A devoid of people, fog-ridden John Muir Park made for a very depressing sight. Although there was a notable number of police officers on patrol, Richard couldn't quite decide if that made him feel safer or not; in a way, police presence emphasized the fact that the area was no longer considered as safe as it was yesterday. As the ambience of police officers talking to their telecommunication apparati and the eerie wind howling was not one Richard could appreciate, he accelerated his step in defiance of the mass of air colliding with his body.

And yet, despite the grim look of things, Richard was paradoxically enjoying himself. It was not any sort of massive change, but he felt… eager… he hadn't felt particularly eager to do anything for a long time, the bog of his unmotivated mind dragging down each and every day. But now Richard had some sort of a mission… he had to find out what was going on.

Who was Igor? Why had he visited Richard? What was Igor's correlation with his nightmare? Did his weird dreams have anything to do with the murder? Was it all in his mind? And most importantly… why him? Richard, as far as he could tell, was your average Joe when it came to teenagers. Why was he dragged into some sort of a mental game he couldn't hope to understand…? Richard kept walking on the leaf-covered pathway. As he heard the leaves crunching under the soles of his shoes, he came to the realization that maybe not all students from yesterday would attend today. In fact, it wouldn't be improbable if it was half or even less…

"Yo Rick!"

"Yikes!" Richard fumbled comically as a result of being utterly and completely taken by surprise. He sprang up like a spring and, slipping on a fallen leaf, came down like a sack of potatoes and landed on his posterior with a jolt of pain. It was none other than Garfield. He had presumably seen Richard from a distance rushed to greet him. Could it be that Richard didn't hear the boy, absorbed in his thoughts? As Garfield stared dumbfounded at Richard, the latter thought that Garfield being the killer perhaps wasn't all that outlandish after all…

"Hey man, are you alright?" he said energetically with concern, "I'm so sorry!"

"Y-yeah… it's alright… you just scared me there…" said Richard, masking his irritation as well as possible.

"I don't blame you…"said Garfield rubbing his chin, "Things have taken a turn for the creepier…" He helped Richard up and aided the boy clean his clothes.

"This is the second time I stain your clothes…" said Garfield with guilt.

"It's ok… walking together will be safer anyway…" conceded Richard. As they started walking towards Jack London High School, Garfield's energy returned in the form of more dialogue.

"They identified the victim by the way…" Garfield said all too casually looking in front of him. Richard lowered his head to look at the autumn leaves, keeping silent. "He had nothing to do with our school, or any school for that matter… it was a man in his 20's." continued Garfield.

Richard took his time to gaze at the sky for a bit before asking the only thing on his mind.

"Why him?"

Garfield shrugged in an expression of ignorance or indifference, re-adjusting his backpack on his shoulders.

"They speculate he had gotten involved with the wrong people or something." Garfield explained.

"Ah." was Richard's colorless response. His mind however was racing as he started connecting the pieces of whatever his uncle had decided to let on to him days ago.

"By the way" began Garfield in an attempt to change the subject, "have you heard of the midnight channel or something along those lines?"

"T-the what?" said Richard perplexed, decelerating his pace just slightly.

"Midnight Channel. I heard about it yesterday. I looked it up online after I got home. There's been talk of it, surprisingly." said Garfield with a little bit of pride for himself. He then inhaled and continued:

"When it's raining during midnight, you're supposed to watch your switched-off TV. It will show you your soulmate or something. How people believe these things…"

For Richard however, it was a completely different story. His recent experiences had definitely opened his mind in regards to the metaphysical.

"Uhm…" he vocalized in thought, "I've heard of it I think…just yesterday too…"

"I know right!? Plus it'll be raining tonight so we wouldn't be able to forget about this unscientific nonsense even if we wanted to… pppfffffttt…" said Garfield, coming off somewhat as a snob.

Richard merely nodded and said nothing, indulging himself in perpetual thought until the end of their walk. When the entrance of the institute was visible, Richard's fear seemed to come true; save a couple of students he had never seen before, there was no-one else in sight.

Richard knew that attendance would be lower but this was pushing it, he thought. Would Roy and the guys even be here today? They nervously entered the school in slow, faint steps as if they were hovering only be separated in the main hall.

"Alright, duty calls…"said Garfield in relief, as he was done walking through a desolate foggy park, "see you later man."

Richard didn't say anything. Instead, he wore a half-smile as waved to a diverging Garfield.

