Reflections Over a Nighttime Walk

By: John Alejandro

The moon gleamed a luminescent light over me as I trodded down the sidewalk. The crunch and tat-tat of broken glass popped under my sneakers like soft gunfire and the cars whooshed by gently cutting the air in half. The cool breeze refreshed my soul, while it relieved all of my anxiety and tension. It prepared me for another day. Then a perverse idea came into my head. What if I was kidnapped and taken to a far off place?

An old lady had been walking behind me from the last intersection. What if she grabbed me and took me to that very place? I played with my imagination for a minute and decided that I liked the idea. I enjoyed tickling my barriers of fear. The thought of being whisked away registered in my mind as a pleasant event, but it brought chills throughout my body. Am I insane? I thought. A booming noise came from overhead, and I looked up to find an airplane flashing its blinking red and blue light tediously. They looked like small rubies far off in the sky that no one can reach except maybe God. I brought my head back down and walked bizarrely. My steps were calculated, like that of a secret agent with newly found information. Calm and collected, with a tingle of suspicion of everyone around me.

Upon taking more steps, I noticed that the old lady with the black shirt and scarf disappeared. I felt a sense of uneasiness vibrate from my shoulders to my arms and legs. I looked everywhere for streets and corners that she may have headed for. There were no intersections and no corners. Just one straight sidewalk and a two-way road for where cars passed. The side wall would have been too difficult for her to climb.

I didn’t mind her disappearance much. My face devoured the moonlight vigorously and my intention was to finish my walk. A crow cawed. It cawed again. I hadn’t heard of a crow in a very long time. I reached a darker alley now, an alley that was trademark for its very macabre feeling. No street lights were placed there. The wind echoed and swayed the tall trees back and forth and the only colors I could see were black, purple, and the red car taillights that occasionally passed by. I returned home and finished my walk.