The darkness cloaks everything. Makes everything unfamiliar. Unknown. Corners look like nooks of secrecy. Your regular roadside spots seem oases of mystery. Street-lights cast yellow orbs below, but there are deep pools of shadow just behind. Familiar streets seem menacing and unwelcoming post-sunset. The pretty house you pass everyday looks drawn, shuttered and closed with its blinds dropped and only pale orange glows filtering out. Ask it what forbidding means. Nothing is Halloween-spooky, just very mysterious. Like the roads were hiding their secrets in the daylight and only uncovering them after dark.

Is it just me, or does the darkness affect everyone so?