There wasn't a cloud in the sky as the moonlight creeped through the windows of the Read home. The soft blue night of the moon stretched and distorted shapes against the walls and floors, all within the home were asleep from Mr. & Mrs. Read to Kate slumbering in her crib, even D.W as rambunctious and full of energy as any toddler was lost in dreamland. Everyone was sound asleep, everyone except Arthur. The moonlight slowly edged from the bay window towards Arthur sitting on his bed looking up towards the sky back at the moon, he looked over to his Bionic Bunny alarm clock as it flashed 11:59 P.M. Arthur, like a statue, sat still until the clock struck 12 and then sprang to life.

He reached under his bed to pull out a crude rope made from several linens he pilfered from the closet throughout the day. Arthur had to be methodical, even the sight of him with more than one linen arose suspicion, not just from his parents, but his nosy sister, who looked for any reason to get into his way. He figured that taking one after every hour and planning it when everyone in the house was preoccupied with one task that took their attention away from the minute details that didn't seem out of the ordinary for the routines of everyone in the house. The only trouble Arthur might have is making sure he put all of the linens back into place before everyone woke up and if his parents looked really hard, they would notice all of the wrinkles from the knots he tied to create this rope.

After the rope, he pulled out the various clothes and stuffed animals that D.W wouldn't notice if they went missing and created a makeshift lump in his bed to create the appearance of Arthur still being in bed. He got the idea from an old movie he saw at Buster's house, even though it was PG-13, Arthur and Buster managed to sneak in quick 15-minute intervals while Ms. Baxter checked in on them periodically. From the parts that Arthur did understand, the story revolves around a kid like him, although in high school, sneaking out to have a good time with his friends. He wondered if that feeling could be matched by the reality of his situation. Arthur unbuttoned his pajamas to reveal his clothes ready underneath, all that was left was to grab a jacket from his closet and open the window. He took a step back towards his bed and the wooden board his foot tread on screeched loud enough to reverberate throughout the house. Arthur held his breath and listened to any sounds that followed, his heart raced as even as something as minuscule as a squeaking board was enough to wake any person, his family was filled with light sleepers, a book falling over in the Elwood Public Library could rock them out from a deep sleep.

The silence weighed heavy upon the air as Arthur took another step and found the floor willing to be more discreet. He wasted no time in tying the rope to his bedpost and unfurling his rope down the window reaching into the yard, just barely touching the grass. As he reached the bottom, he thanked God that he didn't slip and fall, the tricky part was always going back up, this was always his worst subject in P.E, Arthur expected it to be like a escalator where either direction traveled could be easy as watching an Olympic athlete perform it with ease.

Arthur looked up and down his street to check for any passing cars, he learned that during walks with his parents that the smart thing to do was to wear bright clothing at night so no cars could hit you, but Arthur needed to be discreet, he picked out his navy-blue windbreaker. Any time he spotted a pair of lights coming down from the road he made sure to hide himself behind any obstruction that was nearby. He imagined himself to be Dark Bunny, stealthy avoiding the gaze of criminals in the night, but this was just a way for Arthur to be less tense.

"Hrrmm", Arthur grunted.

He passed through Downtown Elwood passed the landmarks he could spot during the day, but at night they transformed into looming structures, creaking like ships idling in the wharf. Arthur began to have second thoughts making this trip, but he had to push away all the fears and doubts in his mind, he was motivated by something far beyond the basis of what his innate survival instincts created through the course of humanity. After passing by Elwood City Hall and reaching the county lines Arthur made his way towards his destination.

He looked up to see the glowing red neon sign labeled "Rodriquez Bros Diner". Arthur stood in front of the threshold, knowing it was a demarcation line that led him into no-man's land. He held his breath and took one giant step inside.

The diner gave off a feeling of a mixture between solitude and loneliness served on the boulevard of broken dreams, it was a Tom Waits song come to life. There was hardly a soul in the diner, just a few people and a group of loud college students sitting in a booth. From the expo window you could catch the kitchen staff watching t.v, the grills wafting steam to dishes they didn't care about tending to in any capacity.

A brown dog dressed in a flamboyant red suit pushed past the double doors of the kitchen and greeted Arthur, he looked like the maƮtre d. "Good Evening, welcome to Rodriquez Brothers diner, thanks for choosing our establishment to meet your fine dining needs, I'm Luis, just one person?", asked Luis.

