Another sleepless night behind me I headed to the gym. Earlier than planned, but I would get it out of the way. I stepped out onto the street, embraced by a rain so faint it could hardly be called such—certainly rain that needed no umbrella, for to be soaked I would have to lead a new life entirely on the street, and even then it would take a while.
To get up and out before the beggars outed with their performed misery, and just after the addicts and drunks had called it a day. Such a bizarre world of safe and calm, away from it all.
I walked along the streets, one of them recently renovated—only a year ago it was torn asunder, the ugly dirt beneath staining all it touched. When the street was but a ravine, and exposed were all manner of pipe and wire, covered in that brown residue and miscellaneous pieces of paper and plastic, some by design and others tossed by various passerby. Now it was pristine, like a virgin in paradise, and for now it was mine alone to walk.
The main street was deserted like Gaza in Israeli dreams. Traffic hour was a mere distant memory of another age. As a reminder of that flow only a bus or two, maybe three—hardly a passenger aboard, save for some sorry soul commuting to work, to do some meaningless chore that only their boss would care of. Destined for servitude, miserable, and yet holding on tooth and nail, for they could always be replaced; ten thousand bloodthirsty hounds awaited for their chance at mediocrity, for a mere dream of bread.
Man-operated machines swept the streets of guts and grime—of sand and dust, at least. Their commanders exhausted by the lonely soul walking ahead, interrupting their mindless sweep. Doing their part in upholding the common wealth, doomed to early rises to avoid obstructing the heart that beats at dawn, the flowing lifeblood of the city. And yet there I was, breaking their serenity nevertheless.
As I cross the bridge the landscape is filled with sparkling lights, piercing the dark morning. A starry sky made of business signs, of early risers' apartments and restaurants getting ready to open—no actual stars could be seen, for the sky was cloudy, and you could hardly ever see them in the city anyways.
I had made a habit out of pressing the button for the traffic signal, to allow for safe crossing. Today was no exception; I lightly brushed my hand against the yellow-and-blue-apparatus that a million others had probably defiled just this week alone. Looking right and left it was clearly not needed, for there was no car in sight. And so, the lights signalling red for 'do not go', I cross the street—my act of rebellion against the world. It happened thrice, the fourth time they were already green.
The gym was quiet, I saw mere three others in the building. One of them had already finished by the time I arrived.
11/11/2026
5.31 AM
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