Night road

　　The night road is long, and the darkness can’t see the end. I hold my father’s hand tightly, for fear that if I let go suddenly, I will be swallowed by the vast night.
　　In the darkness, I widened my eyes, trying to see the road ahead, but unfortunately I couldn’t do what I wanted. The night was so pure that I couldn’t even see my father’s face, I could only identify it with my voice:
　　”Dad? Dad?” I confirmed with a trembling voice that my father was by my side.
　　”What’s the matter? We’re at grandma’s house ahead, we’ll talk about it when we get home.” Father was very serious in the dark.
　　Hearing this, the stone in my heart fell to the ground. Home is almost here.
　　I have an innate fear of night roads. This fear does not come out of thin air. It is really hard to calm down on that dark road alone. Whenever this happens, I long for a ray of light to cut through the gloomy night.
　　When I was in elementary school, the road was not as smooth as it is now. The school is in an alley, and entering the alley is a section of dirt road, full of potholes, and there are still many stones buried under the soil, which gradually show their heads over time. The road is difficult to walk during the day, and it is even more difficult to walk at night.
　　It was my turn to be on duty again. Girls don’t have to mop the floor. They usually put the benches in the class on the table, so that the boys can mop the floor for a while. As I was moving the stool, I was thinking about how to walk the section of the alley for a while.
　　I stood in front of the window, the winter sky was getting dark so quickly, and it was dark outside after a while, and I could only see the lights of the city when I looked far away, and my father was waiting for me at the exit of the alley.
　　I don’t understand why my father chose such a remote alley as the place to pick me up and drop me off. There are few people here, only a few nearby residents, and occasional voices can be heard.
　　I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, prepared to sprint for 100 meters, ran outside in one breath, ran to my father, and asked him to take me out of this place as soon as possible. I was terrified, and I always felt a pair of eyes staring at me in the air. Could it be a ghost?
　　I held my breath for an instant, and the hairs on my body stood up. I looked around vigilantly, no matter how I looked at the alley, it was very dark.
　　I was getting ready to sprint when a woman sobbed suddenly. It was so dark, I looked for the sound and saw only one figure. This voice scared me even more, and the more I was afraid, the more I wanted to find out whether she was a human or a ghost.
　　I staggered and stopped moving, and saw that this person was walking in a very strange way, her body was crooked, as if she was drunk, and she walked straight towards me.
　　”What’s the situation? Don’t get any closer.” I yelled in my heart, grasping the tightly closed fence gate of the school with both hands. She must never see me.
　　She was getting closer and closer to me, and I stared at her. This person was naked on the upper body, only wearing a pair of shorts on the lower body, barefoot, and still had a half bottle of unfinished wine in his hand.
　　”Crazy.” My first reaction was that she must be a lunatic. I stared at her closely and saw her disheveled hair through a little dim light. Oh my god! This is how to do? I really met a crazy ghost.
　　The more I was afraid, the more I thought of the people who were kidnapped and sold into the mountains on TV. My back felt chills and the soles of my feet also felt a chill.
　　She stopped in front of the school gate, looked at me drunkenly, then looked at the dark alley, shook her head with dull eyes, and walked towards the alley with a wine bottle.
　　I was shocked, how could she walk the same way as me? With her here, how can I get out? How can I leave?
　　Her back was staggering here and there, and she sometimes tripped over a brick on the road. She stumbled up, cursed something in her mouth, and continued to walk forward without staying long. She didn’t pay attention to my presence, I thought she might be a female drunk.
　　I followed her, not only had to pay attention to the path under my feet, but also the movement of the woman in front of me. Thinking about it now, the spine is getting colder and colder, and the Queen Mother is afraid. I am also young and ignorant. If I really met a bad person that day, then I don’t know what kind of life I will live in this life.
　　That part of the road was extremely long at the time. Along the way, I kept a distance from her and tried not to let her find me. Finally, I saw the light at the end of the alley, where my father was waiting for me. I threw myself into my father’s arms, and he stroked my back, finally letting go of my hanging heart.
　　I found out later that the woman was very famous in the neighborhood, she was a crazy woman, no one knew what happened to her, she just went crazy from time to time. It is especially frightening when she goes crazy. She takes off all her clothes on the main road, and some pedestrians around scream and run away, and some watch her jokes. When the madness passed, he blushed and picked up his clothes and left.
　　After a long time, when I go home alone at night, on the way upstairs, I often feel a woman with disheveled hair reflected on the glass. She is not far from me, nor close to me. Linger on the glass.
　　Later, every time I walked at night, my father was by my side, and this feeling gradually disappeared.
