I've always been an insomniac. I sometimes jokingly tell people I stay up late because I'm chilling with my demons. Truth is I don't know why I can't ever fall asleep before midnight. But I'm used to it now. I make a cup of strong black coffee in my big yellow Wimpy cup and sit in front of the fire place. Most nights I read a book while listening to classical music. Tonight I'm simply staring into the bright yellow flames and listening to the crackling of the wood as it slowly burns to ash.
I lift my cup to take another sip but realize it's empty. My gaze lifts to the clock on the wall and I notice that it's thirty minutes past twelve. Bedtime. As I turn to get up I see something from the corner of my eye and I turn around to get a better look. I can't make it out clearly through the sliding doors curtains, but it looks like there's someone standing in front of my yard. My heart begins to race and I don't even notice that I am frozen in place.
"Wow Levi. Very brave," I chuckled to myself.
The figure is standing motionless right underneath the light pole in front of my yard. I can't tell if it is facing this way or facing away from the house. Either way there's no way it can see past the curtains so I'm safe. My foot slowly lifts off the floor and against my better judgment I am on my way to the curtain to get a better look. I poke my finger through the middle of the curtains and carefully peek out.
"What is a woman doing standing here alone at this hour?" I ask myself when I notice her flowy black hair dancing on her shoulders with the wind.
She's wearing a yellow summer dress and stylish black boots. I can feel my heart pounding even faster in my chest now. The wind blows the dress against her body molding it around her curves and the white light from the light pole is making her skin look like its glowing. I want to go out and take a closer look but a woman standing on a hill at midnight by herself is too much of an anomaly. I decide to stay behind the safety of the curtain and observe. An hour goes by and I'm beginning to think she might be a mirage or a figment of my imagination. No way a normal person would stand still like this for over an hour. How long had she been standing before I noticed her? I have work in a few hours. My eyelids move slowly as fatigue weighs heavier by the second so I decide to abandon my stakeout and go to bed. Then just as I am about to turn around and walk away from the sliding doors, she moves. She slowly walks off the sidewalk onto the road and then turns and starts walking down the hill. I keep my eyes fixed on her as she walks out of the light and into the darkness. This light pole is the only working one in the street. Her silhouette moves further and further away as she makes her way down the hill until I can't see her anymore.
"What the hell was that?" I whisper.
She must be a crazy person. I walk to the kitchen and put my cup in the sink. I'm trying to make sense of what I just watched but my brain is too tired to think. Time for bed, for real this time.
YOU ARE READING
An Astute Observation
FantasíaA young man sees a woman standing under the light pole in front of his yard one night and observes her. He soon learns that there is more to her than meets the eye and that she would change his life forever.
