Bumps in the Night

It's 12:58 am.

The small fan is whirring its whir behind my head, oscillating back and forth. On one end of the cycle it rattles a plastic cover still on our end table lamp.

Haven't been up this late in quite a while...nine o'clock is usual for me.

I tried to go to sleep around nine...no luck. I wasn't really even thinking about anything in particular, like work, or projects, or writing, or vacations. Just lying awake. Wait...I was thinking about something, but it wasn't anything worth losing sleep over.

A strawberry Ho Ho and half a pint of water helps pass the time. The movie on cable I've seen a couple times, not really watching it.

It's not hot right now, but still a little warm...I'm sweating a bit here on the living room couch in my boxer shorts. One o'clock now.

Awake, alone in the middle of the night. Even though she is fast asleep in the bedroom, I feel a alone. The movie on cable...the volume is too low to hear anything, don't want to wake her up. A little spooky. The fan continues to whir behind my head, rattling the plastic on the lamp shade every few seconds. A single bead of sweat runs down my side from under my arm.

I've always wondered whether or not there are things that go bump in the night. As a child I used to sleep with my head under the covers every night. As I got older, whatever fear I had lying in my bed gradually went away...for the most part. That boogey man in the closet, one of my biggest concerns. What about those boggey men outside, in the yard, in the middle of the night? I'm still a little worried about them.

Guess I'll try hitting the sack again. I'll turn out the kitchen light first, then smoke one last cigarette on the backyard patio. It's dark out there, but there is a full moon tonight. I pushed open the sliding door and went outside.

I never came back.