What drives me out of the apartment to prowl through the city?

I wander through the streets alone- not the relaxing stroll of a summer night, but the tense hurry to get- where? Down alleyways, looking into doorways, peering into half-shuttered windows, wanting someone to talk to and yet afraid to meet anyone. Up one street, and down another, through the endless labyrinth, hurling myself against the neon cage of the city. Searching...for what?- Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

~Cale