Chapter 15

Darkness

A never-ending black void of nothingness, like a bottomless dark abyss. I hated the fact that it makes you feel insignificant, a speck that could go unnoticed. No, I just don't hate it, I despise it. I despise the feeling of numbness that takes over me as I float aimlessly in this pitch-black sky, dreading the time where it would suffocate and condemned me out of existence.

That alone scares me a lot but today wasn't the day yet.

My dreams or should I say nightmares always start this way, first a dark room that would raise my stress levels but what follows next is far the worst one of all. I was standing in my rundown apartment, bottles of beer and boxes of pizzas lay scattered everywhere on the floor. The room itself gave a pungent smell probably coming from the peeling wallpaper, I could only wrinkle my nose in disgust. It was like the room itself was frozen in time, everything was the same as 5 years ago. The TV static blared in the background like it always does, looking up at the wall clock in the kitchen it was already 5 pm.

'she's coming' I dreaded the thought but at the same time, the front door slammed open.

I jolted awake trembling and panting

'you're going to be fine'

a shiver ran through my spine, bringing my shaking hands to my chest to calm them down. They felt so cold like as if they were made of ice, clasping them together to warm them up a bit with my body heat.

'Deep breaths.' I reminded myself 'just control your breathing and you'll be fine.'

With my eyes close I started counting each breath to steady myself, I managed to calm down after 30.

"You ok there?"

I heard Dylan ask me in a soft tone like he was scared that I would fall into pieces at moment's notice.

'No I thought, I just had a somewhat panic attack do I look fine?!'

But instead of the sarcastic retort, I just replied with

"How long was I out?"

The pity in his eyes was not that hard to miss and ignoring his question made him frown even more. Clutching the steering wheel a bit tighter than it should be, it took him a couple more minutes to answer.

"A few hours."

'I can't be that exhausted.' I thought in disbelief but as I look out the window it was in fact already nighttime, then realization hit me.

I slept the whole day

'How is that even possible?!'

Was I that drained out as I thought, I would be? It was probably fatigued of days of none stop working, my body has finally crashed down to shut itself from the outside world for a while.

"I wanted to wake you up when we stopped for lunch but you looked so peaceful and I thought that you need a few more hours of sleep."

Wow, I didn't expect him to be this considerate like ever. Since meeting Dylan I only saw him as this flamboyant guy, who likes to mess around with other people, and hearing him now makes me wonder if someone possessed him or something. I was gonna make a snarky reply but stopped when Rachel commented.

"Speaking of food can we stop for dinner?"

"You just had lunch."

"Well yeah a few hours ago, now I want dinner."

"You ate 2 main courses at lunch not to mention the extra-large banana split for dessert, how in the world are you not full?!"

"I'm hungry ok." I could feel hear her pout behind me "can we just stop for a while for a quick supper, I'm sure Middy here is just as hungry as I am."

'She's kind of right though.'

The thought of food is enough to make my stomach growl in approval. With a quick sigh from Dylan, we made a stop at a local dinner at the side of the road. The diner was in the middle of nowhere, I'm sure it was miles from the nearest town or city. The parking lot was almost empty except for a few motorcycles at the side. We entered the diner which strangely enough has this retro 90s vibe to it, the whole white and red aesthetic made my head hurt. It was too flashy in my opinion. The three of us took our sits in a booth close to the glass panned window, Dylan and I took one side while Rachel took the other side all by herself. Minutes later, a waitress came over to take our orders

"I want a double-deck burger no wait I want the mega double-deck burger with a side of large fries and a milkshake."

Dylan and I along with the waitress could only stare at Rachel in disbelief who was grinning widely at her order and didn't mind our shock expressions.

"Ok, ma'am coming right up." The waitress stammered rewriting down her order once she recovered from her eternal shock.

"What a glutton." Dylan snorted beside me making me chuckle in approval. Rachel protested in her seat 'saying that she can eat what she wants and not get judge by a boy out of all people' and by that the two started throwing insults at each other. Paying no mind to their quarrel, I decided to order my own food.

"Can I have a stack of pancakes drenched in Maple syrup and a smoothie" I listed "also do you guys have chicken nuggets?" Earning a nod from the waitress who didn't take her eyes off her notepad

"So do I add it to your order?"

"Yes please."

Putting down the menu, I nudged at Dylan who was too busy bickering about proper etiquette to Rachel, looking at him then at the waitress to point out that he needs to hurry up and place his own order.

He probably understands what I was meaning to say because he made a short cough before turning to the waitress

"I'll just have the potato chips and a can of soda."

With a last nod, the waitress sauntered off. It took half an hour before she returned with our food, balancing the two trays in her skinny hands.

"Pancakes for dinner, seriously?!"

I could hear the mocking tone beside me who then snickered

"Well excuse me." I exclaimed in a not so pleasing tone "I haven't had breakfast yet."

Taking a bite in my pancake made me silently moan in delight, it has been too long since I last ate something that wasn't preheated or microwave. My diet this past few months only consisted of cup noodles and other easy-to-make foods, another bite 'this just made my whole week' the thought alone made me smile. From the bar, I could see five burly men who were staring at me unpleasantly. The pancake on my mouth suddenly turned stale and I could feel myself getting slightly uncomfortable by their gazes. They look tipsy and only a bottle from getting wasted, rows of empty bottles lined through in front of them.

I shuddered before continued eating brushing them off.

Rachel who was busy munching her second burger at that time made me grimace, she was almost finished with her whole order in just a few minutes. I wouldn't be even surprised if she got heartburn after this, what an unlikely way to die I guess. After the fourth pancake, a biker guy came towards our table. He was probably the leader of the gang since his vest had a lot more spikes and stuff, overall his whole outfit just screamed danger. From the way, he flexes his bulging muscles to how the floor creaked as he walked. He slammed his heavy fist on the table, our table shook by the force. Under his hand was some sort of a newspaper article, when he saw me staring at it he removed his hand.

"This is you, isn't it?"

The biker guy slurred at his words pointed to the article with a huff, peering down the article was about me. It was taken by a security camera in a bank two months ago, the picture was me in a hood with a mask on and exiting the bank. It was a bit blurred but you can still see that it was me, moonwalking to the nearest exit. I was thankful that at least half my face was covered with my mask.

"You may have been mistaken, mister." Putting up a front to confuse the drunk with a bittersweet smile I hope he takes the hint and leaves me alone so that I could finish eating.

"No I'm very sure it's you, I was there that night." The stubborn guy declared "I remember those eyes really well, the way you have looked at me that night with a blank stare. Those scarlet orbs cannot be easily mistaken for someone else."

Now come to think of it this guy was the security guard from that bank, he tried to stop me back then but I managed to take him out first.

"You're Midnight the criminal am I right?"

Unfazed by the sudden question, the guy only growled at my silence