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My City

A walk in the night

I’m walking alone in the night. Alone on the empty street. A strange light is hovering above me. My shadow is dancin...
By Pratik Mainali

I’m walking alone in the night. Alone on the empty street. A strange light is hovering above me. My shadow is dancing around me- along with the shadows of the trees. The wind is whistling past the leaves and an insect is shrieking. There is a strange hissing sound but that’s probably coming from my nose. Other than that there is silence. Chilling Silence.


The cold wind brushing past me has frozen my ears- made my eyes teary- and has made my jaws tight. My throat is dry and I feel a lump every time I swallow. The rest of my body is covered with thick winter clothes. Above me, the moon with patches of black pimples is glowing. As I walk the leaves crunch under my boot. My hands are inside my warm jacket pockets.


The back of my skull is making a strange cracking sound. I feel something touching it from the inside. I feel as if there is something there. Something that is trying to get out of my ears. To my ears, it sounds like a newspaper is folding inside it. I’ve often wondered if a spider or a cockroach found its way there while I was asleep. And is now trapped- half dead, feeding of my brain.


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I’ve heard cockroaches never die- and I fear it’s kicking its pointy legs in the delicate part of my brain. Making it pound, making me shudder in the process. Making me shut my eyes, clench my teeth, curl my fingers into a fist and cringe. I’ve told my mom about this but she keeps telling me it’s the cold and I should stop overreacting. But anyways- back to my narrative.


Far away I can see stones gleaming in the moonlight. Stones surrounded by grass on all sides. They look like skulls with hair. It’s a chilling sight. 


Suddenly I hear a distinct rustling of the leaves above me and my legs suddenly grow weak. My arms instinctively grab my jacket pocket. The icy tears brought by the cold streamed down my eyes and have blurred my vision. In my back, I can hear footsteps approaching towards me. My legs are now numb- but I’m dragging it as fast as I can. My ears are no longer so sharp- the icy cold wind has paralyzed it. But deep down in my heart, I can feel something approaching me. In the edge of panic, I can only hear the nerves on my neck throbbing wildly and deeply. 


Abruptly, my legs grew stronger and I ran as far as my legs could carry. I’m running without looking back with my heart pounding heavily beneath my thick Nike jacket. I can hear the beak wind rustling with my ears- it’s the only thing I can hear. 


Finally, I’ve reached my home. I take out the long shafted keys from my pocket my hands are clumsy and unsteady. I put my key in the lock and the lock clicks open. I push the door- jump in- and fasten it as soon as I can with my clammy, nervous hands. 

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