waiting

noun

1.

the action of staying where one is or delaying action until a particular time or until something else happens. "years of waiting”

You can count the days since January 30th. You worry the growing number between your fingers while you wash your hands. A string of dates that lead back to the last time you hugged another human.

The clock seems to slur her words; the fog of sleep doesn’t leave you in daylight. The horizon seems to crawl further away when you dream.

After the pandemic is the mirage that you walk towards. The shadow between the trees that slips deeper into the forest as you follow her.

You can still see that different life in your rearview mirror. The people who stayed in that world. You can picture them laughing, their mouths open, hands reaching, eyes bright. You keep walking.