Hmmm, its Valentine’s day the first night I’m actually going to meet her alone. It’s two A.M now. We have been texting for a while. I tip toed down the dark hallway close to my mother’s room to check for her snoring. Hearing her gentle wheezing, I know the coast is clear. There are no windows in this hallway so the darkness is almost surprising. I’m scared to make lots of noise as I stumble my way through. Crawling from the darkness of the hallway and into the dining room, I look up and see something standing in front of me across the dining room table, I jump. I realized it’s just my reflection in the mirror across from me. No longer frightened, I walk to the kitchen counter and grab my shoes off of the floor. I creep, trying not to make the slightest noise, across the kitchen. The kitchen is connected to the living room, not much farther to the sliding glass back door, so I walk calmly, assured that I just need to walk through the living room, around the table in the center of the room, and down the upcoming stairs and to the back door. But as I saunter through the room I slip down those three carpeted stairs, and nearly hit the table with a deafening crash. I think for a second that her breathing has stopped but then the wheezing continues and I can breathe easy. Slowly opening the door, I sneak outside.
I change the volume of the phone to the highest it can go to listen for any texts telling me where to meet her. I slip on my shoes silently, listening for anyone or anything around. I walk out the back yard and to the sidewalk around the house. Adrenalin builds and I begin jogging down the block. It’s lightly snowing, and with no one awake the silence is amazing. With warm blood pumping through me right now, I feel so alive. I’ve never done this before. The night sky looks white from all the snow, the streets dark, and the way everything is so still and lifeless, it gives you a sense of being the only one alive. It’s not that cold out. I’m listening to cold by crossfade as I steadily keep my pace trying to jog past all my neighbor’s houses. Alright I’m on the main street now. I remembered the directions, 3 more blocks to the left on this road, so that’s about half a mile. I don’t want to take too long to get there; I need to run until I get to the end of the three blocks. I’m also watching out for any police cars, that’s the last thing I need. This seems like it’s so far away now, it didn’t seem that far of a walk just talking about it. I guess I imagined it being much shorter. I briskly walk half the distance watching out for any cars, and stopping and just walking casually when I do see one. I run the rest while doing the same thing again. Finally okay, there are only four blocks to the right now it will be the second house to my left. While walking down this street passing by old houses I never seemed to have noticed before, I see a big hedge. As I was walking by this hedge, in the silence of the night, I hear a loud barking which startles me and I start to run. After finally making it to the end of the last block I slowly walk across the street while glancing at the floor blanketed by a thin sheet of snow. I continue to the house and turn around waiting silently looking at the street light and watching the snow drift to the ground. I hear a door creak behind me. She slowly steps out, it’s her.