The narrow, cramped allyways surrounded him as he walked with little light to see. He felt betrayed and alone. He was alone in a world of pairs; no hand for him to hold, no shoulder to cry on, no heart to love him solid again. His mind turned to suicide many times, and it reached out for the solemn subject once more as he touched his fingers to the chilling brick around him.

Flashes of her and warm memories of them flickered in his thoughts before turning bittersweet again. Glistening tears embroidered his face as he thought of her- the woman who left him alone with no armour after stripping him bare and lifting his heart. She was his lifeline- a strong, thick cord that seemed, to him, to declare his right to live. Like a mother, she saw him for who he was and loved him despite his gnarled exterior. Like a lover, she saw him as vulnerable, lovable, and forever worth her precious admiration. Like an angel, she showered him with strength and granted him protection from the cruel fires of the rest of humanity.

Like a human, she fell ill and died. She left him searching for her warmth and cursing his own life once more. He slammed a fist into the brick and his anger streamed red, dripping at his feet. He screamed, he cursed. He bellowed and punched. He searched. He found only pain.

He turned and saw her smiling at him. She told him it would be okay. His heart clenched as he reached for her- only to feel his hands grasping at nothing. She was gone. Delirious, he stumbled his way out of the allyway. He heard her voice again, calling out to him. She appeared to him again, surrounded by a think halo of light, several yards away. He rushed to catch her, ignoring her conflicting pleas to stay, then to go, to move on, to get away.

The light around her flared with the same velocity as his sudden pain when he collided with her. Everything around him was blurred, except for his sense of touch. He felt rough tar beneath his torn blazer and an overwhelming sensation of breathless pain. The light he saw, as well as the woman he longed for, was gone. Instead, a strange woman appeared and knelt before him. She told him she was sorry. Then she appeared in the other woman's place. She continued to apologize, to tell him it was going to be okay over and over and over. She took his hand in hers and he sighed through a slight smile. He forgot about his pain- she always took it away. A rush of heat filled his body and he slowly loosened his grip on her hand. He knew it'd be okay. It always would be with her.

He kept his lover's hand and rose to walk away with her. He turned to see a vaguely familiar shape lying in the street underneath the stares of passerby and the strange woman. As sirens grew close he turned and welcomed the embracing smile of his lover, forever forgetting the odd similarities between the blazer in the street, and the one he wore.