The night sky, deep and immense, flowed softly over the town like a midnight-tinted duvet emblazoned with crystalline stars that shimmered and sparkled in the cold air. The trees lining our path swayed gently, calmly, as if they were moving to a melody that belonged only to them. The world, bathed in darkness yet glowing with the most soothing repose, spread out before us and welcomed us into its fold. The night, in all its splendor, wrapped us securely within its frosty arms and blinded us to reality. Drenched in moonlight, bathed in silence, we walked unafraid into the heart of the darkness. As we, two drifting travelers, glided upon the chilled stone, we slowly and surely began our simple journey. Although the path we trod was as familiar to us as the intricate creases of your young hands, the absence of light had transformed it into something entirely unrecognizable. Every turn, every step, revealed wonders that drew gasps from our frosted lips, our stunned breaths, like wispy, graceful ballet dancers, mingled with the blackened sky.

The journey we traversed was not one of honor or glory. It did not entail feats of strength and bravery. It was, to put it simply, an errand. As the two of us wondered into the night that fateful November day, the cold fingers of winter already pulling at our delicate skin, we knew not of the wonders that awaited us. Myself and my dear companion, a friend who, much like the stars, seemed to sparkle in the joy of our adventure, set off to make a purchase at the local store. I had been meaning to venture there for some time and had requested that she accompany me. She, with magnanimity to spare, had granted my request. And, that decision, that choice to traverse together the darkness that had become a new world, has forever changed my outlook on our blossoming town.

In the obsidian palace of night, a sense of awe awakened within me that had long sat dormant. In the months with which I had been so enamored by college, so caught within the bubble of campus, I had begun to forget the wonders of exploration. The thrill of discovering something new was all but foreign to me. This adventure was not of knightly quality nor completed on royal decree; we were not majestic soldiers on a mission for freedom and victory. But, in that moment, captured by darkness, we were utterly invincible. As we strolled, chatting, laughing, shivers ghosting down our spines, we were absorbed in a world of possibilities. For a few fleeting seconds, there was no darkness. Not the true kind. Not the kind that lingers in the heart and festers in the mind. As we giggled and whispered in the night, we were surrounded and filled with only light, only goodness. It is moments like these, memories dusted with felicity and mirth, that sit in our hearts and glow like embers to warm us on our most dreary days. And I, blessed with this opportunity, vow to never let the glow of that night fade from my memory.