Nightly Walking

Sometimes I have trouble falling to sleep. Just lying in my bed tossing and turning hoping that sleep will come soon. But it seems I can never find the slumber I want. Just closing my eyes and lying-in bed but nothing happens. Not even a drift. I hit bed usually by 10:30pm. I even take a sleeping pill every night to fall asleep. Not even that helps. I do this all the time like it is a common part of my routine. I did find that going outdoors and walking around the neighborhood helps. My neighborhood is about a mile long. My neighborhood is split up into two halves like a circle. It only takes me roughly 30 minutes to walk at a slow pace to make it back home. I usually do this mile walk at around 11:20pm every night. This helps me fall asleep quickly when I get home. My neighborhood also has a lot of trees around the area. Trees behind houses and beside houses very densely. We usually have a lot of deer, racoons, possums, and every once in a while, a stray cat. My neighborhood only has four street lights total. Meaning if you walk by a street light you just did a ¼ of a mile. One of my nightly walks I remember vividly.

On a summer night in late June, I was on my regular scheduled walk. I was about five minutes away from my house. I could hear the wind tussling with the leaves on the trees as I passed them. It is just really refreshing to hear nature with no modern distractions like planes, cars, etc. The night felt really comfortable. I felt like I could have spent the night outside and would have been completely fine. I continued strolling causally down the street of my neighborhood. I remember passing the first street light and felt like something was off. I did not think much of it and continued on my walk. While continuing to walk down the street something moved out of my lefts eye peripheral vision. I just chalked it up as my tired mind and kept walking. Then, again something caught the attention of my left peripheral vision. I stop walking and looked. I was taken back at first glance of this “mysterious figure”. But when the figure passed by the 2^nd street light, I noticed it was just a deer. I continued to stroll past the 2^nd street light. Halfway there I thought. 

The wind started to pick up and started to forcefully shake the leaves on the trees. I picked up the pace for fear of being caught in a late-night thunderstorm. I made it to the other side of my neighborhood. I remember pausing for a moment to look up at the moon and see how bright it was. It was a full moon and was white as snow. It was such a relaxing sight to lay witness to. I took my eyes off the moon and continued to walk down the street. I looked ahead and saw the 3^rd street light. I started to approach the 3^rd street light when I saw a figure standing under the street light. I paused in my tracks. I was about 50 feet away from the light. I was a little freaked out because usually no one is out here at this time besides me. The figure was wearing a dark blue hoodie and black jeans with boots. It appeared to be a man. The man was leaning against the street light with his back facing mean. The hoodie was over the man’s head. After observing this man for a couple of seconds I decided to just continue my walk. Besides my house was only a ¼ of a mile away now.

As I started to close the distance between me and the hooded man, he suddenly jumped up from his slouched position and faced me. I stopped walking and was about 10 feet from the man. He shouted “Hey you scared me!”. I apologized and kept walking. I tried to walk pass the man but he blocked the sidewalk. I apologized again and tried to walk around him. The man walked around too and stood in front of me. I looked at the man and could see that he had a dirty looking greyish beard and greasy dirty looking hair sticking out from under his hoodie. The nights wind was also blowing and unfortunately blew the man’s stench in my face. My nostrils were never the same again. The man smelt like rotting tuna fish and dumpster juice.

While still looking at the man’s face, he reached out and put his hand on my shoulder gripping it tightly. I was shocked at how strong his grip was. I took a step back and the man told me he wanted to show me something. He pointed to a group of about five trees in the dark away from the street light. I knew right then and there I needed to get home as fast as possible. I told the man No and walked past him while glancing over my shoulder periodically. When I looked backed the man was still standing in the street by the side walk just staring at me. He then yelled and demanded that I followed him to those group of trees. I was basically sprint walking by now. I heard loud foot stomps and I glanced over my right shoulder. I could see the man. He was running at me full force. He was fast too. My heart began to hurt and beat fast. My fight or flight response kicked in and I sprinted fast for my life down the street. I turned and peeked over my shoulder again and the man was about seven feet away from me. I continued running and screaming through the neighborhood. Thank God one of my neighbors is a cop near my home. My neighbor came rushing outside with his gun. I ran past him and heard him scream and then a couple of loud bangs. I stopped running and turned and look. My neighbor asked me was I okay. I looked down on the ground and saw the man that was chasing me on the ground dead. My neighbor told me the man was holding a knife. I looked closer and saw the knife. My neighbor told me that the man stopped chasing me and lunged at him; so he shot the man. We both called the authorities.

The ambulance and police showed up. The ambulance took the body of the crazed man while the police started questioning me and my neighbor. While talking to the police I mentioned the area where the crazed man wanted me to follow him to. Two police cars went and checked out the location I told them about. What they discovered shocked everyone. They found a body of a young woman mutilated past recognition. But that was not the worst part. When the man’s body was taken in for an autopsy, they found human flesh in the man’s stomach. They confirmed the flesh was that of the deceased women. They said that the flesh did not start to digest yet in the man’s stomach. Meaning it was fresh. They also did not find any drugs or alcohol in the man’s system. They found no health records of the man that stated he had a mental illness. Meaning he was fully aware and in control of his actions. This still haunts me to this day. I have since started looking for a new neighborhood to stay in and stopped my nightly walks. I am so thankful that my neighbor sprang into action. No telling what that crazed man would have done to me if I had gone near those trees.