My city has been having pretty heavy fog for the last couple weeks, and it’s just been getting heavier. It doesn’t worry me as much as other people due to the fact that I don’t drive let alone even have a license. But it does worry me more so with what I’ve been seeing in the fog on my short walks to work every early morning.
I used to love walking to work in December because there’s just something about getting all bundled up and heading out before the city wakes up, walkiny into my store and getting everything set up for our morning rush. It’s nice alone time that has put my mind at ease for the last year I’ve lived here that’s really helped me in all my struggles with mental health. Moving up to this city has really made my life better in almost every aspect that I was struggling with back in my small town. But that has sort of…. Changed these last few weeks ever since December and more notably the fog has rolled in and won’t let up. Every morning, at about 3 a.m. when I start walking to work, I see figures, lurking in the fog. At first, I wasn’t as startled as other people usually would be, because sometimes it’s a little commok for me to see things that aren’t there, so I assumed that I had just forgotten to take my medication that morning. It wasn’t that big of a deal, until I kept seeing them each morning when I KNOW I remembered to take my meds. The figures never really do much of anything, it just looks like bustling city life going on as per usual. It’s jarring because it stays eerily quiet as any other normal early morning I walk through. These figures never stray too close to my location though. They always seem to be too far out of reach, staying inside where the fog is thickest that you question if it really is just a trick of the light reflecting off of the fog. But they are still there, going about their business like nothing is wrong in the world.
I wouldn’t be writing this if it was just that. I wish it didn’t get more unsettling the write this, if I’m being completely honest. But the closer it has gotten to Christmas, the more they seem to… Get closer. At the beginning of the week, one week away from Christmas, they move less and less. Now, today, December 23rd, they’re standing just shy of where the fog is thickest. The worst part of it is, their features are still unclear. It’s like… They’re still shrouded in fog no matter how closely you look at them. It’s to the point the faces don’t even look like they exist, like it’s just a blank slate where the face should be. It’s so unsettling, but they aren’t doing anything other than just standing there. I can still feel their stares on me through the fog and through their lack of eyes to see me with though. I suppose it’s just best to leave them be and avoid them the best I can. I’ve had to take a different route to work because of how much they’ve been closing in on the area I usually walk. I guess I’ll just see what happens from here…