Soledad Unseen

Soledad sat with her back against a solid wall, resting, weary from her drifting, watching the insubstantial souls float past her unseeing. Almost in despair, Soledad wondered if she would ever find that familiar stranger.

Even as these thoughts crowded her mind, she suddenly glimpsed through the sea of souls a color, a spark, someone who was different from all the others, someone substantial. Soledad got up, excitedly, and began to make her way towards this person.

As she drew nearer, pushing past the misty crowd, she realized with a thrill of joy that this was the face she had been looking for all this while. This was the stranger she recognized!

After all the years of searching, finally, finally.

She called out to him - could he hear her? - and waved.

He turned to her and their eyes met...

...and he smiled...

Soledad's heart leapt for joy. He could see her, then!

Just as she started walking nearer to him, he turned away. Stomach clenching, she saw that he was distracted by a group of laughing souls.

Her heart, which had for a brief moment felt young and fresh again, broke anew.

Soledad did not see it break, but she knew it did because the shattered fragments made every breath she breathed hurt so painfully she wished she was dead.

She sat down in the middle of the oblivious crowd, and began weeping.