　　A few years later, I went to junior high school, and my family moved near the school. The distance was only ten minutes. I started to go to and from school by myself, and my father occasionally came to pick me up every winter. It was dark early, and there were not many people on that road, only a few stray cats and dogs playing around.
　　I have loved cats and dogs since I was a child, perhaps because I didn’t keep them at home. I am very friendly when I see them, and occasionally I will bend down to tease them.
　　That day, I was walking that road as usual, and it happened that a friend was walking with me, walking with me as a companion, talking and laughing.
　　”There is a litter of puppies in front of me. I can see them every day when I pass by. They are so cute. Just walk forward.” I pointed my finger not far away. Before we knew it, our two bouncing little girls had come into view of a man searching for us.
　　I walked up to the basket, and the puppies in it had gone somewhere, but the basket was empty, “Huh? Where’s the puppy? It’s still there when I passed by at noon!” I was a little puzzled.
　　”Look at the one in the fence, right?” My friend tugged at my sleeve.
　　I looked in the direction of her fingers, and sure enough, they were all nestled in the arms of the dog mother, sucking milk, with satisfied smiles on their faces. Seeing them happy, the mother dog licked her pups with her tongue and lay down to rest on the ground.
　　Suddenly, a dark figure sprang across the road. He walked quickly and approached us.
　　I felt a pair of eyes looking at me behind me, and a dangerous aura was approaching me. I turned around and saw that there was no one behind me, and there were cars on both sides of the road.
　　I whispered to my friend: “This place can’t stay anymore, the light is getting darker and darker, I always feel that someone is following us, we have to go quickly.” After finishing speaking, I grabbed her sleeve and walked towards home .
　　In order not to let him notice, I had to pretend to leave first, walking faster and faster, almost trotting. There was a sound of footsteps behind me, and I didn’t dare to turn my head. I ran with my friends in a panic. Who would have thought that a girl who usually runs 800 meters in physical education class would not feel tired at this moment.
　　The three of us continued like this until we reached the intersection. It was the time when the students were leaving school and the unit was leaving get off work, and the traffic light waiting area was full of pedestrians. He seemed to see us, stopped helplessly and returned to the dark place. I think he must be a bad guy.

　　From the corner of my eye, I saw him getting farther and farther away from me, so I bent down, clutched my chest, and panted heavily. As soon as the green light came on, we each ran home, only waving and shouting goodbye on the way.
　　I didn’t dare to look back, because I always felt that the man was still behind me, and I was afraid that he would catch up to me as soon as I turned around.
　　I ran and shuttled through the crowd, whispering “Let me go, let me go, thank you.” Passers-by cast their eyes on me one after another, not understanding why this student was running with his schoolbag on his back.
　　I don’t care what other people say, I just want to rush into the house and close the door tightly. When I arrived in the community, my eyes were fixed on the window of my house, and there was a faint light inside, “There is someone at home!” My heart exclaimed.
　　Seeing that the corridor door was just around the corner, I took out the key card and ran in at a faster speed. Keep pressing the up button of the elevator with your hands. It is the time when people go home, and the elevator is particularly busy.
　　The screen showed that the elevator was standing still on the 18th floor, I couldn’t wait any longer, I saw that the stairs door was open, forget it, let’s go upstairs. Fortunately, the floor is not too high, one step and two steps to rush up.
　　I frantically took out the key to unlock it, and with a slight twist, the door opened. I stepped into the house step by step, afraid that something bad would happen if I was too late. The moment the door closed, my heart sank and I let go of all my defenses. His legs were limp, and he didn’t have the strength to take another step forward. I dropped my schoolbag, slumped on the ground, and finally couldn’t help crying.
　　My father came out of the house when he heard my voice, and was a little surprised when he saw me like this. He knelt down and asked me in a low voice, “What’s wrong? Why are you crying like this?” I threw myself into my father’s arms and cried loudly. I didn’t say anything, I just felt very safe staying here.
　　My father didn’t speak either, just patted my back gently with his hand. Such a scene startled the mother who just opened the door, “What’s the matter, why are you sitting at the door? Sit on the sofa.”
　　I cried and told the whole story, and I was glad that I ran fast and arrived. In the crowd, they didn’t let the opponent catch up. If caught up, the consequences would be disastrous.
　　After this incident, a shadow fell on my heart, and I never walked that road again. The days when my father waited for me outside the school gate also became more frequent. I would rather walk an extra 500 meters and walk in the light than take that road any more.
　　Then one day, I was standing in the old position waiting for my father to pick me up. In the vast crowd, I saw the figure of that man again. My body tightened and I turned around immediately, for fear that he would see me.
