For girls and women everywhere, walking home alone at night is an experience that is vulnerable and unpredictable. Walking as a woman, no matter the time of day, is an exercise in being put on display. Walking at night takes this context to an entirely new level. You feel like everyone’s eyes are on you at all times. Men seem more dangerous. Women seem judgmental. Shadows seem bigger. Street lights seem fewer, and somehow always more distant. It can be a frightening experience, that has made us very aware of every person, movement and what could happen. We can not relax until we have reached our destination. The elevated heart rates , the leering, the constant feeling of being watched; all something women just have to get used to. This feeling is only exaggerated for us being two women of color, being in New York City for the first time.

Our phones lit up. A notification: “Text me when you get home." It took us ten minutes to get back to our apartment. In that ten-minute walk, not only did we experience two drunk guys catcalling us, but also an old man who suddenly came out from what seemed like the shadows to only stare at us and ask one of us out for a date. We texted our friend when we got home and he said he was glad we were okay. There is a big difference between getting home safely, and being okay. The silent hiss of the snakes becomes a reality in you even when they are just imaginary.