You walked Milo down near vacant streets littered with empty recycling bins. A week ago they were bustling with activity and a week from now they will return to normal. You had never stayed in town for spring break and it was eerie like everyone had been whisked away in the night and you were left behind.
For months you have been congratulating yourself on how much you’ve grown up, but every now and then you wish you hadn’t. For years you led a comfortable, routine existence. Now everything had changed. You missed your mother, you missed college, and you missed the financial security you one knew. You also missed your friends.
As happy as you are to have your father around, other than Heather you don’t have anyone to talk to except the people at work and you’ve been too busy and too new to make friends. Heather has some friends that you go out with, but they are couples so it’s more of a package deal than just having some buds to hang out with.
Eric was right. Everyone went away. It was subtle. There were no grand parties bidding bon voyage. You’d get a call or a text from a friend saying they’d found a job or were going home or were looking for a job and then they’d be gone. You have a couple of acquaintances that still live in town, but they moved away from the university or are in the suburbs and are leading their own lives. There is no one left to relive the past.
All lives are lived alone. Even when you’re surrounded by family and friends, you are a solitary creature. Even if you are led, you walk your own path. The voice in your head is the only voice you will ever really listen to. Most people are too distracted to realize this. Only when it is quiet can they hear.
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