This is a snippet from a longer story I've been trying to get done.

A Cold Walk On A New Years Eve Night

 I was walking up the street, battling the cold night wind, when it struck me. I was in the middle of uptown Gaffney. It was Sunday night, roughly 11:25 pm, and the various shops, bars, and check cashing places were all abandoned. A single truck bearing two passengers, an old caucasian couple, passed by. Neither the man nor the woman would meet my scruffy gaze.
I had bushy, longish hair. The black army duster I wore was zipped up. My hands were buried in my pockets to keep them warm. My pants were dirty and had been victimized by my constant sewing to keep them in one piece. A sweet Backwoods brand cigar manufactured in the Dominican Republic hung out of the corner of my mouth, burning steadily. I looked like a bum or a crackhead wandering the night streets, prowling around for a victim. I could hardly blame them for being nervous.
 They passed through the stoplight making a left and quickly vanished from my sight. After a second, even the ghost of their engine noise was gone. I was utterly alone. I kept walking. The only sounds remaining were my footsteps and my breathing.
 I emerged from the crowded, ancient, 1930's era monuments of uptown to the newer, more spaced out buildings. I could hear the buzzing of the electrical transformers overhead and the distant whispers of unseen automobile engines. And then silence. I stopped walking, stopped breathing. My mind was completely still. I found it... Peace.... In the distance, I could see glowing white Christmas lights that spelled out "PEACE ON EARTH". It wasn't just words to me. I felt a secret pride. Everyone wanted it, but I had it. Peace. The underlying silence I'd always told the others about. The silence I'd never really experience before, at least not sober. The thunderous, empty Rigpa of the Tibetans. The Tao of those weird old Chinese hermits. The Tathagata language of the true self. I had found the hidden mystery Satori buried under the cacophony of modern America. I was overjoyed.