"I'm meeting someone here, why does it say Rodriquez instead of Rodriguez?", Arthur asked.

"What are you state spelling bee champ of 1992? You don't think I don't know Rodriquez is spelled with a Q?", Luis got heated and mumble in Puerto-rican Spanish to himself as he rushed back into the kitchen. From where he was standing, Arthur could hear a cavalcade of Spanish epithets exchanged between several parties.

Arthur left Luis to his woes as he made his way down the aisle until he spotted the person he came to see in the dead of night.

Despite the harsh fluorescent lights covering the entire diner in a blue tint, her bright golden auburn hair shone, and her long bunny ears protruding out of her head were a dead giveaway. She usually wore a cut-out jean jacket during the day to emphasize her forearms, but she wore a varsity jacket embroidered with a phoenix in the style of an old Chinese scroll. The girl brushed her hair back to keep her eyes clear on the drawing she was sketching in her notebook. She was in a world of her own, outside of the loud college students and other nighthawks in the diner, she acted like she was the only person there. Arthur could hear himself breathing heavily, the biting cold he felt on his way here was replaced by a rising heat that emanated throughout his whole body, his jacket now constricting him. He took each step slowly, trying to elongate his last few steps before reaching the booth and being confronted with the fact that everything he held within himself was going to come out. Everything in the past they shared, every moment, glance, and space was going to be pushed off a cliff and from the ashes, the beginning of something beautiful or the dying ember of a centuries long empire living past it's prime.

Finally, after a series of deliberate and methodical small steps Arthur arrived at the table and greeted the girl with, "Hey Molly."

Molly reacted to her name being called, if this were any other circumstance and if she didn't recognize the voice calling her then the Tough Customer in her would take over, instead she smile and looked up to see Arthur take a seat right across from her, his glasses fogged up like a windshield. "Hey four-eyes, you forget to turn on your defrosters?"

Arthur smiled, if it were any other person, he would take that seriously, but knowing Molly it was a playful rib. "Oh I'm doing well Moll, how are you?"

"Oh did I hurt the baby's feeeelings, I hope you're not gonna cry." Molly injected some malice into the last bit, they stared at each other for a good long beat before Arthur chuckled.

"Thank goodness this napkin dispenser is here otherwise I might have to use your smelly old jean-jacket."

Molly grinned, "You better watch what you say next because you'll be entering a world of pain."

Arthur threw up his hands and laughed as they both relaxed, "Uncle, don't twist my arm. How are things with you?"

"Good until you asked me to come out to the sticks in the middle of the night, where did you find this place Arthur? Isn't past your bedtime baby?", Molly stopped for a minute and raised her hand, she wasn't the type to flat out apologize, but Arthur took them when they did come, majority of the time it was non-verbal.

Luis cuts in between the two of them, stopping any continuation of their conversation, handing them menus. "What kind I get for you kids? Would you like to hear about the specials, my man Benny can cook up a mean."

"Coffee, just coffee." Molly interrupted, she handed the menu back to Luis, he turned his attention to Arthur.

"The same." Arthur blurted out, he wanted to say chocolate milk, but something inside of him forced out coffee. He tried coffee once before and it was like drinking an entire pack of sodas, it took him a long to crash, but when he did, Arthur was like Frazier against Ali.

"Two coffees, wow you're really breaking up the bank. Wheres your guyses parents, ain't it pretty late for two kids to be out here?" Luis asked, thinking about the situation for the first time.

Molly held up her fist right up to Luis, "If you know what's good for you, you can stop playing twenty questions and bring out our coffees before you enter a world of pain."

They stared at one another for a good second before he walked off back to the kitchen, Luis mumbled more Spanish, more than likely, epithets under his breath.

Arthur stole a glance at Molly, he felt self-conscious, but he savored the time before she turned her attention back to him. He looked outside to admire the vast emptiness of the dimly lit town of Elwood city, they were by the highway as even at this time of nights a good number of cars passed by their view, the diner felt like a floating embryonic sac observing the vast dark of night surrounding them. Arthur tried to enjoy this serene moment of introspection, this moment of peace before the storm he would wrought upon himself.

"So are you gonna tell me why you asked me to come to some scuzzy diner in the middle of the night, I thought we set up the system to meet at a discrete location during the day. I'm not saying it's hard to sneak out of my house, I've done it before, but you wanted to hang out here?" Molly asked Arthur, but he continued to be entranced by the darkness outside. "Arthur? Hello? Earth to Arthur?"