My shoes clicked on the pavement.

My cough echoed in the cold.

I wasn’t nervous,

I’d made this short journey many times before.

-

The night air was a tad chilly.

The wind whispered a few gentle goodbyes.

A single star showed through the blackness.

Giving only enough light to see the road.

-

My thoughts were scattered.

Most seemed centered on my ambitious youth.

Dreams that were slowly disappearing from my life,

Like the smoke from a long lost flame.

-

I once wished to throw the winning football.

Or to find a cure for some rare disease.

I once dreamed of finding my one true love.

To travel the entire world.

-

But that night, I just continued my walk home.

Slow and steady like the tortoise.

Even if my day to win the race was long gone.

My journey would end that night.

-

I heard nothing in the silence.

My fear existed for a single moment

Disappearing with my life.

My ambitions, my dreams, my thoughts were gone in an instant…

The very instant you killed me.