The last bus left me by the square Just after midnight, cold fall air A plastic bag crossed down the lane Dragged by gusts along the rain The houses slept, the windows dark The streetlights cast their trembling marks I pulled my jacket closer still And took the road beyond the hill A gate swung somewhere out of sight Slow and steady through the night I told myself it was the wind And kept on walking once again Almost home, almost there Footsteps drifting through the air Maybe mine upon the stone Maybe not, but I'm alone Almost home, don't look back Don't pay mind to every crack Just the dark and autumn leaves And something shifting through the trees A porchlight flickered twice ahead A crow took flight beside a shed The branches scraped a wooden fence Then stopped and started once again A bicycle beside the road Lay where no one usually goes Its wheel was slowly turning round Without a single person found I laughed at how my thoughts could run Turning nothing into someone Yet every time I checked behind The silence seemed too close to mine My house appeared beyond the bend The walk was finally at its end The porch was waiting, warm and bright A little island in the night I found my keys, I reached the door Dropped one I've never dropped before I bent to grab it from the floor And heard a sound right behind me Almost home, safe at last Every shadow in the past Hand upon the handle now No more reason to back down Almost home, breathe again Forget the road and where you've been Just one step and I'll be through The door swung open... ...and someone stood there Oh, No...
