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I like going out for walks late at night.
Well really I don't have much of a preference as to when I go for my walks, but I don't like running into people all that much. It's not really that I don't want to see people, it's just that there's this little song and dance of walking around the other person or people that I'd just rather not deal with. Also the darkness of night is somewhat comforting, knowing that I'm not easily seen. I sometimes like to play with my imagination somewhat, creating little worlds in my head and somewhat acting out interactions or the sounds of the environment. The thing is I look like a lunatic doing it, waving my hands about, making hums and brrs, so the darkness gives me a chance to act it all out without bothering anyone. That is, if I don't run into anyone.
There have been a couple times where I've not seen a person and acted completely crazy directly in front of them. I was imagining a new type of engine that combined a rotary along with a sort of turbo-jet engine and was acting out shifting through the gears, making the noises of the roaring, crackling jet behind me, when I looked up and saw a very bewildered middle-aged guy looking at me about 20 feet ahead. As soon as I saw him I stopped and as we passed I muttered out a quick little "evening" to try and show I wasn't completely psychotic, but I don't think he was very convinced. Even when I'm acting normal, just strolling along listening to my podcasts, I've had people cross to the other side of the street. I don't take it personally, in fact it's somewhat comforting in a weird way to be avoided. For so long in my life, throughout grade school and most of high school, I always feared that people didn't want me around. I wanted to take up as little space as possible and disappear. I thought people were constantly judging me for every movement I made. So when I'm out at night and I see someone look at me, hesitate, and cross the road, it just scratches that little itch, to be so blunt and uncaring, condemning me as a thing to avoid, it's wonderfully comforting.
There are other people who roam the streets at night, mostly homeless people, but others who also are just strolling about. I've affectionately given us the name of "night people". Whenever Roomie comes with me on my night walks, and there's another person heading our way, I always reassure him that it's just another night person and that they are as scared of us as we are of them. I do this somewhat jokingly, like when you're reassuring a person about not being too scared about a wild animal, but it also reflects the reality of the situation. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little scared whenever I pass another night person on the street, it's subdued as I've done it more, though it's still present.
Really the whole being feared aspect of walking late at night is somewhat liberating. I don't have to worry about doing something weird since I'm already feared, so why not act freely. I'll snap and sing along to the music I'm listening to, I'll do little dances, I'll laugh jovially at a good joke on a podcast, I'll challenge what the host of the podcast just said, I'll laugh and scoff at the snarky political signs and bumper stickers of houses and cars I walk by, I'll attempt to climb a tree when an opportune branch crosses my path. I live true to myself more than I ever could among the day walkers.
I am truly free when shrouded in the darkness of night