3 AM

Ellie's Danube

It has never been Ellie's plan to just sit by and watch people go on with their everyday lives. But this is the only thing she is capable of doing as of now.

Here, she sits on that rock in the park looking at children running around, all happy and laughing.
A baby crying in the arms of its mother who lovingly caresses her baby's back.
The couple on the crosswalk arm in arm, the man running his right hand through his partner's hair.
A black haired lady with her little dog walking right past Ellie. And Ellie herself wears a tired smile on her lips, smiling at the woman who oversees the friendly sign a stranger sends her.

But this is what life in a city is like. It is all busy and loud but also very quiet once one stays still for a moment.

One should stop and look around once in a while, Ellie finds.

She has a lot of stress to deal with, this is what comes with her all-so tiring job.
Yet, Ellie always finds time to take a moment for herself, in a park like this. With people around who only care so much about themselves instead of what is going on in this world.

A world just as busy as this city, a world as lost as Ellie, a world as passionate as Ellie's friend.

She has not heard anything from her friend in many years by now, yet she manages to think of them every day.
It was them who showed her that days have more than twenty-four hours if one calculates correctly. They showed Ellie how to escape the never-ending thought of running out of time. "Once you slow down and take a day off or two, you can enjoy yourself so much more."
It was them who showed Ellie to take a deep breath and to let herself fall back, into the meadow, to look into the sky, and just to be.

Earlier in life, she cared so much about the people's perceptions of who she portraits herself to be. Ellie wanted to impress everyone she met, but now she does not need to anymore. She understands that everyone is important to someone but not to everyone in this world.

Here, in this city, Ellie can be whoever she wants to be. And that is herself. She likes it here.
Here, she is part of everyone.
Here, she can enjoy the day of more than twenty-four hours.

Time slows down.

Ellie smiles. She is really greatful for the friend she met. It was them who asked her: "When will you realize Vienna waits for you?"

They were right.

Vienna did wait for her.

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Nach langer Zeit etwas auf Englisch, das mir spontan von der Feder schwing.
Inspiriert von Billy Joels "Vienna".