In the darkness of the night

[bintarab]

It gets creepy-quiet around here at about this time of night. It's only 9:30 my time (GMT - 5 hours), but most of you are sleeping and won't log on for another good ten hours. Even Bibliophilia's empty at this hour ...

spooky in here ...

my voice echoes ...

something's scratching in a corner ...

I have an urge to turn on all the lights in the house ...

~bint

[delph_ambi]

Don't turn on the lights. You don't want to see what's scratching in the other corner, believe me...

[Ed]

It's beeeHiiiiiND YOOoooooouuu

[delboy]

... sorry, but it's these damn fleas.

And my calloused fingertips scraping on the dry dead skin of my...

[bintarab]

Being awake when everyone else is asleep ... now that's creepy! And so simple, it hardly takes anything at all to set up or use in a story.

~bint

[Ed]

I like that feeling, and it doesn't feel creepy to me at all. When I was a kid, I did a paper round, and I used to get to the shop every morning at 6 AM. As I cycled around delivering the papers, I'd see a few other early birds, like the milkman and later the posty, but for the most part the streets were deserted and the curtains drawn, no cars, no people, stillness, silence. Then the farther around my round I got, the more the world would stir awake until, by the time I cycled home, the streets were full of people rushing to work and the world got back to bedlam. It always gave me a sinking feeling. I like peace and quiet. Always have

[bintarab]

Ah, but early in the morning is a very different feel from late at night. Your own body temp drops, and your pulse slows. It gets hard to think straight. Every sound means something it shouldn't. The quiet is creepy, but noises are even more disturbing. When I only know people through this online connection, they could fall off the face of the earth, and I would never know.

Maybe none of you exist at all, except in my head. Mad delusions about made up people are far more comforting than ... nothing ... quiet ... getting sleepy ... feeling like there's no one out there ... maybe I don't exist at all! Maybe I've fallen off the face of the earth, and I just don't know it yet.

I liked your description of the rousing world, Ed. That's why I'd like to stay in it.

~bint

[rsmccoy]

Worst job ever was security guard, midnight to 8AM at an old arsenal. I was the only one at the place at night and had to drive to an old warehouse and do a round. A round consisted of walking to each detex key and inserting it into the detex clock to make a mark on a tape to prove I had been there and when. There were four keys.

THe building was huge, with only four 5 watt yellow light bulbs spaced about two hundred yards apart in a big square around the perimeter. It was heated with radiators, and the pipes would grown and boards would creek even with no wind. It felt like I was drowning and reaching out for that tiny spec of light, praying it didn't go out, then having to leave it and go toward the next and the next until I was free to leave.

Rats, raccoons and sometimes homeless prowled randomly, and don't even get me started on the bats. One night after leaving, as I walked back toward the pickup, something swooped out of the sky and grabbed at my hair. I lost bladder control, but thankfully didn't have anything left but a few drops. Only after I turned the headlights on could I see the owl.

[Ed]

I always hated guard duty - if you stare out into the darkness long enough you start seeing things that aren't there... or perhaps they are.

Up until I stopped smoking, I was a borderline insomniac, and would quite often be awake into the small hours of the morning. Must admit I quite liked it, though. There was all sorts of stuff on TV that you wouldn't normally watch, and those times when I'd wake up at say 4 AM and not be able to get back to sleep, I'd eventually get up, make myself a cup of tea and sit and smoke cigarettes, while watching TV. TBH, that's about the only thing I miss about not smoking any more - those were the best ones of the day.