Four: Night
Zack closed the book he'd been pouring through for the last hour or so. He was actually tired of reading, his eyes straying from the pages more and more as the clock ticked on. He did the same thing nearly every day. After awaking at precisely the same time every morning he would go through his set routine and be on his way to the Jeffersonian Institute in less than an hour. There he would spend the biggest portion of his day dealing with skeletons and unknown substances. He would identify markings in bones that could have been the source of death. He would help Dr. Brennan with her job, thankful that she'd given him a place in the lab, given him a chance to prove just how worthy he was. And he was even more driven to be of help now that he'd been hired as part of the team and was no longer just some intern or whatever they had called him back in the beginning. When work ended he returned home where he watched the news, had dinner and then spent a few hours reading. Sometimes he read leisure books but for the most part he chose books that fit with the work he did. He was always looking to learn more and more about his job. He hoped to someday be as good as Dr. Brennan herself. That was his goal.
But tonight he quickly grew bored of his routine, setting the book on anthropology aside.
There had to be something else that he could do.
He entertained the thought of turning on the television but would there be anything on worth watching? He quickly put an end to the thought. He didn't want to spend his evening sitting in front of the television watching mindless shows when he could be doing something more constructive with his time. But what should he do for the next hour or two before going to bed for a full night of rest?
Looking to his left he let his eyes try to focus on something outside the window of his place. All he saw were shadows darker than night itself. He got up, leaving the book on the coffee table, and headed toward the front door. When he pulled it open he was met with the wall of black that awaited him outside. Maybe he would go for a nice stroll under the stars, give himself time to think about things that he never really spent much time thinking of. Like how long it would take before Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth went on their first date. Or how long before Angela and Hodgins had a family. These weren't things he normally let his mind dwell on but even his brain needed a little down time now and then. Closing the door behind him he officially stepped into the night.
Above him there were millions and billions of sparkling stars gazing down upon him. He quickly found the various constellations represented by the little balls of burning gas. Then he looked to the full moon. If he remembered correctly it was the second moon of the month. That made it a blue moon. He remembered explaining to Booth one day that the phrase 'blue moon' had nothing to do with the color of the moon but was more of a folklore issue. And there were two terms for blue moon. One referred to the fourth full moon in a season while the other referred to a second full moon in a month. By the time he was done explaining that he was sure that Booth was no longer listening, just looking at him with vacant eyes while his mind focused on something else. Like what Dr. Brennan was wearing.
He stepped away from his home, his hands in the pockets of his jeans as he headed in no particular direction. He lived in a small house on his friend's property. He knew the place by the back of his hand, though he couldn't really tell what that expression meant. What did knowing something have to do with the back of his hand? He wove his way through the trees, silent and tall sentinels that loomed in the darkness. Though most of the world was getting ready for slumber he knew that a whole 'nother part of the planet was waking up now that the sun had gone down. He could hear the melody of the crickets as they began to sing their nightly tunes. He heard the flapping of wings above his head as the bats came out of the caves, the darkness of night freeing them. Somewhere he even heard the croak of a frog, or was it a toad? Sometimes he never could tell the difference between the two. But that's okay because he didn't study them, he studied humans.
Walking amongst the trees on the property he thought about how peaceful it was underneath the stars, a blanket of black ink wrapped around him. He always thought it was easiest to let his mind be free by working. Work, solving the puzzle, those were things that typically relaxed him. But now he found himself strolling under the stars and he felt…completely. All the tension from the day finally easing from his body. Until now he had not been aware of the effect today's work had had on him; what with having to deal with three burned bodies that ended up being children. That was enough to make anyone sick. He walked a little more before finally deciding to stop in a clearing. He sat in the grass without being afraid of a spider climbing on him or a cricket wandering across his path. He didn't care about the raccoon eating berries from a bush just yards away while an owl watched him from a branch in a nearby tree. He paid no attention to the skunk that ambled through the darkness a foot away or the opossum peeking at him from under a bush. This was their world and he was an intruder but tonight they were willing to share with him the splendors of the night.
He lay back on the grass, his hands under his head as he eyes studied the sky. Once again he found all the constellations but this time he mentally recalled all the details of each constellation; their name, the names of the stars that made them, their origin, the origin of their names. He wondered if normal people were able to do the same thing. Did they ever look toward the sky and just gaze upon the stars and let their minds go? As he watched the sky he saw a streak of light, a star shooting across the expanse of sky. He smiled, knowing that very few people if ever saw a shooting star. Acting like a complete child he was quick to make a wish. Then he was thinking about the next meteor shower and wondering if maybe he should slip it into his schedule. It had been so long since his last meteor shower. So long…he used to love them when he was child. He wondered what kind of memories they would bring back to him.
He sighed, finally happy, finally relaxed and free of his work. As much as he loved his job it never hurt to let it go once in a while, to free himself from the rigors of day to day life. He closed his eyes, enjoying the chorus of night time creatures, their music something wholly new to him. They swept him away and into their world were he relaxed even further. And before he realized it he was sound asleep on the grass under the blanket of stars, the creatures of the night keeping a watchful eye on him.