We continued to walk in silence with the only noise being the sound of our feet crushing the gravel beneath us. The wind had stopped, or it had been blocked by the tall trees that hung just over the roadside, as we walked into the woods. The lack of wind made everything feel so oddly silent. 

It was probably very beautiful here during the summer with all the leaves on the trees, but now it just felt very hollow and bleak. “Isn’t everything beautiful this time of year?” The old man had been the first to break the silence. 

“I was just thinking about how everything seemed so dreary.”

The old man let out a sigh, “I guess it might seem that way to you since the trees have lost their leaves, but on the other hand, what else can you see?”

I stopped for a moment and looked around, “Nothing seems very appealing to me.”

The old man chuckled,  “Isn’t it amazing how far you can see through the woods this time of year?” The old man pointed to the vast open woods, logs as well as small boulders were scattered throughout the landscape. I guess you could see farther through the woods, but what was the point when everything was decaying.

“What's so amazing about seeing trees that look dead.”

“That is just one side of the coin, my friend,” The old man smiled, “If it's colorless, just a flip of a coin would make it colorful.”

“How are you going to make the trees colorful? You gonna put lights on them?” I joked. The old man looked surprised by my comment, but soon a childish grin covered his face. 

“On the contrary my friend, why would I go through such an effort to make something beautiful when it already is?” The old man shrugged. 

“You're such an optimist.”

“And you're a pessimist.” 

The old man's gaze moved towards the blue sky, “You probably don’t know this but this is the only time of year you can see the sky here. During the summer, the trees block everything. But now if you come out here at night you can see every star.” 

“I guess the only problem would be that it's daytime.”

The old man shook his head, “But if it was night you wouldn’t be able to see the sunlight.”

“There is no winning with you is there?” I sighed. 

“Nope,” The man wrapped his arm around my neck resting it on my shoulder, “So you better get used to it, we have quite the walk ahead of us.” 

The smile that had once brightened up the dreadful woods turned sorrowful as he walked down the road ahead of me. The road had split into two, with one road veering off down a dirt path, and the other back to the main street. But the old man didn’t need to ask where I was headed. He continued down the dirt road to a gate with handcrafted pillars on either side of it. I guess it was obvious to everyone, but me, that the only place left for me to go was back to her.