The darkness engulfs us. It is periodically broken by a fading fluorescent light that dimly illuminates the tunnel. It is as if the light itself is moving, and we are standing still. But we are the ones in transition. Here, we are the guests. You can feel the speed increasing and it feels like the ground is moving faster and faster underneath you, but inside your head you know it is the train. Forget the world. Why can’t the ground move the lights past us? We are the ones that are still, while the world itself moves us this way and that. For a minute, the world is pushing by you while you sit. But the world slows to a stop and the train doors open, leaving you to make the next move. You move up the stairs, exit the turnstiles and walk into the dark night.
It is late at night, but there are workers taking a break from cleaning the station and are chatting amicably in a closed restaurant's table. You walk past them. Looking up at the sky, you notice that the stars are absent; stars are being outshone by the city lights. You walk down three empty blocks and besides the wind the only thing you hear is your breathing and your footsteps. As you prepare to turn the final corner into your house, there is a construction site in front of you.
It is empty. Inside, lights are shining. A sign says KEEP OUT, and another says DON'T CLIMB STAIRS. You jump the fence and climb the stairs. The cold cement foundations of the building are done, and you explore the middle of the second floor. It’s empty, incomplete, and abandoned until morning. It’s perfect. You have this vast empty building to yourself for the time being. In a few more months it will be full with people sleeping, eating, and heading to work. You appreciate the silence, but break it with your noise. You make your way to the third floor with no ceiling, lean against the unfinished wooden walls and sigh, falling to the floor.
As you lay face up to the sky, your sweatshirt as your pillow, you shiver. It’s chilly. Time stops as nothing moves. The streets are empty, everyone's asleep. There's nothing to disturb you except the wind. You stare at the night sky and let your mind leave this place. For a brief moment, your eyes see through everything: through the sky, through the stars, the solar systems, then the galaxies. You see many things in the black empty space.
A steady light coming from the east slowly breaks into part of the darkness. Your mind runs away from it. As the sun rises with your body lying on the floor, your eyes staring at the sky, your mind runs fast through the universe, trying to escape.
The sun chases after you, its lights dance across the sky, and you both run on a journey that goes on forever, together.
