#304: Nighttime Stories explain

[Cueball sitting in an armchair in a darkened room, with a bookshelf and an open window. Megan is seen outside reading a book by a glow.]

For a few weeks now, sometime past midnight, a girl has wandered past my apartment reading by flashlight.

[Outside, Megan walking down the street passing under a street lamp.]

I wonder why she’s up so late.

Maybe she’s restless

Like me.

I wonder what story she’s wrapped up in.

I wonder if she lets anyone into that island of light.

[Cueball sitting in a dark room.]

[Cueball has left the room.]

[Cueball standing on his doorstep at the top of a small flight of stairs, near the bottom of which Megan has stopped, no longer reading.]

Cueball: Hi! What are you reading?

Megan: Orson Scott Card’s ‘Xenocide.’ It’s my favorite in the series!

Cueball: Wait, you like it more than Speaker for the Dead or Ender’s Game?

Megan: Yeah!

[Cueball has gone back in the house, leaving Megan standing alone.]

[Cueball is sitting in the chair again.]

And to think I loved her.