Previous Chapter:
______________________________________
The Space Between
There’s a difference, I’ve come to learn.
Loneliness and being alone.
They’re not the same.
Not even close.
Though they wear the same colors and whisper the same doubts when the lights go out.
Loneliness is sharp.
It’s a hunger.
A void shaped like someone who never called back, someone who never stayed.
It’s hearing laughter from another room and suddenly remembering the silence in yours.
It’s scrolling through conversations that used to be alive but are now tombstones.
Loneliness is being in a crowd and still feeling invisible.
I lived there.
In that ache.
In that wanting.
I drank from it daily, called it my companion.
But now… I sit by myself and feel something else.
I sit in silence.
In a room with no voices but my own.
And I don’t feel empty.
I feel - still.
This is what being alone feels like.
It’s space.
Not absence.
It’s the sound of your own breath not competing with anyone else’s.
Being alone is walking at your own pace.
Making coffee just the way you like it, without checking if someone else wants sugar.
It’s choosing a movie, a book, a thought - and letting it carry you, without permission, without apology.
It doesn’t ache.
It holds.
Loneliness demanded someone else’s presence to feel whole.
Being alone… it asks for yours.
It’s where I finally heard myself.
Not the voices of who I should be, or who they wanted me to be.
Just me.
And in that quiet, I began to realize:
I am not missing.
I am not broken.
I was just waiting for the noise to die down so I could return to myself.
There are still lonely days.
Of course there are.
Some evenings stretch longer than others.
Some songs still hit harder than I expect.
But even in that ache, I don’t vanish anymore.
I sit with it.
I light a candle.
I let the silence stay.
Because now I know -
Loneliness is a shadow.
But being alone?
That’s a home.
_____________________________
Next Chapter:
Ashes and After : 8 The Ghost Room
Previous Chapter: https://www.chatzozo.com/forum/threads/ashes-and-after-7-the-weight-of-small-things.61833/ ____________________________________ The Ghost Room It had been months since I’d gone there. That café—the one tucked behind the bookstore with the squeaky chairs and bad jazz playing...
www.chatzozo.com
______________________________________
The Space Between
There’s a difference, I’ve come to learn.
Loneliness and being alone.
They’re not the same.
Not even close.
Though they wear the same colors and whisper the same doubts when the lights go out.
Loneliness is sharp.
It’s a hunger.
A void shaped like someone who never called back, someone who never stayed.
It’s hearing laughter from another room and suddenly remembering the silence in yours.
It’s scrolling through conversations that used to be alive but are now tombstones.
Loneliness is being in a crowd and still feeling invisible.
I lived there.
In that ache.
In that wanting.
I drank from it daily, called it my companion.
But now… I sit by myself and feel something else.
I sit in silence.
In a room with no voices but my own.
And I don’t feel empty.
I feel - still.
This is what being alone feels like.
It’s space.
Not absence.
It’s the sound of your own breath not competing with anyone else’s.
Being alone is walking at your own pace.
Making coffee just the way you like it, without checking if someone else wants sugar.
It’s choosing a movie, a book, a thought - and letting it carry you, without permission, without apology.
It doesn’t ache.
It holds.
Loneliness demanded someone else’s presence to feel whole.
Being alone… it asks for yours.
It’s where I finally heard myself.
Not the voices of who I should be, or who they wanted me to be.
Just me.
And in that quiet, I began to realize:
I am not missing.
I am not broken.
I was just waiting for the noise to die down so I could return to myself.
There are still lonely days.
Of course there are.
Some evenings stretch longer than others.
Some songs still hit harder than I expect.
But even in that ache, I don’t vanish anymore.
I sit with it.
I light a candle.
I let the silence stay.
Because now I know -
Loneliness is a shadow.
But being alone?
That’s a home.
_____________________________
Next Chapter:
Ashes and After : 10 The Space Between
Previous Chapter: https://www.chatzozo.com/forum/threads/ashes-and-after-9-the-space-between.62406/ _____________________________ Pages That Bled It started with a blank page. Not because I planned to write. I was just cleaning. Sorting through drawers that hadn’t seen light in months. And...
www.chatzozo.com
Last edited:
haye~
