Flames

Last night I snuck out of the house around 1 AM, this time leaving a door unlocked and with not just one, but two house keys in hand.

I braved the lake, walking on the ice despite the growing patch of open water along the east shore.  The snow beneath my feet crunched loudly with each step.  So much for sneaking - the night was still and the open lake amplified every sound. 

The stars overhead romanced me along the way.  "For me, this is heaven" I thought, and then credited Jimmy Eat World for their brilliant song as it played in my head.

The first star I see
May not be, a star
You can't do a thing but wait
So let's wait for one more...

A guy, who is referred to as Ayden in my book, put that song on a mix CD he made for me years ago.  Nothing ever panned out between us, but Jimmy Eat World and I still have a great "relationship."

Sand Lake Winter Sunset * On the left is the South Shore

When I arrived, the guy from down the shore was finishing some work for a company in New Delhi.  Typically our movie nights don't start this late, but around midnight he made mention of one over facebook chat.  After he said, "For people like us time is only relative," I thought, why not hang out and watch a movie at 1 AM?

But the movie we watched was somewhat creepy and so on my walk back home I was a mental mess.  I kept thinking something was going to get me.  My heavenly walk down the shore had turned into a real life horror movie.

To make matters worse, deep in the woods, between his place and mine, I could see flames of orange.  It was after 3 AM, and no one else lives between us on our shore in the winter months.  I considered returning to his place to tell him about the fire.  But I was already more than halfway back, and just wanted to get all the way back, to the safey of my home.  After all, what if these are witchcraft people or satan worshipers in our woods?  And what if they hear my loud snow crunching, come after me and tie me up, and then sacrifice me into this fire?  My imagination  ran wild as I picked up my pace and gazed at the flames of orange in the distance.

As I climbed the staircase up to my house, the moon exposed my ridiculous thinking.  At the top of the stairs I could see the half moon in full view.  Funny, the moon was the orange "fire" I had seen burning in the woods.

Today the guy from down the shore told me he had also noticed the moon.  And not only that, but he had conjured up a "horror story" too.  He thought someone had left on a light and was running up their electric bill unnecessarily.  Ha!  Now, that is scary.