I walked through the bare avenue and shivered as a gust of wind blew past my bare shoulders. I liked to take walks alone at night. There was something very beautiful about the street at midnight. It was a silence like no other. A silence that one might mistake for eerie. It was a silence that was comforting. A silence that assured you that the world was aware of your presence and gave you a picture only your eyes could witness. I sighed a  breath of warm air into my palms as I took my usual seat at the rusty wooden bench nearest to the stoplight. 
       Only when the light turned to red did I notice the figure directly across the street. I squinted yet I couldn’t see what it was. The light should have changed by now but now the red light had begun to blink frantically. I shifted my gaze back across the street but it was now in front of me. I gasped quietly, interrupting the peaceful silence that once wrapped around the scenery. It was a cat, not just any cat, it was the strangest sight I’d ever seen. Before me was a black cat about six-feet tall standing on its own two feet. It quickly, but gently, placed a furry finger on my lips to shush me.       
      “Don’t be scared,” it said in a deep voice.” I like the night as much as you do.” I nodded quickly trying to grasp it all. 
       He sat right next to me and crossed its long legs. My eyes must’ve still been bulging with fear because with a snap of his fingers he transformed into a human- a man who looked a little older than me, but not enough to make him look old. He was quite handsome, with eyes a glistening hazel, but green in the moonlight. 
       “Better?’ he gestured towards his lean body. Silence filled the space between us as I was still in shock from what just happened, I nodded slowly wanting to know more about the stranger. “I see. You’re not much of a talker are you?”sitting down next to me once again he continued, “I like that.” He stared up at the full moon with untold stories written in his gaze.
        I was scared- yet I wanted to know more about him. I don’t know why, but somehow I knew he wouldn’t hurt me. “I’ve always loved the night more than the day even when I was completely human.” He smiled mischievously,”I remember when I was a boy I’d always escape through my bedroom window at two or so A.M just to sit on a hill near my place and trace shapes on the stars like connect the dots on coloring books.” I smiled knowingly.He shifted his gaze to rest his hazel eyes on my dark brown ones.
        ”Hey, would you rather be awake or asleep?” I was internally surprised by the unexpected question, but had known the answer almost immediately as if I’d been waiting for someone to ask me that question for as long as I could remember.
        “Asleep” I said quietly still maintaining eye contact.He smiled boyishly,”Then you’re not like the others.” In one movement he stood from the bench and held out his hand,”Come with me and you’ll never regret it.”