How does darkness creep?
I couldn't tell you, but this darkness pulled it off. I was walking home, and I looked down an alley, and there it was.
Creeping darkness.
I didn't know it was real. I had no idea. All this time I'd thought that it was just a figure of speech, something people write in books to heighten the mood. But no, there it was, right in front of me.
So of course I had to take a look.
Well, it was dark, I think we can take that as understood. And confusing, but darkness frequently is. Interestingly enough, my own actions weren't that bright, so maybe it was catching too. I just walked down the alley, and into the darkness, thinking I'd be able to see better up close. Nope, not the case. I kept walking. I came out the other side.
It looked mostly the same. Big buildings, trash at the curb, bums on the corner, broken down cars in the street. Same old city. Still, it had a different air, a different ambiance.
I had no idea where I was. Same city, but no street I recognized. I didn't know the businesses in the office buildings, I didn't recognize the bank down the way. Even the bums looked different.
Oh boy, were the bums different. That was the thing, the thing that made me turn and run. Sure, the bums were standing around a trash can fire, passing around a bottle in a paper bag. Normal enough. Then I saw the other guy, the one face down on the other side of the barrel. He was missing an arm and a leg, and was lying in a pool of something, it was too dark to tell just what, but I knew. I knew that the meat roasting in the oily fire wasn't chicken or anything else I'd like to eat. When one of them turned to me and said through his pointy teeth "Hey mister, spare a bite?" I freaked.
I ran back to the alley. I started to cry when I saw the brick wall at the end where I expected my street. I did cry when a cloud passed over the moon and the darkness crept out from between the bricks. And I cried in relief when I got back on my own familiar street.
Ever since, I take the cab.
