100 Words About: Houses at Night

I walk through the streets of my neighborhood, and at night particularly I'm struck with the feeling that no one really lives in any of the houses. The light shines through curtains and blinds, a pale, faceless glow that, unlike the dark glass of the daytime, suggests that someone might be home. And yet uncurtained windows display empty rooms, giving glimpses of lives that might be, but don't seem real. TVs blare at chairs you can't see, photos and knick-knacks of imagined lives sit like props in some post-apocalyptic B movie. On the rare occasions you do spot a human moving around, it startles you like a mouse darting through the grass at your feet.