Never to return

This is where the day will begin, spread out across the morning as though it belongs here. The night has folded its reluctant blankets from across the skies and gathered its long shadows back into itself. We are left here watching the colours return to all that surrounds us as they emerge out of the black of night through the grey mists of dawn.

We shiver and hold each other close. We have not spent a night alone like this before, far from the comfort of having others nearby. The city was a dangerous place, too dangerous for us to stay. Out here though, although safe from the city, we face new and unknown dangers.

We have each other and though that should reassure, it does not. Each of us is afraid to let the other out of our sight to disappear into all this that is strange and unknown surrounding us. There is danger out here; we can sense it. We do not know, though, what kind of danger it is. We cannot judge the moods of this place as we have come to understand the city and its rhythms. Out here, we are in danger and alone.

We could go back, back to the city, but back there we were in much more danger and much, much more alone.