He stood under a tree and gazed blankly at the full moon and the clouds that drifted across the sky. A cold wind blew through the tree and rustled the leaves. He shivered as the chill in the wind seeped into his bones. A terrible silence was all around him. It was deafening.

He sighed. His heart thumped awkwardly and weakly in his chest. He placed a hand on his chest, feeling an ache in his heart. His bones felt brittle like that of an elderly man. The creeping tendrils of loneliness moved in his chest, stabbing, gripping and squeezing his heart mercilessly.

He felt cold inside. He wanted to shout, to dance, to sing, to do something to show that he was still there......anything to ease the ache in his chest. But like the sleeping world, She too had abandoned him for worlds unknown  

He studied the formation of the clouds, the thorn of a new thought pricking at his mind. An image filled his mind like the blooming of a flower. He could see their conversations earlier, hear her words, sense the gentle smile in her voice. His mouth curved upwards into the familiar shape of a smile. Slowly, he felt heat radiating from his chest, thawing th1e ice that shrouded his heart. Despite the chill in the air, he felt warm all the way to tip of his toes.

He chuckled softly to himself at his own foolishness and walked back inside, where she waited patiently for him with a smirk on her ethereal face, as if she had never left.