On the road again. I’ve shown up to the check in desk at the airport, bloodshot eyes and grey skin. The lady at the desk looks at me like I’m a beast from the gutter. Maybe she’s right. After I get my ticket I realise my fly is undone. I need sleep. And a drink. I order something at the bar, I don’t even know what it is, some cocktail of sorts. The guy beside me at the bar looks worse than I do. I order him the same concoction that i got. He needs it more than me. He looks like he’s been in this airport for months. He’s got that dead look in his eyes. A walking corpse. I know the feeling. I sympathise. I buy him another brew. Not a word is spoken between us but there is a deeper understanding. A connection. No words are needed. Just a knowing glance. And barely even that.. he’s coming from the same place I’m going to. We are on opposite ends of the same journey. In a few weeks I will be this guy. On the way back. Back from the depths. The depths of god knows where. On the journey home. But at the same time not knowing exactly where home is. We are one in the same me and this fellow. I feel like I’ve known him my whole life. I like him better than most of my friends. Yet we haven’t broken breath. I order him more alcohol. And there we sit. Side by side. Just like that. For hours.
