The cold air is brutal tonight. Walking alone from work to my apartment every night for the past month in this temperature is excruciatingly painful. The cold brings not just the feeling of wanting to move to warmer climates, but also the thoughts of isolation and loneliness to the situation. I can hear laughter and voices from across the street, flashing signs of warmth and life.

Continuing down the sidewalk, I once again approach the area where there are several stores. It seems ridiculous that there are so many clothing stores in one section of this block. I see very few people walking in or out of these stores and wonder how they stay in business. One store has a broken window, another has a broken light at the entrance, and yet another has barely anything in the front display.

I look back and see the all the familiar places and emptiness. It is the middle of what feels like an arctic winter. The wind howls by and a fallen trash can blows against the curb with a crashing sound. I whip my head around as a pure reaction to the noise. There is nothing there.

Before I can turn back and look forward, I walk straight into a person exiting from one of those desolate stores. I grab hold so neither of us falls to the ground. The person's eyes meet mine and we lock on to each other for what seems like minutes. There is a lost look in those eyes that may be just a reflection.

We pulled back from our lock and exchange apologies. It is then I notice that this person is a mildly pissed off woman. I try to apologize again, but she won't let it go. She rambles on about being inconsiderate, stupid, ignorant, and male. I am basically silent and can hear the wind and her complaining mixing together as they both whisk by my ears. I walked away.

Only one more block to go to my apartment building. My face was frozen and my fingers were numb. I approached my building and fumbled in my pocket for the keys. It must have taken me a couple minutes to get my fingers to work and turn the key. I finally got the door open. I collected my mail and walked up the three flights of old wooden stairs to my apartment. Each step creaked with the reminder of the thousands of feet that have hit these steps for the past 100 years.

I made it to my hallway and heard a door close across the hall just as I approached my apartment. I looked and saw no one. I opened the door of silence and walked into the darkness. I hit the light switch and turned on the stereo. I finally had signs of life, music, and warmth. I quickly went to the bedroom to get undressed so I could take a shower to get warm and refresh from the day at the office.

My bedroom is at the end of the building and I can look partially across the way to see the other end apartment across the hall from me. The U-shape gives a bit more light into the room, and also gives a view right into the neighbor's room. I could see that there were two people in the room across from me and that they were standing close to each other. I...

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