Feelings of Mayberry

Here's a little something from Monday's prompt over at Creative Copy Challenge. Words in bold are the challenge words in the prompt. If you feel like feeding your muse a little, just hop on in! It's every Monday and Thursday.

Depression and loneliness were the heaviest of the two emotions. It's not that he didn't have friends when he lived in Mayberry years ago. No. The thing was that all of his friends had moved away, and he reflected on that. They had left. Even he had left. But now he had come back and old feelings surrounded him. 

What is there to do in a small town for a young adult? Most of the time boredom led him to doing any of the various activities he did. But he needed more. Jeff could try to find more to do. Perhaps he would be too tired from work to want to do anything else. That would be his hope, however, he still wanted to have a healthy social life. How could he keep that up here? It would be nearly impossible. He could test out his fellow employees, but he really didn't enjoy the thought of being with anybody at all hours of the day. 

He was a social being after all. He needed to be around other people. That was the strange twist in Jeff's life. Though he thought himself an introvert, he felt lonely when away from other people for too long, yet when always surrounded by others, his soul yearned to be alone. To think one extreme was better than the other was the biggest mistake he had made in his life. The middle was his answer. Jeff just needed equilibrium in his life. And he wasn't getting it now. He wanted to put trust into his guts on this one. They weren't telling him much other than this situation wasn't the best, but it would not be the worst he could be in. 

Jeff rose from his meditation. He wanted to get his mind off this. The less he thought of the depression, the better. Perhaps a distraction of sorts. He went to check his mail, doubting anything would be in the box since he had only recently moved in. Upon opening the box, however, he discovered that he had indeed received a letter. A Thank-You from his new employer, with a description of Mayberry. Jeff only laughed and though it was a treat. The distraction he was needing. He quickly read through it, some portions even twice, just for humor's sake. The thick goo of his depression began to wane.