Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

Wonder in the Night

It's dark. The sun has long gone down. I find myself driving empty streets long after others have made their way to slumber. Why do I choose this life, these late hours devoid of the touch of humanity? What is it that I see in the night sky that draws me? What in the night air leaves me intoxicated when I breathe its scent? It is no physical comfort I find, my eyes are dry from lack of rest. My body aches for sleep; still I hold onto wakefulness in these wee, dark hours. Is it the silken presence of the night that so entices me? Perhaps it is that absence of all others, the leaving behind of the pressures of social interactions and responsibilities found in the day.

It is all of these things, and more. There is something unspoken, intangible. I can neither grasp it with mere hands nor explain it with elusive words. These late moments are formed of a magic undiscovered throughout the remaining hours of the day. I drink it in, but find that its draught is the very thing which pulls me away from its sweet taste. In tasting it I find that slumber calls me. The calmness of this hour overcomes me, and my weariness gains sway over my mind. I drift away from this world of wonder into one equally magical and inexplicable.

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