Scribble: This is how I've been feeling lately.

      His eyes nervously scanned his surroundings, methodically looking in every direction that wasn't obscured by trees. Finding no others nearby, he released a brief sigh, a single gust of steam quietly whistling into the chill autumn air. He was alone; of this, there was no doubt.
      Looking up at his evergreen audience, the lines of his face crinkled in resignation. Carefully undoing the buttons of his long overcoat, he could hear the constant clicking in his ears grow louder. Did it always used to be like this? he asked himself, his expression betraying no despair or longing.
      Another set of buttons awaited his fingertips, his digits mechanically undoing each and every clasp with the greatest of speed. Without looking, his hand strayed to his exposed chest, reaching out of instinct.
      A mass of gears and springs came out, lazily winding-down, leaving a cold, deep hole where his heart should be.
      Did it always used to be like this?