Richard was surprised to see Mr. Light already in the class, sitting on a chair by the professor's desk. He was supporting his grim looking face with the back of his hands, his olive-skinned elbows set firmly on the desk. Far back in the otherwise empty classroom, two students briefly paused their conversation to cast Richard a momentary glance and immediately resumed their indiscreet murmuring.

Richard, after reluctantly sitting further back, took his time to gaze at his two classmates. The male, who was a person of impressive bulk, reminded Richard fondly of being told about neardenthals in biology class years ago. Between his massive shoulders there existed a rather hairy and bestial face, the intimidating factor of which was enhanced by the widest grin, showing off the guy's abnormally large teeth.

In sharp contrast, the girl sitting next to him was rather pretty, although Richard found her choice of clothes to be rather questionable; it was a peculiar mix of hip-hop and goth style clothes, climaxing into a typical, obnoxious hip-hop cap that read "ABIDE" that hid her pink hair almost completely. Richard bitterly thought that, unlike himself, her mannerisms gave the impression she was a quite strong and bold person.

"Alright everyone," declared Mr. Light rising up from his seat, "it doesn't look like anyone else is planning to join us today, which is quite understandable given the circumstances. Let's begin."

Mr. Light's face looked unbelievably sour, conflicting greatly with his skin tone; for it was nothing close to yellow. When the other two students in class started snickering, Mr. Light's mood did not seem to improve much. Richard's mediocre impression of the two worsened further.

"Mr. Flinders, Mrs. Frazier, is there anything wrong?" inquired an irritated Mr. Light semi-rhetorically.

"Ohhoho! No Sir!" replied Flinders – the big guy – with an extremely deep voice that suited his appearance. Richard did not believe in giants but was by now exploring the possibility that individuals like Flinders that may have lived in the past, served as inspiration for tales describing such creatures.

"I'm glad to hear that…" replied Mr. Light unemotially. "Mrs. Frazier, would you be kind enough to join the lonely gentleman in the back?"

"No, no, that can't be right…" Richard thought.

"Of course…" responded Frazier jovially, causing Flinders to start laughing obnoxiously.

"Silence!" shouted Mr. Light sternly.

Although Flinders ceased laughing immediately, it would take far more than that to erase his grin.

"Oh great…" whispered Richard to himself as the pink haired approached his school desk. She shot Richard a defiant look as he moved to the side for her to sit. He looked towards the blackboard, his eyes fixated on the shape that Mr. Light was drawing; two colliding spheres. He heard the girl sit next to him, but made sure to avoid all eye contact as he extracted a pen and a notebook from his backpack.

"Ahem." Richard heard someone clear his throat, or rather, her throat next to him…

"I forgot to bring my stuff today. Could I borrow a pen and some paper please?" she said, wearing an ambiguous smile.

Richard turned to his left in order to face her, employing his best poker face. Surely he was being messed with, he thought. Not only she did not look like the person to have any sincere interest in schoolwork, he could as well take a photo of Richard's notebook with her smartphone after the lesson was over. Nevertheless…

"Um, sure… just give me a minute…" said a cautious Richard, searching for another pen in his backpack.

"Sure, take your time." She said all too nonchalantly.

"Here you go…" he said nervously, handing her a pen and a couple of pages ripped from his own notebook.

"Thanks. I'm Jillianne by the way." She took the chance to introduce herself in a soft whisper, looking all the same straight at Mr. Light who was now explaining the principle of conservation of momentum, and how it can applied.

"I-I'm R-Richard…" he responded in turn, making sure not to give himself away to Mr. Light.

"You're new here, aren't you?" she said, scribing down the blackboard's content onto her piece of paper.

Richard scratched the back of his head in bewilderment, leaning on the back of his seat.

"Yeah." He finally said.

"You'll get to like it here, provided you get to hang out with the right people…" said Jillianne, looking at Richard with an ambiguous smile on her lips.

Richard stared at the floor before the blackboard, processing her statement vigorously. What the hell did she mean by that? Richard was sure that it wasn't just a pointless statement, unless she wanted to mess with him even more. He let the next minutes pass in silence before coming up with a satisfactory response.

"A-and you're one of those… r-right?" he said warily.

"Bingo!" she emphasized.

Richard did not know where the conversation would be headed next, but he felt he was going to be pressured into making a decision he would regret later; an idea he wasn't too fond of. Thus, he decided to say nothing more, contempt in letting the conversation stay as is. Oddly enough, Jillianne did not try to expand the conversation. Thankfully for Richard, who chose to remain silent until the bell rang.

