Have You Ever Seen the Sun Rise at Midnight?

Leaves

The night wind blew swiftly past, ruffling your clothes and sending the red and orange leaves, which had shown so brightly in the sunlight earlier that day, rustling ominously above you and scraping eerily about your feet.

You picked up the pace.

       Maybe you really should put more effort into searching for another job, if not for one more immediately around your appartement building, than at least one where you got off before the early hours of the morning when not even drunks were still around- at least the ones who kept some semblance of their consciousness.

         You pulled your jacket tighter around you despite being suitably warm and kept moving, shoes clacking on the pavement of the park's walkway, leaves shaking all around, and eyes straining to keep track of the already only dimly lit path on the occasion one of the lights were out.

There was a person up ahead. You hesitated. They stood there swaying on the side of the path, hunched, one arm wrapped about their torso, the other hanging limply to where it's fingers tapped against its knee as if it had no control over the limb anymore.

Carefully, you walked to the far side of the path- there really wasn't any other way for you to go but forward- all the shops would be closed by now and the friends you had lived on the other side of this park as well, there would be no point in turning back, not now. Perhaps if there was a phone booth in the area, and you had enough coins to make a call, you could have gone there. But there wasn't one, not in the park.

You crossed as far as you could from the path, your worn shoes squelching as you stepped off and into the muddy grass that lined it and kept moving. You didn't dare go any further

Slump, umpf. Squelp, sleesh. The ground squished and squeaked beneath your feet with each step as the mud suctioned onto the sole and then struggled to keep its grasp. You shuttered at the sounds which would only draw further attention to you, but you didn't want to step any further from the path, you could only see an outline of where you were walking as it was, and you'd rather take your chances running than be plunged entirely into the dark and lose what little visibility you had.

The figure's limp hand shook and raised partially up towards you, finger pointing while the others hung limp. You inched further away, bumping into the trunk of a tree- something jolted and shook and for a moment you forgot how to breathe but you didn't dare look away from the person who was masked in the shadows.

"Hell...." His voice was growling and rattled as he pronounced that single word and your heart froze entirely in your chest before it took off faster than the quickest horse, most express train, or even the newest model of those horseless carriages people were so big on these days.

Branches caught on your clothes, but you had already leapt into motion, running quicker than you ever had before in your life, springing from the mud on the side of the path and back onto the path as you charged towards the exit.

There was a harsh, wet, thud behind you, but you didn't pay it any mind. It took longer than it should have for you to realize the frequency of the yellowish pools of light was lessening as more and more of the street lamps were out along the path and you were, in fact, only charging into darkness, just the gate, faintly lit by the streetlights, a distance before you the only clue that you were even going in the right direction.

You didn't pay that any mind either.

Like a startled horse you bolted in the one direction you hoped would lead to safety as quickly as you could.

It felt like you ran on for an eternity, the gate never get any nearer, but abruptly you ran straight into it, the gate rattling from the force. You felt desperately for the latch only to see it had been chained shut.