　　Seeing him walking this way from the corner of my eye, I became more and more nervous. I wanted to leave, but I was worried that my father would not find me when he came, and if I didn’t leave, I was afraid of him. But what I didn’t expect was that this time he didn’t even look here, and walked straight to the side with his head down.
　　Seeing him leave, I breathed a sigh of relief, and did not relax, still looking around vigilantly. Next to it is a table of old people playing chess. They often sit here for a whole day. They don’t leave until their wife calls and urges them to go home: “Hey, look
　　at that old Hu, he’s here again today. With his head drooping, he must have recognized someone else’s child as his daughter again.”
　　“Oh, that’s right, how could he find his daughter?”
　　“Old Hu is a hard-working man, five years ago, others would have given up He is still looking for the child.”
　　”Hey, who is the old Hu you are talking about? We are also with you?”
　　One of them shook his head, pointing to the person who just walked past, “That is Lao Hu, who often works here We chatted occasionally, and we gradually got to know each other.”
　　I looked in the direction of the man’s finger, and it turned out that the person chasing me that day was the old Hu they were talking about.
　　”Old Hu is really a miserable person. Two years ago, the child went to school here, and he made an agreement with the child to wait for him to pick him up here. One day, he was delayed by work. The child wandered around when he couldn’t find him, waiting for the old Hu. When he arrived in a hurry, the child was nowhere to be seen. This was a fatal blow to Lao Hu. He no longer worked hard and felt that he had no motivation in life. He just focused on looking for children. People around persuaded Lao Hu: “Hurry up and give birth again.
　　” One, even if you really can’t find it, don’t leave any regrets for yourself.” Lao Hu shook his head, “I will definitely find my girl, and our family can live together.”
　　He looks here every day, saying that he knows that the child is not far from him, but he didn’t look for it seriously. Sometimes, when he saw a child similar to her daughter, he would run over, and leave angrily until he saw that it was not a child. Hearing these words, I
　　froze in place. It turned out that he chased us that day without any malice, but he looked like his daughter. I looked at his back again, the autumn wind was rustling, and he was looking around, so pitiful.
　　In peace, I walked through my youth.
　　The first thing to do as an adult is to test for a driver’s license. My father believes that if a girl has a car, the risk of walking alone at night is at least 30% lower. Compared with taking a taxi and walking, it is still It’s safer to drive.
　　As soon as I got my driver’s license, I drove out excitedly, and I took my friends to have dinner together at night. At the dinner table, we discussed going to Wenying Lake for a while. The night view must be beautiful. Ride around Wenying
　　Lake The circle took about an hour, and it was already eleven ten in the evening. It was late at night, there were no people on the road, and there were a lot fewer taxis.
　　I was driving on the road, and I was inevitably nervous, and my vision was not clear at night. , The speed was very fast, and I thought to myself: “Be sure to pay attention to safety, and send them home safely. ”
　　It takes more than 30 minutes to start from Wenying Lake, not to mention the farthest distance, which takes about an hour to go back and forth.
　　But who can blame this? I can only blame myself for not grasping the time. Look at the time A little later, I finally sent a friend back home. Restarted the navigation and drove on the road again. I parked
　　the car on the side of the road and watched my friend enter the community. I was relieved. I was the only one left in the car. Alone, with a chill running through my body. I looked at the call interface, just wanting to find comfort in the long night, “Is father going to sleep? “I dialed my father’s phone with a tentative idea. But I didn’t expect that the phone would go through in seconds.
　　”Are you still asleep? “I was a little surprised.
　　”I’m not waiting for you, my mother is not asleep, we are watching TV here, waiting for you by the way. ”
　　At this moment, I couldn’t hold back my tears anymore, and cried “Wow”, a warm current flowed into my body, which made me no longer afraid of the night. Tears blurred my vision, and I quickly wiped it off with my hands, “It can’t affect driving, you have to ensure safety.” ”
　　Dad, come down and pick me up, I’m almost at the gate of the community.” I said with a sob.
　　”Okay, then you can find a parking space first, I’ll get dressed and go downstairs now.” Over there, the sound of my father putting on his shoes sounded.
　　During that time, the community was building roads, and the gate was also demolished. Many strange faces shuttle in the community, and there are many people. It’s already early morning, so it’s never wrong to pay more attention.
　　I stopped the car and locked it. My father was already waiting for me at the door. I ran over, put my hand into my father’s palm, leaned my head on my father’s shoulder, and walked towards home.
　　For many years, whenever I walked in the dark night, my father always cut through the light in the dark night. When my father gets old, I will become that light to cut through his dark night.