"Alright everyone, make sure to thoroughly study at home what we covered today. Recall what I said about setting goals…" Said Mr. Light in a weary tone, casually flinging the piece of chalk in his hand onto the edge of the blackboard.

Richard did not wait much longer. He bid Mr. Light goodbye (who was delighted to respond in the same manner) and raced towards the cafeteria, spotting several of the extravagant fencing club posters of Mr. Marsden along the way.

Finding Garfield in an almost empty cafeteria was, much Richard expected, not very difficult. Having his tray filled by the staff, he proceeded to join Garfield's table, who was busy taking to a rather skinny blond girl. As he approached, he was inevitable noticed; putting the conversation between the two at hold.

"Hey Rick! Guess what! She's new as well!" shouted Garfield in uncontrollable excitement, making the girl visibly feel uncomfortable and Richard do his best not to cringe.

"H-hey there. I'm Richard…"he introduced himself somewhat reluctantly, well aware of the awkwardness of the situation. Richard made a mental note that despite the fact that Garfield was an entertaining person to be around, he lacked subtlety to the point where it'd be better if he just wore a neon sign to school.

"I'm Tara." She said while moving strands of her straight blond hair behind her right ear, somewhat struggling with the social situation at hand. Richard thought that she definitely reminded him of himself, both in the past and the present.

"By the way Tara," beetled Garfield while moving slightly closer to the girl, "Richard is new like you and me!"

"Um, that's good to hear," she said running her hand through her hair as she re-adjusted the distance between herself and Garfield, "I didn't know anyone yesterday and it… kinda sucked…!"

"T-totally!" said Richard, nodding for emphasis.

…

The rest of the school day was rather dull overall, and passed seemingly swiftly. Richard, coming in visual contact with the police officers in the vicinity was reminded that hadn't he had a normal school day in Jack London high school yet. He took the pathway that led out of the park next to a disheartened Garfield; Tara had some sort of a business to take care of and would be unable the two boys in their planned outing.

Richard, bothered by what had occurred in Mr. Light's class early in the morning, confided his concerns about that Jillianne person to Garfield who dismissed spectacularly quickly. Much to Richard's disappointment, Garfield surmised that she had the "hots" for him "or something". With the two of them keeping mostly silent, they set out to the hot dog place Richard had heard about yesterday.

Turns out it, was a rather cozy and somewhat crammed hangout spot situated on a busy street parallel to the avenue, with far less fog than in the park. It featured about 4 small tables in the foreground, with a long counter on the left equipped with about 4 stools. Further in the back, Richard could see a large green counter for the employees, decorated with all sorts of sandwiches and food within glass cases and equipped with all sorts of machinery for cooking, heating food and making coffee. Just next to that counter a refreshment fridge and an ice-cream machine sat, filled with information about prices and flavors.

The place was not devoid of color, either. It was a vibrant combo of white and green that was, at least in Richard's opinion, a very good choice. Looking up, Richard found himself surprised by the fact that the place was a little bit too open; only the counter for the employees was under a roof, on which there was a large inscription reading: "Senor Hot Dog".

"I've seen far better names," beetled Garfield catching wind of Richard's glance, "but Victor will hear none of it. Meh…"

Richard, appreciative of the environment, smiled instinctively as Garfield walked over to the green counter in the back, presumably to order something. However, he did not expect the large, dark-skinned employee wearing a green cap to greet Garfield as a friend.

"Yo! Stickman! Where you at bro?" the person opened both arms in waving intention, shouting with his warm, friendly voice. Richard couldn't help but notice this person looked quite strong, although his demeanor and manners were night and day in comparison to Flinders.

Garfield dropped his shoulders as if declaring defeat. "Dude! I've told you not to call me that!" he said in mock-protest.

Victor took a moment to stand in place, taking his green cap off to swipe sweat of his forehead with his forehand. He looked at Garfield with a friendly, yet defiant look, a sly smile creeping under his large lips.

"I know." He said plainly, after putting the green cap on.

"Yeah, real funny Vic…" Garfield said slouched, rubbing the back of his neck. He moved towards the green counter of Senor Hot Dog. Richard, in contrast stayed rooted in his original position. He didn't feel comfortable being in the midst of two friends, of whom he knew neither that well. It was only when Garfield gestured at him to approach that Richard decided to do away with such shyness for now.

"This is Richard by the way," Garfield gestured towards Richard, who was now standing next to him near the counter, "I met him at school!"

The man turned to look at Richard with a faint smile imprinted on his face, while re-adjusting his cap with his left hand and extending his right arm for a handshake.

