Soloist

The wind blew chill across his skin, causing the hair to pebble up and stand on end. He knew he should go in soon, with this unusual cold weather, he would catch a cold. So cold a breeze for late April. Lately it had been so hot that he dreamed of a lazy river and camping. But tonight, he rubbed his arms and wished for a long sleeve shirt. He knew he should go in, but he sat there for a few minutes longer. 

He didn't want to go inside to the emptiness of this once happy home. The laughter seemed to echo around the walls. Voices faint, as if in another room, but when he opened the door, he never saw anything. For a long time he wondered if the house was haunted. He would lay awake for hours listening to the whispers. She sounded like she was always in the next room. But no matter how many times he got up and checked, she was never there. Just another empty room. 

He never knew life could be like this. This empty, this alone. He never imagined the effect one person could have on another. He never would have predicted the changes she caused him to make within his own life. All because he wanted to make her happy, he wanted to be the man she wanted him to be.

The air was chilling rapidly. He shivered a little. It really was time to go inside, but he stayed a moment longer. The sun was setting, it was her favorite time of day. The time when she woke up, she got her energy together. But it always seemed to be the time of day when he got tired. That's how it worked sometimes. In some ways they were opposites, he was the sun, she was his moon, his other half. 

Now with her gone, the fire was dying out. He kept going through the motions, but that was all it was, motions. He kept going because he held onto the hope that one day she would return, and they could live the life they were meant to. 

It was finally too cold to stay outside any longer. He was shivering uncontrollably. It wasn't extremely cold, but for someone who spent so much time in the heat that he did, it was frigid. It was time to go in and face the demons, the memories of a love lost, a love gone, and the emptiness of living alone.