For the third time in a week Dante woke up in the middle of the night. He sat up in bed, out of breath and sweating. A sense of indefinable emptiness filled his lean body while he hastily threw on his clothes. It was no use trying to fall back asleep, he had tried previously and the feeling of emptiness had only grown stronger, almost unbearable.
He crept out of his room without a sound and continued down the stairs. It was now close to five o'clock in the morning and everyone was sleeping, peacefully tucked into their soft beds. He put on his shoes and his black leather coat, and with a quiet creak he opened the front door and stepped out into the chill darkness of autumn. A few street lamps illuminated the road in the small terraced area where Dante wandered in solitude. The feeling of emptiness crept into him, hurt him, filled his veins with rust and made his heart beat so heavy and hard that it almost pierced through his chest. The head felt like a piece of lead, as if someone pressed against his temples with blunt spikes. He did not know what he was going to do. What happened? Why this pain, and why always so suddenly?
The street lamps went out and the rest of the road was full of darkness, lit only by the full moon's dancing light. Dante stopped and looked up at the clear sky. The moon shone in his face, and he felt immediately much better. The emptiness was suppressed temporarily and the headache as well. He did not know why he went out of the house, nor why he went in the direction he did, but somehow it felt like the night was shouting at him - that the pitch-black darkness' icy winds whispered his name and pulled him to her.
The moon was pale - just like the 17-year-old boy who stared up at it.
After a while he felt the calmness return to his body, it did not hurt any longer. He turned around and started moving towards home. It was cold, but Dante barely felt it when he slowly walked back to his house. The silence of the night fascinated him, and he found it very enjoyable to be outdoors when nothing but the moon was there to make him company. A lone owl could be heard, but otherwise - just silence.
Dante went into the house as quietly as he could and slipped like a shadow up the stairs and into his room. It was dark and comfortable, the bed was still warm and everyone in the house was still sleeping deeply.
He went to bed quietly again.
