Midnight Streets

6/3/09

I'm in a strange city where no one knows my name.
I walk up and down the black-paved streets and find myself wandering up and down.
Back and forth.
Around and around in circles.
Wondering where the hell I'm going.
I enter a local store to ask for directions.
As soon as they went to speak I noticed their tongues were black.
They spoke English but the words that came out of my mouth were incomprehensible.
Screaming at the top of my lungs I shouted, "Why can't you understand?! Why aren't you listening?!"
I left the shop frustrated, anxious, and short of breath.
What am I going to do?
Everything is black.
Nothing around me is familiar.
Nothing around me is welcoming.
Nothing around me is enjoyable.
I entered a coffee shop hoping for a little familiarity and a turtle mocha to calm my nerves.
Everyone sat around with their heads buried in a novel as they sipped from their off-white colored mug.
I went to order my drink and they all sat up and looked in my direction with their black retro sunglasses on.
I couldn't see their eyes, but I knew they weren't even looking at me.
I looked at the list of drinks.
The first said: Coffee - Black.
The next said: Coffee - Black.
All they had was black coffee.
No cream.
No sugar.
No flavor shots.
I wasn't wanting something hard and tasteless so I left.
I could feel the eyes on me as I left.
It was night time which didn't help me find a way out.
There were no stars.
Not a single glimmer of light.
No dusk or dawn or hint of sun.
The moon even hid from the midnight sky.
It was pitch black.
Then street lights lit up the town.
Each one was perfectly in alignment with the next.
From a distance, it appeared only one on each side lit up the whole street.
Like magic.
As I kept walking, the light behind me turned off.
One by one...
I ran faster to escape the dark and escape the foreign town.
But the lights continued to die with my pace.
I couldn't escape and soon I was blind.
Everything was black.
Then a single light shone down on me.
I was back where I had started.
Walking up and down that black-paved street where no one knew my name.