Dancing Midnight
About Three years ago. I live downtown in the major city in
NZ.I've always been a night person.So I would often find myself
bored after my roommate who was decidedly not a night person
went to sleep.To pass the time I used to go for long walks and
spend the time thinking .I Spent two years like that walking
alone at night and never once had a reason to feel afraid .
I always used to joke with my roommates that even the
drug dealers in the city were polite. But all that changed in
just a few minutes of one evening.It was a Wednesday
Somewhere between 1:00 and 2:00 in the morning, and
I was walking near police patrolled park quite a ways from
my apartment It was a quiet night even for a weeknight with
very little traffic and almost no one on foot The park as it was
most nights was completely empty I went down a short side
street in order to loop back down my apartment when I first
noticed him at The far end of the street on my side was the
silhouette of a man dancing. It was a strange dance similar
to a Waltz but he finished each box with a nod forward stride
I Guess you could say hughes dance walking headed straight
for me Deciding he was probably drunk I stepped as close as I
could to the road to give him the majority of the sidewalk to
pass me the closer He got the more I realized how gracefully
he was moving He was very tall and lanky and wearing an
old suit He danced closer still until I could make out his face
His eyes were open wide and wild head tilted back slightly
looking off at the sky His mouth was formed in a painfully
wide cartoon of a smile Between the eyes and the smile I
decided to cross the street before he danced any closer
I took my eyes off of him to cross the empty street as I
reached the other side I glanced back and Then stopped
dead in my tracks He had stopped dancing and was standing
with one foot in the street perfectly parallel to me he was
facing me but still looking skyward smiles still wide on
his lips I Was completely and utterly unnerved by this
I Started walking again, but kept my eyes on the man.
He didn't move Once I had put about half a block between us
I turned away from him for a moment to watch the sidewalk
in front of me The Street and sidewalk ahead of me were
completely empty Still unnerved I looked back to where he
had been standing to find him God For the briefest of moments
I felt relieved until I noticed him he had crossed the street and
was now slightly crouched down I Couldn't tell for sure due to
the distance and the shadows, but I was certain. He was
facing me I Have looked away from him from no more than
ten seconds. So it was clear that he had moved fast I
Was so shocked and I stood there for some time staring
at him and Then he started moving toward me again
He took giant exaggerated tiptoed steps as if he were
a cartoon character sneaking up on someone except
he was moving very very quickly I'd Like to say at
this point that I ran away or pulled out my pepper
spray or cellphone or anything at all? but I didn't I
just stood there completely frozen as the smiling
man Crept toward me and Then he stopped again about a car
length away from me Still smiling a smile still looking to the sky
When I finally found my voice, I blurted out the first thing that
came to mind What I meant to ask was what the hell do you
want in an angry commanding tone? What came out was a
whimper What the hell? Regardless of whether or not humans
can smell fear they can certainly hear it. I heard it in my own
voice That only made me more afraid But he didn't react to it
at all. He just stood there smiling and Then after what felt like
forever he turned around Very slowly and started dancing
walking away Just like that Not wanting to turn my back to
him again I just watched him go until he was far enough away
to be out of sight and then I realized something He wasn't
moving away anymore.Nor was he dancing. I watched in horror
as the distant shape of him got bigger and bigger He was
coming back my way He was coming back my way and this
time he was running I Ran to I ran until I was off the side
road and back onto a better lit road with Sparse traffic
Looking behind me then he was nowhere to be found The rest
of my way home. I kept glancing over my shoulder always
expecting to see his stupid smile, but he was never there I
Lived in that city for six months after that and I never went out
for another walk There was something about his face that
always haunted me. He didn't look drunk.
NZ.I've always been a night person.So I would often find myself
bored after my roommate who was decidedly not a night person
went to sleep.To pass the time I used to go for long walks and
spend the time thinking .I Spent two years like that walking
alone at night and never once had a reason to feel afraid .
I always used to joke with my roommates that even the
drug dealers in the city were polite. But all that changed in
just a few minutes of one evening.It was a Wednesday
Somewhere between 1:00 and 2:00 in the morning, and
I was walking near police patrolled park quite a ways from
my apartment It was a quiet night even for a weeknight with
very little traffic and almost no one on foot The park as it was
most nights was completely empty I went down a short side
street in order to loop back down my apartment when I first
noticed him at The far end of the street on my side was the
silhouette of a man dancing. It was a strange dance similar
to a Waltz but he finished each box with a nod forward stride
I Guess you could say hughes dance walking headed straight
for me Deciding he was probably drunk I stepped as close as I
could to the road to give him the majority of the sidewalk to
pass me the closer He got the more I realized how gracefully
he was moving He was very tall and lanky and wearing an
old suit He danced closer still until I could make out his face
His eyes were open wide and wild head tilted back slightly
looking off at the sky His mouth was formed in a painfully
wide cartoon of a smile Between the eyes and the smile I
decided to cross the street before he danced any closer
I took my eyes off of him to cross the empty street as I
reached the other side I glanced back and Then stopped
dead in my tracks He had stopped dancing and was standing
with one foot in the street perfectly parallel to me he was
facing me but still looking skyward smiles still wide on
his lips I Was completely and utterly unnerved by this
I Started walking again, but kept my eyes on the man.
He didn't move Once I had put about half a block between us
I turned away from him for a moment to watch the sidewalk
in front of me The Street and sidewalk ahead of me were
completely empty Still unnerved I looked back to where he
had been standing to find him God For the briefest of moments
I felt relieved until I noticed him he had crossed the street and
was now slightly crouched down I Couldn't tell for sure due to
the distance and the shadows, but I was certain. He was
facing me I Have looked away from him from no more than
ten seconds. So it was clear that he had moved fast I
Was so shocked and I stood there for some time staring
at him and Then he started moving toward me again
He took giant exaggerated tiptoed steps as if he were
a cartoon character sneaking up on someone except
he was moving very very quickly I'd Like to say at
this point that I ran away or pulled out my pepper
spray or cellphone or anything at all? but I didn't I
just stood there completely frozen as the smiling
man Crept toward me and Then he stopped again about a car
length away from me Still smiling a smile still looking to the sky
When I finally found my voice, I blurted out the first thing that
came to mind What I meant to ask was what the hell do you
want in an angry commanding tone? What came out was a
whimper What the hell? Regardless of whether or not humans
can smell fear they can certainly hear it. I heard it in my own
voice That only made me more afraid But he didn't react to it
at all. He just stood there smiling and Then after what felt like
forever he turned around Very slowly and started dancing
walking away Just like that Not wanting to turn my back to
him again I just watched him go until he was far enough away
to be out of sight and then I realized something He wasn't
moving away anymore.Nor was he dancing. I watched in horror
as the distant shape of him got bigger and bigger He was
coming back my way He was coming back my way and this
time he was running I Ran to I ran until I was off the side
road and back onto a better lit road with Sparse traffic
Looking behind me then he was nowhere to be found The rest
of my way home. I kept glancing over my shoulder always
expecting to see his stupid smile, but he was never there I
Lived in that city for six months after that and I never went out
for another walk There was something about his face that
always haunted me. He didn't look drunk.
He didn't look high He looked completely and utterly insane
And that's a very scary thing to see.
And that's a very scary thing to see.
Dancing
Midnight.
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