Loneliness from "summary" of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
In that period of solitude, Aureliano felt that he had been singled out for a brilliant destiny. He dug deep into the hidden recesses of his own loneliness, and there he found that his life was but a mirror image of his own solitude. It was a solitude without love, without tenderness, without hope. The very air he breathed seemed to be filled with the scent of his own despair.
He tried to escape this suffocating loneliness by immersing himself in his studies, in his work, in his dreams. But no matter how hard he tried, the loneliness persisted, a constant companion that refused to be shaken off. It was a loneliness that gnawed at his soul, that hollowed out his heart, that left him feeling empty and lost.
He sought solace in the company of others, in the warmth of human touch, in the fleeting moments of connection that he shared with his fellow man. But these moments were fleeting, ephemeral, like shadows that vanished at the first hint of light. And so he returned, time and again, to his own solitude, to the dark and lonely caverns of his own mind.
It was there, in that dark and lonely place, that he made his peace with loneliness. He embraced it, accepted it, welcomed it as an old friend. For he knew now that loneliness was not a curse, but a gift. It was a gift that had been given to him, and him alone, a gift that set him apart from the rest of humanity.
And so he walked alone, through the empty streets of Macondo, through the desolate landscapes of his own mind. And as he walked, he felt a strange sense of peace, of contentment, of fulfillment. For he knew now that he was not truly alone, but a part of something greater, something timeless, something eternal.
