“Lonely Teenage Walk”

“Sometimes, when he found himself inspired, Skylar overcame the combined influences of submission-to-a-hard-fate, fatigue, mild depression, and serious self-pity and arose like Lazarus, came out of his bedroom cave, and went for a walk. He loved these walks. A light shining out from the window of a house on a distant block evoked feelings of mystery and potentiality. He wondered what unknown but fascinating people might live there and what astonishing activities they might be involved in. The juxtaposition of the dark street and patchy black sky, with its vague smattering of stars visible through the cloud cover, and the tiny rectangle of window glimmer brought dreams into his head. Beautiful maidens might live there. They might be combing one another’s hair as they sat on the edge of their virginal beds, fantasizing about him. Yes! They had seen him wandering the streets one night and could not get his face out of their minds. All they could do was talk of him, wonder about his identity, and hope they might see him again. And here he was, just across the street, but they had no idea he stood there, right below the street sign, under the cover of the oak tree, just across the street. No one was out in the night but him. Everyone else had friends to visit and activities to keep them busy. Only he was alone, traipsing the mournful streets of silent Friday night, tree limbs rustling in the light wind, a desiccated leaf hopping across the sidewalk, the cars parked along the curb dead like the carcasses of oxen in some desolate desert. Above him ranged the heavens and their promise of infinity. Through the windowpanes shone the lights hinting at the possibility of happiness, of mystery and delight on earth. But always directly in front of Skylar loomed nothing, only the aloneness that had been with him as long as he could remember, only the emptiness of the streets, the chill wind, and the impersonal sighs of the tree boughs, and his own pathetic body trudging along looking for life and finding emptiness.”