"You need to stop doing this to yourself."

I didn't bother to turn around. He had been watching me for hours now, just walking back and forth; I had ignored him after he didn't go away after the first few passes. I stood looking at the dark construction site, fingers hooked loosely through the chain-linked fence.

A sudden chill went through me and I shivered, glancing up as if just noticing the growing darkness. He sighed and began to shrug off his jacket, but I turned and walked away before he finished. I kept my pace measured, even, while my fingers ran over the fence. I knew he was hurt but I couldn't stop walking.

He caught up with me on my way back.

"It's over," he rebuked gently. "It has been for a long time. You know they'll never return your feelings."

With that something in my broke. "What are you? My conscious?" I demanded sharply, turning to face him. "How dare you tell me how to live my life!"

"I'm trying to be a good friend," he snapped back.

"I don't need you to hover over me!" I exclaimed, backing away. "I need to be left alone!"

"That's the last thing you need," he muttered as I turned away.

He grabbed my wrist and spun me around, pulling me toward him. I stumbled over my own feet and crashed against his chest, stunned. He wrapped his arms around me before I could recover. Grasping my whits, I pushed back. He didn't let go. I slammed my fists against his chest, close to sobbing. He didn't do more than blink slowly to let me know he had felt it. I slammed them into him again. This time he pulled me tighter so my arms were pinned between us.

"Let me go," I demanded, twisting. He didn't respond. Finally, I stopped pulling away. After a few moments, he let go long enough to wrap the flaps of the coat around me as well, before closing his arms around me again.

The sun had sunk lower, leaving the air chilly. I burrowed deeper into the jacket. The people had fled to warmer places: cozy rooms with noisy roommates and dining halls with glaring eyes. At the moment, nothing seemed better than where we were with just the construction site as a witness.

Just two more lonely and abandoned people. We were never given a second glance.