This is a very strange story I am about to say. It happened late one night when everyone had gone to bed.
I was walking down the streets of Bucharest. It was a quiet night, with little traffic and hardly anyone outside. The sight of the empty city at night was truly something to behold. But as beautiful as it was I could not sit idle to enjoy the night city for too long because the chilly wind specific to this time of the day was beckoning me to go home and find something to warm myself with. I started to pick up the pace while thinking about the warm blanket that was waiting for me at home. As I was walking, I suddenly took notice of the nearby park.
I had no clue what compelled my gaze to stray in that direction. The park should have been completely devoid of life at that hour, but I still looked in its direction. It was as if I was searching for something that should have not been there…
To this day, I still cannot fully understand what I saw that night. That… thing that appeared in the middle of the empty park. The shape of its body made it look like some sort of animal, like a reptile, to be more precise. But it was much too large for any reptile I knew of. In fact, it was so large, that most of its body was covered by the darkness of the night. What I was seeing was only a small part of a much bigger beast…
The only thing I could see clearly was its head, full of countless eyes. Eyes upon eyes upon eyes. Hundreds of them, all looking upwards, towards the stars sparkling in the sky. It looked like the monster did not even notice my presence, for it was far too absorbed in whatever it was doing.
A few seconds later, after my body was finally released from the chains of fear, I started running away like a madman.
I ran and ran until my legs gave out, and I fell unconscious on the sidewalk.
The next day I woke up… in my own bed, at home. I had no recollection of entering my house, but later on, that day, after I talked to my neighbor, he said that he saw me come coming home.
Years passed by, but I never saw that creature again. To a certain extent, I have started to believe that what happened that night was just a bad dream, or at least that’s how I cope with the whole situation. The nightmares have stopped a while ago, and I’d like to think I have gotten over it.
Still, on certain nights, I get a strong, almost uncontrollable urge to open my window and look at the sky. When I do this, I always think about what was that creature seeing that terrifying night.
'’How beautiful’’, I think to myself everytime.