text: You take a walk on a cool autumn night. The wind blows against your warm face and the crisp air lifts the cloud from your mind. The sound of traffic in the distance, resonates in your ears. The soft tap of your feet against the sidewalk create the cadence you walk to. You view the homes around you. So beautiful. So bright. So empty. You glance in uncurtained windows and take in the designer furniture. The custom lighting. The real wood floors. Just a small glimpse at how the other half lives. There is no one inside enjoying these material items. Only the paintings stare down at the stark sitting rooms and dining rooms. Untouched by human beings; only for show. The headlights of Mercedes and BMWs flash in your eyes. Important people. Returning from important previous engagements to their beautifully untouched homes. To rest their heads in pressed sheets or to recline in their oversized leather sofas. You certainly do not belong to this world. Your place is somewhere else. Your feet continue to move you along and your mind is free of anxious thoughts. The distance or destination does not matter tonight, only the clear headedness a fall night can provide. A lonely dog barks off in the distance, mimicking the call of your own heart. “Hello?”...”Hello?”. Yearning for a friend, another soul to be near in the dark. Your only companions tonight are the leaves crunching beneath your feet. The stars above your head that occasionally wink your way. The solemn jazz music that seeps through cracked windows. The wind hugs you, coolly. Pushing you back towards your empty apartment. The night is still young, but you are tired. So tired. Your body becomes heavier walking home; bracing itself for the emptiness that will greet you. The warm darkness that will envelop you as you walk into your desolate home. Your key eventually finds its place in your door and you are once again in your fortress. You tap your boot on the floor, just to make a sound in the deserted living room. The boots and clothes are removed as you easily slide into chilly sheets and the lights go off. You lie on your back. Staring at the ceiling. Listening to the faint voices of TV coming through your walls. Is it Big Bang Theory, maybe? Is whoever is watching it, also alone? You close your eyes and take in the silence of your own space. Your hand snakes over to the other side of the bed to find it empty. How quickly that void became a normalcy. The presence of another human being, no longer a necessity to fall asleep. You bring your hand back to your own chest. To the feel of your heartbeat thumping into your palm. That beat knows that you aren’t completely alone. It knows that its partner is out there; somewhere. Maybe feeling as incomplete as you feel, lying alone in bed. Does one’s heart need a companion? Can you truly be whole alone? Your mind pokes at that impossible question. The thought continuing to pop open like a cupboard door that never fully shuts. You roll onto your side and hug one of your many pillows closely. You close your eyes tight and hope for sleep to come fast, before the thoughts suffocate you in their avalanche. “Alone is....alright?”, you ask to your empty room. No one replies to this quandering. You squeeze the pillow tighter and bury your face into it. “Alone is alright”, you whisper again, “alone is alright”.