Chapter Thirteen - Afraid Of the Dark
It was the following day and the sun was still slowly rising over the eastern horizon. I was up earlier than usual - already showered and dressed.
I couldn't hear the sound of cars honking their horns in the morning traffic jams, just the sound of birds singing melodies to one another. The streets were unusually empty. Now, this was a rarity. When you've grown up in a busy, polluted city all your life, it was shock to the system to see such a change.
I found it strangely enchanting. The emptiness.
There were no middle-aged people walking their dogs, no students waiting for their school bus, no joggers or sport enthusiasts, no newspaper runs - it was just empty. I stared outside of my bedroom window for a couple of minutes, taking in my surroundings.
It was almost like I had woken up in a different, quieter world.
I was so used to staying awake at the early hours of the morning, when the sky was painted with the darkest shades of blue, and the moon and stars came out to shine - not before the break of dawn, where the sun shone bright as it rose and when the sky was covered in so many contrasting colours; yellows and pinks, pale blues and oranges. It was too optimistic. Too bright and cheerful for my liking.
There were many reasons why I preferred the night compared to the day. One reason was my love for the to the city lights, how they transformed a building and illuminated everything within reach, and how the cars looked like neon blurs as they sped down the highways. How it proves that a city never sleeps.
Because I had the sleep schedule of a nocturnal creature, I was able to witness it with my own eyes.
I liked the idea of the dark. It was this impenetrable force that was simply inescapable, something that was always there, in places, in homes and even in people. And without darkness we wouldn't be able to see the bright city lights.
We wouldn't be able to see the stars.
The stars which impacted our lives immensely. The same stars which gave us an idea about how insignificant we actually were, a tiny fraction among the endless constellations and planets. The same stars that we wished on, clinging onto the vain hope that they would come true.
All of the night creatures came out when it was dark and that was something that always intrigued me. As a little kid, whenever I was asked if I was afraid of the dark, I would always respond with a firm no and continue to stare up at the sky, wondering what was actually up there.
But as I looked down at the peacefulness below me, I had to admit that the mornings definitely had a certain beauty to them.
My parents were currently loading their bags into the back of the car, we seemed like the only people awake in the whole city. Obviously, I knew that was untrue.
My brother was sitting in the back seat of the vehicle, fiddling with his portable gaming device. Because he was younger than me, he went to a different school - his holiday dates were different than mine, he started winter break today. His headmaster was much more generous compared to mine. I still had a few weeks of term left.
I wrapped my fingers around the handle of my mug and sipped the coffee intently. The familiar buzz of the caffeine was already working its way into my system.
"We're leaving now," Dad said, poking his head around the side of the car.
I nodded in response and placed my mug onto the table. I stood on the front porch until they gave me a final wave goodbye, reversed out and drove off into the distance.
~
It was a few nights later, Tara was sitting opposite me, a half-finished pizza box lay on my bedroom floor, both of us were dressed in pyjamas and watching some stupid chick flit movie. The curtains were drawn and the only light source came from the television.
We had been chatting about pointless topics. Nothing of much importance.
"How's Zachary?" she said after a while, inspecting her manicured nail.
I choked on the Pepsi I was drinking. "What do you mean?" I asked after I stopped spluttering the remainder of my drink out.
"You seem to be spending a lot of time with him recently," she commented, a sly grin appearing on her features.
"Well, yeah."
That was all I could come up with.
The morning my family left, Zach pulled up in front of my house on his motorbike, claiming that Luke was unable to bring me to school. He was dressed in a navy blue sweater and dark trousers, he looked like the complete opposite of what he did on the weekend. He got his glasses fixed, or maybe he got a new pair, I couldn't tell.
I had climbed onto the back of the bike, wrapped my arms around his waist and let him take me away. We had stuck together for the past few days, really enjoying each others company.
"Zach's good," I said.
"See you have a nickname for him," Tara mused.
I scowled at her, annoyed at my little slip up. "Sorry, Zachary is good."
"What about Luke, how is he?"
I didn't have any idea. He had been disappearing off to places constantly, he didn't sit with us anymore and our conversations were infrequent and quick. He was slipping away from us and it annoyed me. It annoyed me because after years of friendship, Luke could easily forget about that just because of a girl. Nobody had to say anything; we all knew it was because of Jett.
I missed him.
I couldn't hide the bitterness in my voice when I said it. "I don't know. I haven't seen him."
~
The next couple of days were uneventful - repetitive even. Zach picked me up and brought me to school, I would endure sitting through classes, have lunch, have more boring lessons and then get dropped off home. It was like a constant cycle of events.
But, it was a little while after my mother called to tell me that they were going to stay longer than what was intended, when someone started knocking loudly on the door downstairs.
Let me tell you now, that was one of the many sounds that you definitely did not want to hear at two in the morning when you were home alone.
At that time, I was lying on my bed, my head propped up on my elbow, rock music blasting through my earphones and my science textbook open on a page about chemical reactions. Deciding it was time to sleep; I pulled out my earphones and slid my textbook off my bed.
That was when I heard the knocking.
It wasn't your usual, light knock on the wood, it was as if whoever was outside was in a state of desperation, banging and clawing at the door, trying to break it down.
I waited one minute, expecting that they would go away if I ignored them and didn't answer. But they never left.
As I neared the door, I contemplated getting a frying pan or a cricket bat to use as a form of protection, but I quickly decided against it and grabbed my mobile phone, making sure that the emergency services were a phone call away.
Inhaling loudly and then swearing colourfully under my breath, I unbolted the door and opened it.
He was stood there.
With his leather jacket and ripped jeans.
His dark hair sticking up in all directions, bruises covering his arms and neck, scratches on his face and he was bleeding from several wounds. It seemed like he was having trouble standing upright. He looked even worse than he did before. I knew it already; he had gotten into another fight. If he kept going on like this, it was inevitable that he was going to end up in hospital.
Or worse.
Maybe that was why I found myself drawn to him. He was dark and dangerous, young and free. And, luckily, I wasn't at all afraid of the dark.
Zach bit his already cut lip nervously, wincing with every slight movement he made.
"Can I come in?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry, it's a pretty uneventful chapter, it's just building up to the next one :D
Hope you enjoyed it
Urgh, I find it very hard to choose one song to link. It will be either Everbody's Watching Me (Uh Oh) or Float by The Neighbourhood or Dark Paradise by Lana Del Rey
I wasn't planning on doing this, but after The Undercover Bad Boy, I might make a spin-off about Luke and Jett - would you be interested?
Okay, over and out x