This took Richard for surprise, who took a couple of seconds to respond to the gesture, resulting in a firm handshake.

"Hey, I'm Victor Stone. Nice to meet you man." His voice was lively and his grip strong. Richard thought that his initial observations were correct; Victor did appear to have a quite muscular build.

"I'm R-Richard…" he said completely dispassionately, disappointing himself. "Richard Grayson," he repeated clearly and boldy, "I'm new here. Just moved here at the start of this month."

"Can't say the same, I've been here almost all my life." said Victor, casting a glance towards the entrance for potential customers.

"Yeah," beetled Garfield semiseriously, "Vic is an authentic, 100% Jump City citizen to the bone."

"Make that 200%!" said Victor laughing heartily. "In fact, that's how I met Mr. Stickman over here," he added, turning to face Richard who was trying to decipher what Victor meant exactly, "He'd come here for a snack almost every day after his pedaling session during the summer."

"Richard dwelled on the "stickman" moniker for a bit. Considering Garfield's lanky built, it was quite fitting. In fact, if Garfield wasn't so energetic and dynamic, one could think the boy was malnourished. Not only this was not the case, but Richard realized that Garfield probably ate more than he did, even if that had no apparent effect on his silhouette.

"Pedaling? Dude, you make it sound so… lame…! I mean it may not have an engine like yours but it still has a soul…" it wasn't difficult for Richard to come to the conclusion that the pouting and discontented Garfield was referring to his bike.

"Chill man! Of course it does!" said Victor in a comforting tone. "…it's just that it's a…childish soul!" Victor took Garfield and Richard by surprise, snickering loudly in an artificially obnoxious manner.

Richard couldn't help it. He grasped his sides in determination, but his endeavor was ultimately utterly futile. He burst in uncontrollable laughter that could be heard all across the other side of the street.

"Aw man! Not you too!" a sulking Garfield placed his palm-covered face on the counter in total defeat.

…

Richard was home by late evening, somewhat tired nonetheless clearly happy in a long time, and just in time to hang out a bit with his uncle and cousin. The conversation with Garfield and Victor became, in Richard's opinion far more productive after they we done laughing at Garfield's expense; Victor revealed that the city had gangs of rebels with specific hang out spots for a while now, restraining themselves to looking cool.

It was only recently that these guys had the police focused on them. As for Frazier and Flinders, Victor explained that they weren't particularly dangerous, but still worth to keep an eye out for.

By 11:00 pm Lisa was asleep but Richard, going against uncle Leonard's advice, planned to stay awake a while longer. Unlike most such instances in the past, it wasn't because he intended waste time by browsing the internet aimlessly. This time around, he would be unable to sleep even if his life depended on it; for the water droplets that fiercely threw themselves onto the house roof drove him mad.

Like a stubborn fly, the idea of testing the validity of the Midnight Channel simply wouldn't go away. No matter how much Richard tried to shelve the ridiculous idea within the bowels the bowels of his mind, it kept re-emerging like a rubber ducky in water. Eventually Richard came to the conclusion he'd simply have to do this and be done with it, even if it reminded him of that horrifying nightmare.

By 11:50 pm Richard had switched the laptop sitting on his desk off and had sat on his bed, eyeing the TV on the bedside table with mustered determination. He glanced between his phone and the inelegant black screen back and forth, occasionally feeling as if the old appliance was mocking him.

11:55 pm

"Finally this thing will make itself useful." He thought.

11:56 pm

A violent thunderstorm broke the monotonous sound of rain hitting the house roof.

11:57 pm

The rain starts to thicken.

11:58 pm

What if the time displayed by his phone is wrong? Perhaps the actual time is 1 minute more or less…

11:59 pm

One more minute…

12:00 am

…

12:01 am

"Hm…?"

At first it was almost undetectable, but Richard did start to see something… it was more akin to a series of vertical lines that raced horizontally on the TV screen, until they were replaced by your typical TV static. The boy was watching mesmerized and horrified almost at equal intensity, unconsciously drawing nearer, when the meaningless display abruptly turned into a series of badly rendered images. Those, in turn, evolved into some sort of seamlessly playing movie that could be barely seen through the extremely bad quality. Though Richard wasn't sure, he getting the impression it was showing a man walk through some sort of a corridor.

Upon the realization that the sight looked awfully familiar, the boy tried to quickly distance itself from the TV screen, only to be drawn – and drowned – into a sea of static electricity compromised of scarce but ever so brightly shining stars…