I stood silently in the alley watching the crowd. A jostling mass of bodies. Snippets of conversation made their way to me as people went along their way. One man had just got a job as an accountant. Another man had news from the border. Exclamations, laughter, and shouts rang throughout the city roads. It was the rush hour after work ended. Everyone was eagerly making their way to their various destinations. Clubs, restaurants, or their home. No one was scared or anxious. Here in the central city, it seemed as if the war was nothing but a dream.

I knew better though. As the crowd thinned with the onset of the cold night, the sounds of the war made its way to my ears. The faint constant booming, so soft that it was overpowered by the occasional footsteps of a pedestrian. I stood for a while, mesmerized by that booming. Eventually, the cold began to nip at my extremities, reminding me of the present.

I shook my hands to warm them up and entered the now considerably less populated streets. As I passed by unsuspecting commuters, my hands deftly entered and exited their pockets, stealing a small amount of copper coins from each and tucking it away in my pocket. Not enough to cause much alarm, but enough that altogether I would obtain a handful of coins. Stopping at a nearby food vendor, I snatched a meal from the display, still hot off the electric grill. I juggled the hot packaging of the food between my hands as I shrunk back into the crowd. The shopkeeper, busy with other customers, didn’t notice me.

Tucking my newly obtained food into my jacket, I stepped out of the marketplace into the residential area. Cars made their ways along the concrete roads and people hailed taxis by the curbs.  I didn’t stop here but pressed onwards. Eventually, the bustling streets were replaced with deserted dilapidated brick roads. I was nearing my home. Taking greater caution now for this area was known for its crime, I hid in the shadows created by the newly emerged moon, glowing with a brilliant radiance which drew my eyes towards it. Before I slipped into a familiar alleyway, I stopped for a moment to admire it. Full moons had always entranced me and this one was no exception.

I was broken out of my reverie by the sound of some late night revelry echoing throughout the alleyways. Raucous laughter and ribald language disturbed the silence of the night as a group of drunkards stumbled along the unlit road. I instinctively hid myself in the shadow cast by the steep walls of the alley before they came close, so the group passed me without a single glance in my direction. Though they were harmless enough in appearance, I decided against spending any more time outside, full moon or not, for not all of the creatures in this area of town were so benign as a couple of drunkards. I felt a twang of loss as the comforting glow of the moon was replaced with the gloomy darkness of the alleyway.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Following the twists and turns of the alleyway while running my hands along the walls, I concentrated on not my eyes or ears, but on my sense of touch. When my hands felt the weathered notches I had made some years previously, I turned to face the wall opposite of them. Before I did anything though, I had an odd premonition to check from where I had come. The effort was futile as the winding path of the narrow passage rendered it so that not a sliver of light could be seen. Nevertheless, the odd feeling which dwelled inside of me persisted. I held my breath and tuned my ears to my surroundings. Several seconds crawled by with no sound but the distant din of the town bars. There was no breathing. Finally, I let myself relax. Feeling somewhat foolish at my irrational actions, I shook my head to clear my thoughts before I started to work my hands into the brick wall in front of me. The wall quickly fell apart as I had removed the mortar long ago. As the opening widened, a gradual warmth escaped from the area behind the wall.

I sighed in relief as I took a step inside. Rolling my shoulders to release some tension, I hung my jacket on a hook, once pristine and new, now corroded with age. I begrudgingly ignored the rumbles of my stomach as I enclosed the entrance once again with bricks. It was slow going without light, but I had grown accustomed to the task throughout the years. When the last brick was put in place, I walked through a narrow hallway and entered a small but cozy room. My hands flailed around for a few seconds before I managed to find the light switch which, once flicked, illuminated a single brightly shining lamp near the center of the room. A pretend fireplace, a stony and medieval looking thing, was situated at the back of the room. Heat radiated out from the fireplace, not from fire, but from the heat packs I had left there this morning. A table was placed in front of this fireplace and a makeshift bed, fox fur placed on a stone ledge, was situated against the back of the table.

I sat down in my bed and dug inside my pockets for the change I had stolen earlier. Picking through them, I counted a total of twenty coppers and one silver. I tossed them in my hands absentmindedly before I finally let them drop into a large jar next to the table. The jingling of coins hitting coins filled the room for a few moments. By the time the coins had stopped clattering, I had already unwrapped my meal. In the enclosed space of the room, the aroma of fried rice and fish released from it was almost unbearable. My mouth began to salivate, and my stomach began to loudly voice its complaints. I struggled to contain myself as I searched for a utensil within the numerous storage chests I had strewn across the room. Knives, arrows, and all manners of clutter which had accumulated throughout the years were sorted through before I gave up and just ate the meal without one. After I finished, I laid down on my bed and stared at the stone ceiling. It was pitted and porous. Staring at it, I was reminded of the feeling I had in the alleyway for some inexplicable reason. I frowned and rolled over to face the wall. I flicked a switch above my head and the room was filled with darkness. Shortly after, my mind followed.