Daylight had faded long ago
While many a pint distracted me
But with hours passed I caught sight of the clock
And hastily bid my bartender farewell

It was a new town
And though now acquainted with local ales
I knew not my way home
Undeterred, I wandered off into the night

New England starts to chill in October
I wrenched up my coat collar and braced myself
As in each turn through a maze of cobblestone streets
I met another biting breeze

The old gas lampposts cut through the gloom
Guiding me along
Though it soon became clear, illuminated or not-
I was lost

Each alleyway looked identical to the last
And in these empty, barren streets
An eerie silence took hold
As if I now wandered a ghost town

It was then I heard the voice
That would haunt me for years
An indiscernible low, guttural grumble
Incoherent and ominous

Ahead, down yet another dark laneway
The fog grew thicker
Quickening my pace
I turned back around

Yet again- that voice
That demonic growl
Called after me from nowhere in particular
Slicing me apart with fear

I felt eyes watching me
From within the decrepit ancient buildings
From behind curtains and shuttered windows
Watching, as an invisible menace closed in

With that, there came an animal roar
And a sudden rush of force at my back
That sent me reeling
Tumbling to the pavement

Even as my heart broke into drumroll
Even as I feared what I might see
I looked up-
To find streets that remained as empty as before

The insidious invader began to spin around me
A spectral twister
Dancing on frigid winds
Wholly evil in presence

Without hesitation, I ran
Sprinting as fast and as far as my legs could carry me
Bolting through that nest of twists and turns
Blindly in pursuit of a way out

For a time I could feel it
Keeping pace at my heels
Its acrid breaths rasping at the back of my neck
Toying with me

Then suddenly-
I burst forth from the labyrinth
Into an open town square
Bustling with people, full of life and light

It was over
Dropping to my knees, I fought to regain my breath
And apprehensively glanced back to the darkness I had just fled
When I thought I heard it calling after me

What haunted me that night I know not
But it was no hallucination brought on from alcohol
No overactive imagination
No mere myth

Years on I still can hear that deathly tone,
Of a voice hailing from hell itself
My angel of death who sought me out and missed a chance-
And that I fear may one day come again