Call me crazy, but there's just something really calming about going out on late night walks.
Nothing makes your problems feel so incredibly tiny and insignificant like looking up to the pitch blackness of sky, seeing just how far the clouds and stars are...
It's a habit I've made, walking when I feel horrible about life, about myself.
About... It's really hard to tell.
So instead I just walk, all alone. And so it helps me get by.
Another part to it is all the sounds, y'know?
The stillness of night, from most of everyone else around sleeping brings out both the noctural creatures
and the quieter sounds of nature that cars would deafen as people blazed their way through life.
The crunching of leaves, chirping of crickets,
footfalls onto stony sidewalks, and the rare bird call.
That wasn't to say that my 'night walks' couldn't be a little... eerie.

Have you ever heard little cracks, out in the dark, or other noises that you just couldn't explain?
Or the sense that if you looked down while under a street lamp...
You might just see a second shadow.
As if someone or something had been stalking your every step.
Or the dark playing tricks on your eyes, having to wonder if the face you saw in it was just imaginary.
After all, who'd be out here when it's so late, right?

Though, if I had to be honest... I admittedly love going out even with such imaginary fears in mind.
Do they still creep me out? Yeah, why wouldn't they?
I'm not exactly looking to die out on a stroll for everybody to find a gruesome mess on the side of the road.
I've seen roadkill plenty enough. I wasn't looking to add to it.
That's just another thing you tend to see at any time while walking though.
Some poor creature who'd merely hoped to cross some pathway akin to a lovecraftian landscape to their understanding,
just to have a monstrosity of a machine barrel straight into their body, rending their flesh useless as the car goes speeds they could never comprehend
Tiny bodies crunching under rubber, shoved into the asphalt.
Their entire insignificant life, gone... Like... Like that.
It's a hell of a way to go, I've thought about it as much.

But... This night.
It was different.
Rain usually keeps me from going out, as much as I love it...
It's more of a spectacle than something I wish to be in.
Hearing the pattering against windows, the greying skies as clouds overtake the usually beaming sun.
Always the perfect backdrop for a comfy day inside.
Like I said though, this night was a change of pace.
It started out fine, I breathed in cool night air while occasionally marveling at the stars.
They bled through the clouds wonderfully.
I wondered what it would like to be able to reach out and take one out of the sky.
The sound of my steps beating on track. A tempo that resounded through my body.
And it was all I had to focus on, nothing else in life would get to me in this moment.
Everything felt alright, as I traveled on sidewalks in the town I was so familiar with.
The melted glow of a streetlight ahead of me, illuminating the grey path and green grass.
As well as...

it was faint, but I could see it.
A thin and fragile sheet of noise against the blackened sky.
Seeing it, I held a palm upward to test the waters.
Sure enough. a raindrop plopped itself into the middle of my hand.
I remember scoffing, being annoyed.
Of course this would also be ruined as well, it just had to rain...
I'd already walked quite a bit of ways from home though... I wasn't quite ready to go back just yet.
Rather than let the rain get me down then... I just tread on.
I wouldn't let it get the better of my peace.

And it was pretty enjoyable, for a while.
The rain was soft enough that I could just barely feel it drip onto my head.
And although I could see it every so often that I walked beneath a light, it didn't intrude any of my sight further.
Hell, it even sounded like some more bugs came out to enjoy the mist, their chirps and beeps adding to the symphony of the night.
Rather than the hinderance I thought it would be, it added to the atmosphere. Most lovingly even!
I would go out walking in the rain again, if it just so happened, was the conclusion I came to.
I passed the town's graveyard.
I always did on my route. It was another one of those creepy things I enjoyed thinking about.
The idea of ghosts, silently watching from such a distance...
Unhappy in their own ways of having their rest interrupted by the living, even as a passerby to their home.
It always brought shivers to my spine~

But as the night continued, and I refused to turn back...
The rain grew heavier, enough to finally harry my sight
and it felt as if the deluge were pressing down against me, bullying me into feeling heavier.
Well now it's just overstayed its welcome.

Or maybe I
had overstayed mine.

I finally turned heel and made way for home. I had enough.
The drumming of the rain against concrete was enough to start giving me a headache.
Roaring into my ears like a war drum tapping out a death rattle.
It wasn't long before the graveyard was back in sight again.
This time I was less eager to entertain the idea that I was being watched.
But despite that... I couldn't help, no... I had to make sure, that something wasn't there.
My head turned...
Just rows upon rows of unreadable slabs, whether from time or just from poor visibility.
The trees cast dark backdrops against the entire sight, a sharp looking iron fence keeping the forefront border.
I just gotta walk by it.
Just gotta get past.
SNAP! What the hell was that. Don't ask.
Just keep moving, it was just night ambience as it usually is.
The difference was just the rain pelting my back, that was all.
There wouldn't be another street lamp for a while, inky void travelled on for miles as grey static shot through it.
It was hard not to focus even more on noises when my sight was barely helpful, just keeping me on track with sidewalk.
Keeping my own tempo.
Even as a chill ran down my spine.
I just wanted to be home. So I could confidently tell myself
I wasn't feeling the piercing gaze of something horrifying.
To truthfully tell myself that it wasn't real.
I wasn't even sure if turning around would help at this point, I just walked faster.
Birds cawed above me. As I had said, it was rare for them to. But not out of the normal to hear one or two.
And sure enough, the sound of another came.
And then another. And three more. Until there were more, and more
And it became hard to discern a singular call from another.
They were scared of something. They had to be. The calls that had been so close were fading out.
They were leaving.
I quickened my pace. I had to escape. I was in danger. There was no way I wasn't at this point.
I ran for my life. I didn't even know what I was running from. I just ran.
Faster. Faster. Faster. Faster.
It was a wonder I hadn't tripped yet.
I nearly lost my footing, having to push an arm against the ground to keep myself up, stumbling in the moment.
A foreboding presence felt closer than ever.
There was a light.
A street light.
Get to it.
Run. Fast.
God, please let me live.
I could see my breath against the rain.
Hot, heavy. Drizzle slashed through it and into night.
The warm glow was closer, ever yet closer.
I just had to-
Make it. I...
I made it.
I wasn't sure why I felt the light was safety.

It just felt right.

It was at least a place to catch my wind. I used the time to look around.
I still couldn't see beyond the rain and night sky. Total darkness encompassed me.
I turned around, ready to face the fear that had kept me on my feet.
And saw nothing.
All that and I'd nearly pissed myself over nothing? Fuck.
I was beyond annoyed, hell it looped back to being sort of relieved.
I was alive.
Letting my guard down, I bent my hands down to my knees to help breathe.
The rain continued to pelt down, its own cacophony of noise sounding out its presence.
Wait.
I couldn't see the rain. it was gone.
It cleared up?
How? And when had it stopped?
And... why was the sound of it still there.
The ferocious din of the storm still sounded out.
Just as close as ever.
How? Why? Why?
How.
It was then, that I realized.
The ground below me was too dark.
My shadow was big, bigger than it should have been.
And just like roadkill.
I'd been preyed upon by something beyond my understanding.
Something that pretended to be rain.