Darkening Abyss
I sobbed as I ran through the dark building, the pounding silence so loud in my ears. I could hear the footsteps behind me, but I didn't care. I pushed open the large doors at the end of the hallway and rushed through.
I ignored the cat calls I got from the cells I passed. "Hey, sexy". "What's cooking, good looking". "Why don't you come over here fine thing". My feet thudded against the echoing floor, drowning out my sobs.
He must've realized who it was that was coming, for I heard my name being called far down the aisle. I ran even faster and dropped down to my knees, sliding all the way to where he was sitting behind the bars. He gripped my hand in his a looked at me through the bars.
But I couldn't look back…
I couldn't look up at his probably bruised and bloody face with my untouched one.
I couldn't look into his dry eyes with my drowning ones.
The Father-
I didn't sleep that night. I've had trouble sleeping ever since then, actually.
The next day I was dead tired, and I thanked whoever was controlling this now-turned-upside-down world I lived in that it was Saturday.
I smiled at Iggy as he sat a plate of eggs and bacon in front of me. He smiled back at me and sat the other plate down for himself. Nudge had to go to work that morning. "Max," Iggy said, "You look tired. Did you get any sleep last night?"
I shook my head and picked up a piece of bacon, biting into it and letting the flavor fill my mouth. Iggy sighed and sat down, picking up his fork and working on his eggs.
"Seriously," he began after swallowing, "What has been bothering you? Did Dylan do something?" He sounded angry at the last part.
"No! No, nothing like that," I replied. "I've just… had a lot on my mind."
Iggy didn't look like he believed me, but he didn't push and I was thankful. I didn't want him to worry anyone about this. I guess that was my first mistake.
My second mistake was probably choosing to go grocery shopping on my own that night.
I walked down the street, the darkness surrounding me that used to be comforting.
Now it was just terrifying.
There was few people out, walking up and down the streets, going wherever they needed or wanted to be. I walked down the middle of the sidewalk, heading towards the store, and listened to the night. Usually, the girl in the horror film would do something to drown out the eerie silence, but that would've just made me easier to get to.
I reached the store safely and walked into the florescent lit room. I grabbed a basket and began to walk around, getting what I needed. As I was walking down an aisle, I noticed someone through the items, in the other aisle.
It was a man with jet black hair and olive toned skin. He was wearing all black, including a black jacket with the hood up. When I looked through the shelf more, I noticed he had a chain attached to his jean belt loop than lead to his back pocket where he probably kept his wallet. He also had on two fingerless leather gloves with small diamond studs on the knuckles.
And he looked just like Artiglio's brother.
I straightened back up and started to push my cart down the aisle to the front of the store. I didn't know how he could be here, and I didn't want to know.
I quickly pushed my cart out of the aisle when another cart lightly crashed into mine.
I looked up at the obsidian eyed man as he looked back at me. "Sorry," his deep voice came from his perfectly shaped lips. He had to be Fang. Who else could he be?
But something seemed off.
"Dad, is this the right kind?" a familiar voice came from behind me. I turned around and saw Artiglio standing with a loaf of sourdough bread. "Oh, hello, Ms Ride."
Of course, he was too old to be her brother. "It's Max outside of school, sweetheart."
"So," her father said, "You're 'Lio's famous language arts teacher?" I nodded and smiled at him. "Well, I'm her father, Acanthus."
"Why don't you ever come with your wife to the parent teacher conferences?" I asked, trying to be polite.
"Nancy usually takes care of the school stuff with our kids." His face turned solemn, "I mean, kid."
I nodded, knowingly, and started to push my cart away. "Well, I've got to get home. Make sure you have your homework on my desk Monday morning, on time, Artiglio."
I paid for my stuff and left with two grocery bags in my hands. I couldn't stop thinking about how freaked out I got when I saw Acanthus, and how I thought he was Fang. Then again, they looked exactly the same.
The night air swam around me, seeming to suffocate me as I looked down alleyways and into the darkness. Now and then something would move, making me jump before I noticed that it wasn't anything that was going to harm me.
I was about to reach the apartment building when I noticed one of the downstairs doors was open. I tried to ignore it, but the small lights kept hold of my attention and I drifted towards the door like a moth to a flame.
I lightly tapped the door and looked in, seeing millions of TV's and computer screens all around the room. But, if the TV's weren't enough to scare me, what was playing out on them frightened me even more.
Every screen seemed to be hooked up to a different video camera.
Every camera was set in a different place around town.
Each place was somewhere I went every day, be it a room, area, or venue.
