What happened?
Clinging on is unseemly.
A connection is oftentimes for the season in which it was forged.
It takes two, and sometimes they're not with you.
That's all well and good and understandable and so on, etc., but what about those who were a powerful presence, right by your side, then wilted away during a quick glance elsewhere?
Bafflement remains. As does history. As do you.
It's not quite betrayal. There's not enough to grasp onto for that.
Union Canal is bustling. Pedestrians, cyclists, and the occasional duck dance around each other in an unacknowledged pavement game. The water rush, bird chat, and bike bells flurry together, an ad hoc symphonic score. The sun shines down, but the tiniest chill creeps from the shadows.
It's nice. It's simple. Everybody's making an effort. Let's try not to get in each other's way. Sure, sometimes somebody can upset things through a misjudged moment, but unless you're extremely unlucky and catch the eye of the broken cog of a man who keeps pushing cyclists into the canal's shocking embrace, then the winding, weaving around of all will continue.
Anonymity makes it all possible. Makes it all plausible.
Unspoken rules. Shared by most. Enforced by some.
An impersonal warmth.
Complexity grows with knowledge.
Navigating friendship is not like the canal's tidy one-way path. It's a journey over wide waters to new lands.
There are glorious adventures, treasures found, and celebrations aplenty as well. There is the occasional rough wave or minor storm. Together, you face down the demons at large. Stories are told, years of memories shared. Laughter bellows out over the ocean waves.
All is well until...
...you find yourself the only crew member left. All at sea.
Only fragments remain.
Where did they go? Secret mutiny? Bermuda Triangle? Man overboard?
The long nights draw in. No answer appears.
With no intelligence reports available, with no sunshine in sight, only one question remains...
Is this a shipwreck I'm sailing?
This isn't the story of how all voyages conclude. Just the haunted ones.