Night Wanderer

The crisp, cool night air wakes up the great lion as it breezes through his majestic mane. Aslan looks up to the clear and cloudless night sky where the stars reign. His friends are up there, but they are hard to see. Although the lighted campus brings safety, it also pollutes the night sky, hiding the brilliance of the stars’ light. Sadly, sometimes, even the best intentions can block what’s true.

Yearning to fully gaze upon the stars, Aslan stretches from his slumber and jumps through the windowsill onto the plush grass below. Strolling through the university’s campus, the majestic beast revels in the solitude that comes from the hours just before sunrise. He finds a lonesome soccer ball and plays with it for a while, tumbling and wrestling with his prey. Victorious, the champion hunter leaves the deflated kill and continues on his mission to see the heavenly hosts.

The gurgling sound of the fountain is pleasant to the untamed creature’s ears as it tones out the sounds of cars, factories and a passing train. This is his favorite spot, a garden laden with flowers blooming in this tiny utopian corner. Aslan walks up to the fountain and sits on the ledge to drink the cool, clear water. Then, he looks straight up at the stars. He misses them and once being able to walk among the stars. He knows them all, by name, and silently greets them, admiring their beauty. Yet although Aslan wishes to be with them, he knows that he must stay here for the time being. He is needed.

Yawning, Aslan sees that the sun will be coming up to greet the world soon and wordlessly says goodbye to his old friends. The lion begins to make his way back into room 206. Ambling back through campus, Aslan happens upon a poor college student walking home for a few hours of precious sleep. The young man stares at Aslan from across the street, enraptured by the great lion’s size and magnificence. The student’s eyes connect with Aslan’s and in that moment, the boy experiences peace and a trembling fear of being near something so great. But then, he realizes that he is staring at a lion in the middle of campus and shakes his head, muttering that he really needs to stop drinking so much coffee late at night. As he walks off, Aslan watches him go. Sometimes people can’t even believe what their eyes are seeing.

As the night wanderer goes back into small apartment room, he gazes back up at the sky. The quiet pale streaks of the sunrise have already overpowered the light of the stars but Aslan can still see a lone faint star clinging to the night. As the sun gets brighter, Aslan says one final goodbye to the star until the next night and curls up for his sleep till his next adventure.