I Saw a Lonely Woman

The red glare spewed off the traffic light, reflecting its subtle luminosity on the slick streets. I noticed her immediately, although she paid no mind to me as my car came to a stop only feet from her. A man walked briskly in front of her, with hurried steps and not so much as a glance over his shoulder. She wasn’t nearly dressed for the weather, with only a crewneck protecting her skin from the harsh winds of the night. She yelled to him to wait up, with a pleading voice as she caught herself from yet another unstable movement, but the man didn’t turn. Her feet struggled to keep pace on the snow-covered sidewalks, but it wasn’t her unstable demeanor that drew my attention to her; it was the sadness that walked beside her. It was so apparent that it practically radiated off of her. Did she plan this for her life, walking with a man who can’t be bothered to so much as turn around? Was he always this way, or was the man she devoted her life to different, considerate, full of life and love for her? Has she always been the sad woman walking unsteadily on the sidewalk on a freezing December night? She never even noticed me. The light turned green, and I continued on my path, but this time with a heavy heart, and a mind full of lessons that the lonely woman who walks alone never meant to teach.