Outside

Lucy hesitated as she reached for the doorknob. It wasn’t that she was a homebody or phobic about the citizens of the world beyond her front door; it was, however, the first time since primary school that she’d left the house unescorted during the day.

Open the door. You’re being irrational. Open the door.

And she did.

Lucy stepped out on to the expansive wrap-around porch and was shocked by the silence of things. No crickets chirped in celebration of the on coming dew. No nighthawks bleating to each other in the pursuit of moths. No drag queens screaming at each other as they wandered out of the colorful local bars. No cicada winding down his song as the temperature dipped in the witching hours.

The day world was full of sun and the rumble of traffic from a nearby freeway.

Lucy wanted to turn around and go back inside.

Only one day. It is only one day.