a group of teenagers running through slippery streets in the dark. roaring songs from the back of the bus - voices becoming more and more unhinged by the minute. winter coats thrown over bare shoulders. bottles and flasks hidden inside plastic bags and beneath jackets, and giddiness spreading like an infectious disease.
▬▬▬
i sit on a chair by a table with other people. they talk and concoct drinks and tap into their phones. a girl lurches into a seat and a boy lets her lean into him. tumbling blonde waves and eyes half-closed. they kiss. she offers me her drink, and i take a swig of something that burns slightly as it slides down my throat.
▬▬▬
we sit outside in the icy cold. away from the bad music. our breaths crystallize in the air, and snow drips from the roof. here is only a damp silence. here we can be heard without shouting. naked legs and a borrowed jacket with too long sleeves. all the words i want to say dissolve in my mouth - because somehow, the silence speaks out everything for me. and the cold numbs my senses, the loneliness harboured in my chest.
