• Dark. That's the only word to properly describe what my town is like in the night. Not "dark" in the sense of the absence of light; that wouldn't apply. Each street corner is illuminated by the soft glow of a bare amber street light. These whorish things do little to provide a comforting aura at the intersections; instead, the naked bulbs cast shadows all around. Trees that appeared gaunt and happy during the day turn skeletal and gruesome at night. Conifers and maples tower over the narrow streets like skyscrapers, each filled with the busy work of animals whose graveyard shift had only just begun. Birds flap here and there while squirrels hunker down in dens. Occasionally, the soft questioning of an owl breaks the tentative silence. Life thrives in the deciduous corpses brought forth by Mother Nature. Creatures shift and slink uneasily between the trunks, the almost nonexistent street lamps turning harmless, cuddly things into rabid, pitch black monsters.

    The streets themselves, saturated with cars and uncomfortably narrow, often close in around you. Curbs creep closer and closer as you walk, straining to envelope you in its Venusian fly-trap. The claustrophobia develops a stranglehold as you progress down black, damp streets. Cold sweat drips down your cheeks and neck while you continue to shuffle along in the moonless night. The darkness comes not from the ebony void above or the onyx stone beneath; it is born from the very atmosphere around you. The darkness is simply present, an ancient force that has always existed and will never leave. It is not meant to scare: the darkness is but a sleeping giant, one that can not be easily awakened from its slumber.

    However, the darkness is not necessarily foreboding and malevolent. In fact, the darkness can just as easily be tranquil and comforting. The darkness that suffocates and strangles can become a gentle shroud when embraced. Instead of fearfully walking through the streets, walk with them. Don't walk to reach a destination, walk to reach a conclusion. Sometimes the greatest thoughts come from the emptiest of places, and nothing can be more bare than a starless night sky.