The Date (Part II)

I don’t know what I was expecting.
Obviously, something other than what I got.

I somehow thought that it would be different.

I thought that I had found someone who could take the loneliness out of my life for a little while.

I wasn’t looking for forever.
Just a day or two or however long it would last.

I knew almost immediately.

There are no words to describe the emptiness that you feel 
when you realize that things won’t work out.

I feel the brightness fading from my expression.
The glimmer of hope that danced in my eyes has stilled.
I feel powerless.

How much abuse can the child inside me take?
I’m afraid he will go away and never return.

I’m re-packing my suitcase and wondering 
why it went wrong.

I’ll leave tomorrow.
I’ll polish all the old tricks and work on my stories.
The same ones that I’ve told so many times before.

But for today,
I’ll sit alone with the lights burning.
Listening to music, reading an album cover 
and thinking of nothing.