Walking the Streets

Dithers didn’t even bother to take the train back to his apartment. He was meeting Kaylee in an hour and it was less travel time to just walk for a while. Starting outside his office, he began to walk down the streets of the city. There were less lights than from when he was a kid, less advertisements and stores. The occasional shop of basic needs was still on the average corner, but there were no cart vendors, no delis. “We used to call that Street Meat,” Dithers muttered to no one in particular. For no one was around. The grey buildings stretch for as far as the eye could see, but the only noticeable people were the stream of workers from the office buildings to the train station. People going home. People going to work. On and on Dithers walked, office building, empty building, apartments, apartments, condemned. A great sense of being alone began to creep over Dithers, one that he’d never noticed before, one that he hadn’t felt since the last time he’d taken a walk in the city. “We used to call it Street Meat!” Dithers suddenly screamed to all the people in their apartments, offices, spaces. He gave a big laugh and traipsed out into the streets. There were still a few cars on the roads, but traffic was infrequent enough that Dithers did a little dance before a honk sent him scrambling back onto the sidewalk. He felt the sudden urge to go tell someone, anyone about the world. To come outside and see how crazy everyone was acting. But who was there? Kaylee? The Dwight Brothers? Winterfresh? Would any of them care? A chilly breeze hit Dithers before he continued walking on, quieter now, towards the train station up the block.