It was 4:00 am and everyone was asleep. No one was moving or whispering. I could leave and no one would know. No one could stop me.
I rose from my blanket and quietly tip-toed into the next room, stepping around the sleeping bodies on the floor. Silent; invisible. Someone moved and I froze. Wait… wait… Again I stepped without a sound until I reached the front door and slowly turned the knob. Pausing a moment before opening it, I stepped outdoors.
The night was a thick wash of fog. The far flung light from the street lamp was suspended in the air around me, a heavy yellowish presence. Immobile. Waiting. I could hear hushed sounds from somewhere on the far side of the dank mist. Surrounded by the smell of the ocean and drifting fog, I was shielded from the rest of the world. I could neither see nor be seen. No prying eyes. No questions.
Walking to the front sidewalk I turned left and paused. Looking briefly around and listening, I could not detect any movement close by. No breathing. No witness. No one. Satisfied, I continued down the concrete walkway into the diminishing light.
Was quite drawn in.