I got to my house and went inside to get a candle and my dog. I decided to go across the street to an open area in the park so that I could better see the sky and it could see me.
But, halfway there, just when I hit the little bridge that goes acros the stream that runs into the pond at the park, I heard a noise.
It was only a frog, but Henry stopped and pulled at his leash. Then another frog answered, then another, in rapid fire succession.
The sounds made me stop dead in my tracks. I wanted to go on. I even willed myself a few steps further, but Henry resisted.
What was out there in dark? Was it just the unknown that frightened him or was it something more sinister?
I pulled on his leash a few more times, but he wouldn't budge. After years of having pets, I knew something had to be wrong for him not to go scurrying out along the path like he always does.
I turned away from the direction that I had planned on going.
I turned toward home.
In that instant, Henry became alive. He tugged - no- pulled me in the direction toward the house.
He pulled so hard that I began to run.
We ran so fast.
An overwhelming feeling of terror began to creep over me.
It was like the darkness itself was trying to swallow me whole.
We ran and ran, as fast as I could go.
Terror flooded through me.
What was out there in darkness? What was after me?
Finally, I arrived safe on my porch where I desperately tried to lock the screen door as quickly as I could.
I paused, waiting for something to come howling out of the blackness at the thin layer of screen that protected me from whatever was out there.
But nothing came.
And now I sit here, hiding in the dark, afraid of what is in the shadows.
What was it?
Or, more than that, what is it?
What am I so damned afraid of?
Boy, is that ever a loaded question.