A little girl skipped alongside the robots in the cold streets of Neverstien. The robots were usual maintenance bots, to pick up trash and whatnot during the night. The little girl found them to become her closest companions.

She stopped and closed her eyes. She listened. The rustling of the trees around her was loud. When she opened her eyes again, the darkness made it nearly impossible to discern, perceive, make out, or locate the trees that were making the noise. It should have been spooky. But to the little girl, it was soothing.

She felt more at nature than ever before, thanks to the cold and sharp air. She simply loves the night air, the way it cleansed her nose and made her feel alive again.

The landscape appeared orange, courtesy of the street lamps, and the moon shone down brightly from above. Each step she took resulted in a crunching noise of leaves, signifying Fall was here to anyone and everyone who wanted to greet it.

She sighed, watching the puff of air. It was so bizarre, really. She studied the nearby buildings, or more accurately, the lights. They were so bright, shining out in the darkness. She got closer and peeked inside the nearest window.

It turned out to be a house. From what she could see, a family was having a movie night. She studied the scene. It was something she couldn’t understand but wanted. She wanted to feel that warmth again, the warmth she brought. She wondered what else was going on with these people?

It’s strange, isn’t it? People are so close to one another (only a few feet away and separated by a wall) yet it feels like an entirely separate world. You have no idea what another person could be doing, and it intrigued her. It interested her so much that she propped down onto a bench and envisioned it.

Maybe the daughter was thinking she didn’t like the movie? The expression on her face seemed to indicate that. The son and father were having a blast and the mother seemed bored. She came up with backstories for all of them.

She dared allow herself to hope for even a second she could experience the same thing. What if the daughter looked out the window and saw her? What if she waved and she waved back and they became the best of friends?

An impossibility, she knew, but that didn’t stop her from imagining. There were so many people in the world, your life was insignificant. It may seem like nothing matters but if you surveyed the city, the lights reminded her that they were all connected; most of them stranger’s she’s never seen before and they don’t know she exists, but she’s not alone.