Walking in Midnight

The city lights held the street in lively motion. It was a beautiful night; a cool breeze glided through the city streets and conveyed the laughter of the night. Alone as usual, Ashley was the kind of man who could be alone and still enjoy a cool night on the street. His feet lead him to the restaurant that all his peers hung around on Friday nights like this.

Outside, a girl his age was in a heated argument with someone Ashley presumed to be her boyfriend. “Just leave! I don’t want to see you anymore!” The pain was obvious in her voice. Her boyfriend only turned around and got in his red car, taking off in angry screeching tires. She burst into tears and slumped to the curb. Ashley had seen a lot of tears in his life, shed his own, but none as genuine as this poor girl’s.

He took a seat beside her and offered her his handkerchief. The girl took it and dried her tears, “Thanks…” she mumbled. Ashley sat with her in silence, looking up at the buildings across the street. There was something about them, they were taller than he remembered. Behind them people were passing in and out of the restaurant, but no one noticed the two on the curb. It was almost half an hour before she stopped crying.

“Did you really wait this long just to get your handkerchief back?” She asked him through choked back tears. Ashley shrugged, looking at her with a smile, ‘I wasn’t going to leave you to cry alone.”

“Some people like to cry alone.” She said, looking at him.

“Yeah, but you don’t.”

“No, I can just see it your eyes, you hate being alone as much as I do.”

She didn’t say anything for a while, they just sat, staring at the skyscraping towers across from them. They were getting taller, he thought, too tall to possibly stay intact. A quick splash of water on his knee alerted him to the cloud that had appeared above him.

The rain exploded around them, its torrential pour took him by surprise. She was standing on the sidewalk, looking down at him, “Come on, let’s get out of the rain.” Inside the restaurant the lights were out and the place was empty. She took a seat at the bar and looked back at him, “So what do you do, Ashley?”

‘I’m an artist by nature.”

“Why are you here?” Her clothes were perfectly dry.

“It’s a nice night, I didn’t want to stay inside.”

“Do you dance?”

“What?” Ashley asked in confusion. The rain was dripping through the ceiling and where it splashed the restaurant turned to like and its dripping became a dancing melody.

She took his hand happily and led him in a lively dance. His feet were not the most intelligent feature and Ashley essentially was just being pulled around. Laughing, she continued to dance with him until he began to laugh too and they both fell about the floor. “What’s your name?” Ashley asked.

“My name’s-“ When his eyes opened he remembered that he was in his bed. He had gone to sleep feeling lonely and forgotten, now Ashley suddenly felt like he had someone, someone composed of his own sleeping thoughts. When he closed his eyes he tried to remember her, but could only piece together fragments of sitting on the curb. He opened his eyes and closed them again, Ashley could see the rain and the tall buildings. Again. He could hear her voice. Again. They were dancing in the restaurant. Again. Nothing. Again. Nothing. Again. Again. Again.

He sighed and left his eyes open, looking down at the clock it read 12:15PM; he had only been asleep for a few minutes. Ashley took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. She had almost told him her name, but for now he supposed he would just call her Loneliness. He would always remember walking with her in midnight.