Jacob Wilson got home from his hard day at work, and unlocked his door. The cold beat down on his face and ears like a horrible monster. The pain bit at him, and his numb fingers struggled with the lock. Finally he forced it open, and the warmth burned his cold skin instead of soothing it.

He turned the foyer light on, and hung up his coat after removing it. The dark depressing innards of his lonely house made his heart turn cold, as it did every night when he returned from work. Ever since his wife Callie had walked out on him, he had felt the pain of loneliness. All he could do was reflect on the wonderful past he had once had.

Jacob turned off the light, and blindly walked up the staircase and entered his bedroom. It was all a program, it was all predictable and it was all stagnant. There were no surprises. As much as Jacob hated it all, he lacked the motivation to break free from it. His motivation had moved out and taken the children.

His bed welcomed him with icy sheets and covers, but he comforted himself in the thought hat he would get used to it, as he had in past days, and past weeks. Anything pain could be gotten used to, anything could be assimilated into any one person's lifestyle. Developing pleasure from those painful elements was another thing. Jacob had not managed to get any pleasure from anything ever since Callie had left him.

As he drifted off to sleep, the images came to him. The images of his past, and the future he was to have with her. She was in medical school, and he was finishing his Master's degree in Computer Science. They were supposed to spend eternity with each other, and eventually move out of the dump that Jacob had been left with. A big white house, surrounded by big trees, with no neighbors. A white swing set for the kids to play on, a grill to cook on a few nights a week. A wonderful bedroom with a big bed where Jacob and Callie could spend each night with each other in, no matter what happened. A bed they could make love in every night, until they died. It was a dream that had been fashioned over the course of the last seven years. And that's all it was reduced to now, a dream going through Jacob's head as he slept. A dream that would never happen, a dream that had no ounce of reality to it.

Over the last year, Jacob had developed a cold way of plodding through the bog of life. No emotion grazed his face or actions, no happiness broke him. Anything that could possibly cause him happiness only reminded him of Callie and all the times they had shared. It brought reality back into perspective, and it returned him to his solitary self. Nothing pervaded his cultured shield of remembrance.

The initial shock of Callie's departure ruined Jacob's pursuit of a graduate degree, and he settled on a low-end programming job. He was one of the new-breed of technological grunts. The vibrant and brilliant mind that had once gotten him a full scholarship to the University of Minnesota was gone, and he was reduced to an uncreative position in a company too big for its own good.

And so the thoughts of his downfall took control of his mind as he surrendered it to the dark night, and only the static ringing of his aging alarm clock would return him to consciousness. Jacob Wilson slipped off into a dark sleep filled with pain and suffering.