A short story about loneliness

You can’t be lonely when no one’s there in the first place.

—

Once upon a time, there is a man living alone on a dwarf planet at the far end of the galaxy. In his own little world, he owns a one-bedroom house and a vegetable garden with an old oak tree. He is alone on this planet, but his isolation does not feel foreign and he is used to his solitude.

Every day like clockwork, he wakes up and greets the sun, he tends his beautiful garden, he jogs around his small planet and eats his meal in peace. But never once does he feel alone.

One day, a spacecraft crashed and landed in his carefully manicured yard. Aboard the ship is a beautiful woman who is on her way to earth. Obviously, her spaceship needed repair and the man offered to help her fix it. However, it took days, then weeks, then months, then years to repair the damage.

During that time, the woman stayed in the man’s home and offered to help around the house and the planet as thanks for his generosity. The woman was wide-eyed on how the man single-handedly managed his estate, and the man was enthralled with the woman’s tales of her travels.

They wake up and greet the sun every morning, they tend the man’s vegetable garden, they jog around the planet and eat their meals in peace. They were happy.

Finally, the spacecraft was fixed. The woman bid goodbye to the man and thanked him for his aid and his hospitality. She will embark on a new journey to Earth leaving the man alone on a dwarf planet at the far end of the galaxy. The man, with an aching heart, kissed her goodbye and wished her well.

The man went back to his old life before he found the woman’s spacecraft crashed in his yard trying hard to go back to his old routine.

He wakes up and greets the sun every morning, he tends his beautiful garden, he jogs around his small planet and eats his meal in peace. But for the first time in his life, he felt utterly ALONE.