woman alone in the movies

she had spent many afternoons by herself at the movies, her own prison asteroid. she sat, untouched, unnoticed, a face adrift in a sea of other faces...there were couples, families, children unaccompanied. people sitting without another. some even looked vaguely familiar.

as she walked home to the street where she used to live, she felt stingingly alone, it felt as if even the trees turned away from her. head downcast, she would walk up the path to the apartment building front door. it seemed that noone would be walking out, as she was walking in.

a few years passed. she went for the first time in what felt like ages to an afternoon at the movies. she had a sense of distant camaraderie with the solo movie going community, part of a larger planet, but her own continent. she looked at the other women who were alone in the theater. she was a part, not apart. she rose from her seat, proud.

she walked home, head held up. smiling.