Midnight's Untold Message

The midnight air was cool and still.

A huge, orange, harvest moon hung in the eastern sky.

We walked next to each other in silence.

My hands stuffed in my jacket pocket.

Our footsteps made soft scuffing noises in the leaves that had fallen on the sidewalk.

When had that happened?

Fall had come without me even noticing.

The last I remembered, the leaves were still green and hanging on the trees.

We tromped past the neat brick houses lined up along the sidewalk like sentinels.

Each lawn a perfect square,

Dark green and silvery with early frost.

The street was empty and dark except for the yellow glow of one, lonely, streetlamp

At the end of the road.

I know just how it feels.

I imagined I could hear the echo of our footsteps, bouncing off the houses as we passed.

She was silent, with her hands in her pockets.

I wondered if she was mad.

At me?

The whole situation?

Finally, I couldn’t stand the silence anymore.

I said her name.

Just her name.

I couldn't think of anything else to say at the time.

But i look back, and realize that i could have said so much more.

I should have.

My voice sounded faint and trembling in the still night air.

I realized I’ve never said her name out loud before.

Not her real name.

It tasted foreign in my mouth.

She stopped.

I stopped.

I didn’t know what to say after that.

It was silent.

Us, just walking together, but saying nothing.

Until finally, she walked away from me.

In the opposite direction.

Leaving me to fight for myself, with no more protection.

Leaving me alone to freeze in the coldness of her footsteps.

She left me all alone.

I had nowhere to go.

I still have nowhere to go...