My Original Characters and Random Shorts

Alone

I sit. Alone.

Near the back in the darkness.
On the edges in shadow.
In the background off the stage.

Unnoticed by most, briefly greeted by few.
Fleeting conversations, meaningless questions, seemingly random, disjointed.
Lacking purpose or reason, they wander away once again.

I stand. Alone.

The emptiness grows.
Standing on the fringe of lightness and dark.
Watching the groups, laughing friends, smiling faces.

Familiar people all engaged in conversation.
I know all their names but can't relate to a thing.
I can listen to their words and not understand. I don't go to their school, don't know their friends, I can't talk to these people.

I walk. Alone.

Away, though I shouldn't.
Escaping, from what I don't know.
Isolation in truth is preferred over isolation in groups.

Nobody stops me.
As far as I know, nobody really notices at all.
I wander away. Through the halls and the rooms. Finding faint peace in the solitude, though the empty feeling hangs.

I stop. Alone.

But also not I think.
I stopped for a reason.
I just need to remember why.

I look around. I turn.
Someone else is there.
Someone also alone, looking lost and worn. A distant look in their eyes. I feel something for once this lone night.

I step forward. Sympathetic.

My hand outstretched.
I know this person.
This person is like me. Alone and unsure.
Hollow and empty and quiet.

We shake hands, exchange names.
Silence falls before long, but it's different.
Shadows linger, but they're different.
The emptiness lurks, but it's different.
The sadness and pain hasn't changed much at all, but that doesn't seem to matter here and now.

What matters most is I'm no longer alone.
I still walk in the shadows, hang to the edge. I sit in the darkness and wander off in silence.
But there's someone there to catch me now when I fall. And I'm there to catch them in turn.

Apart, yet together.
United by heart.
Darkness in both, yet laughter abounds.
United by thought.
Conversations in silence. Calm smiles from both.
United by mind.

We sit close together.
Never far apart.
Afraid of what may happen if we lose what we gained.

A safety net.
A listening ear.
An open embrace.

An acquaintance.
A friend.
A sister.