The quiet after the rehearsal

I was in the hall again today—same one with the cracked ceiling tiles and the piano that still remembers how to sigh. The acoustics are terrible, but I played anyway. Not for anyone, not even myself. Just to see if the notes still fit in the space like they used to. They did, mostly. And then I sat in the dark for ten minutes, listening to the city settle into its usual hum. No one else was there. That’s how it should be.