Into the night

[Verbal Mike]

I stepped out into the night. There was music in my ears. I needed fresh air, needed to get my legs moving, needed to clear my head. I had no plan, no route in mind. I started off in a familiar direction but let myself wander. Soon enough, I was lost. It was like I had stepped out of this city and into another, new to me. I hadn't been out often in the seven months since I moved here. I spent most of my time at home, staring at that old familiar face, ah, that glowing portal - the Internet. Which brings me back to why I was out wandering the streets of this glorious city in the first place. The boredome was getting to me. I must have gone stir-crazy, or perhaps the lack of activity had slowly driven me to depression. The grey skies of this land did not help.

I found myself on streets I had never seen. My legs took me here, and they took me there. Around every corner, a new discovery. Parks unfolded before me, and quiet residential streets, big and small. In one park I saw a miserable two-legged dog-creature skulking through a patch of neon tulips. Was Goddess playing tricks on me, or had I finally gone off that cliff, into the deep void of madness? Or were the drugs doing this, flashing back with these crazy visions? I walked on, not daring to look again. That bastard looked mean. Better let it frolick amongst the tulips.

I kept on marching through the night-time wonderland. Buildings taller than elephants, streets lit up as bright as day, all empty as space. Trees so real but all too artificial. Often I would cross a street where no crosswalk could be found, only to stop in the middle of the street to see which way I should go next. No cars came. I didn't get run over. Before me, a tunnel of sorts. Some kind of passageway, placed between two buildings. Maybe it was a preparation for future construction work. The lighting inside this mystery tunnel, and the green vines wreathed around its entrance, all confirmed my suspicion that something unusual was afoot. On the other end, another park. Had I been flung, I wondered, into some strange green desert, covered in parks, devoid of life?

The music fell on me in waves, engulfed me, flooded my conscious mind, drowned out what passed for a reality around me. Floating on these wave, trembling with every riff, beating with every drum, I marched on, through this urban wonderland. All thoughts of returning to my nest were gone. All that was left was the wanderlust, the adventuring spirit of exploration, and, ah - the music.