. While walking back, I smirked all the way back down. Karma’s revenge was sweet.
Stay tuned for more on my painful experiences on trips with Mr. Charm.
My Voice Unchained 