night reigned with no hint of surrender

Leo stared west at the only star that shined through the black sky, took a deep breath, then gazed up at the gradient that goes from darkness to light blue halfway across the sky then to orange in the direction of the sun. "To the east, the full light of day beamed toward you; to the west, night reigned with no hint of surrender" mumbled Leo. He knew it was from a book he read a few years back but wasn't sure where.

As he slowed down his car at the first intersection on his way, Leo recalled events from the day before. He remembered playing card games for 3 hours with friends. He remembered checking the time at 2:45 am, knowing that he went to bed at midnight thinking of an online comment he read a few years back from a person saying that he is as old as his parents were when they gave birth to him, how crazy that felt, and how lost he feels right now. “My father must have been as lost as I am now when he was my age, right?” the comment concluded.

At the last left turn before reaching his favorite lake (a small lake surrounded by trees and rarely saw any visitors), Leo turns the radio on. John Johnson’s “Better Together” played. Leo sat down by the lake just minutes before the first sliver of sun appeared. He stared at the reflection of light in the water, stared left at the tree leaves that were caressing the breeze, up to the sky and its colors, and down to the ground.

Leo got rejected from a few job offers the past month, he did not speak with anyone for the past 3 days except for a few cashiers and was feeling sentimental due to the combination of the early summer winds, the smell of trees, and the singing of a few distant birds.

He didn’t want to think of anything in particular... His thoughts wandered about quotes from authors he liked, about how adults are slightly tall children, his favorite music, previous lovers, how he would love a hug, how small the leg space is on airplanes, and why is the sky blue. 45 minutes passed without Leo noticing. He had nowhere in particular to go, and no urgent matters to be dealt with. He mumbled "happiness is time travel", stood up, dusted his pants, gave a last look to the lake, and slowly walked back to his car as the sun filled its second half, head down, not in defeat, but in content.

Leo entered his car, played "Mr. Tambourine man" by Bob Dylan (The Helio Sequence cover), and rolled away.