Chaos was my enclosure. I sat there, music humming through my headphones, set apart from the bustling world around me. Fresh air caressed my face every time the door was opened by another customer and a dull taste of chocolate lingered on my tongue. Lifting my vigilant eyes, I watched the people surrounding me. The crowd in the coffee shop was like a sea, one person always being replaced by another once they had departed with their sweet addiction.

Every person was different; everyone somehow separated. A group of softball players talked obnoxiously, while a couple sipped their drinks contemplatively; a young girl coloring on a paper while her mother talks to a friend at a side table. I pondered each person’s motive. What were they doing here? Were they savoring the visit to the coffee shop as an escape from home? Was this just a minor stop on a long road trip? Were some people here to meet their special lover? Or were they simply here to seek answers to these ponderings like me?

The atmosphere had a surreal tinge to it; as if everything is moving too fast to see it all. My headphones turned the group chatter to a dull throb in the background. It was like being a mist. People passed me by without seeing me, looked through me without knowing. To them, I was another ghost of a separate life that they are not concerned with.

How fun it must be to sit with one of the families. Their smiles and quieted laughs taunted my wondering eyes. Instead, I sat there alone to search for enlightenment.

It’s quieter as the public moved back out into the world to face their lives. Customers pack up their laptops and toss away beverage cups. Children hold their parents’ hands and the elderly move slowly away. And me? I evaporate, just a mist among the world.