This is something surreal. Something random I just farted out of my mind. I really did feel like going out. I guess I was just too bummed to stand up. And I felt I needed to stretch my writing muscles again since I haven’t written anything for over a month.
My time for being an undercover student has begun again, and I might as well start writing now since this will probably be one of my main sources of strength the coming months. Well, this and maybe a few bandwidths wasted on playing Ragnarok. I’m planning on jumping into the MMORPG fray. Hell if I care, if I get addicted. Heh. Live fast, love hard and all that bullshiot.
Plus, I felt like missing someone and writing about him, but he’s probably sick of all these blog entries already. SO TALK TO ME ALREADY MIKEY. Hahahaha…
And I almost lost Dance Dance Dance. When I found it (or rather, when my aunt found it for me), I felt like I had to apologize to Murakami-san by reading the book all over again. Har har. I kill myself.
Anyways…
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Stories are supposed to start when you wake up. But it seemed like Julian is never going to fall asleep so he figured he might as well start his story now.
It was a little past 3 in the morning and it had just finished raining. He opened his window a crack and smelled the cool, wet, rust/rain-scented air that seeped in. He ran his fingers through his hair a couple of times and rubbed his eyes off of the icings of non-sleep. Getting off the bed, Julian accidentally knocked his phone off to the floor. Muttering a mild cuss, he picked it up and noticed he had a few messages in. Mostly from acquaintances, wanting to talk the smallest of small talks over the phone, discussing their little lives, razzle-dazzling for all they were worth. Julian thought it was disgusting.
He threw his phone aside and went over his closet to look for something warm to wear out. He got a white shirt he liked very much and cargo shorts he was supposed to wear the day after tomorrow. No occasion. But he thought, what the hey. It was rare he’d get this surge of wanderlust at this time of the morning. No actually, he’d get the desire to walk out almost every night, but it was only this morning he knew the cosmos agreed that he would be able to go out. So it was special. Special enough to wear a nice pair of cargo shorts. He also put on a blue windbreaker, white sneakers, and slinked off the house as silently as the exhale of a 3AM shadow.
The streets of the metro were damp, in exactly the way he liked it to be. And the street lights were casting a misty orange light all around, it was almost surreal. He felt like a god visiting a sleeping universe. He felt magic silently crackling like static electricity in the air. It was intoxicating. He was glad he snuck out.
He was a few blocks away from the park he always hangs out in when he saw something glimmer under a parked Altis. He squinted and after a few seconds of shadow-shifting, the glimmer in question revealed itself to belong to a cat’s eye. Or, more exactly, a kitten’s eyes. Mew... it faintly said. He thought nothing of it after and continued walking.
Eventually, he reached the park and he walked over to the bench he usually sits on. The sign “ADULTS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE THE PLAYGROUND” was almost ready to fall off. Julian would have torn it down himself if he had enough will and energy. The sign made him feel sad for some reason. Sad and tired. So he turned his attention back to his bench. It’s been a while since the rain has stopped so the seat was almost dry. Julian sat down on the cold stone bench and heaved a tired sigh. The feeling of being god was gone, although he could still feel a faint crackle of magic from afar.
He then willed his mind to think. To form images. Random. Non-specific. He felt like he just needed to think. OK, he thought. What am I going to do today…?
But no idea came. Julian let out a sigh again, a small one this time, and brought his knees up to his chin and hugged his legs. He wasn’t feeling particularly cold, but retreating to a foetal position seemed like the most natural thing in the world at that time. He closed his eyes and swirled the colours around the vastness of his mind’s canvass.
That was when he felt it. A presence behind him. Solid, warm, breathing. But definitely not human. Crouching. Waiting. Inhaling. Exhaling.
Julian was afraid. He knew it. He knew the presence knew it. It was so intense he almost whimpered. He slowly turned his head to look behind him. It was as if the presence’s hackles were poised to attack. He swore he could almost hear it hissing.
Julian blinked. And it was suddenly gone. Everything was quiet again. Or rather, everything was clear again, even the ambient sounds – the trees, the slight breeze, and a passing cab. The thick silence was lifted, but Julian was unconvinced. He shook his head as if to ward off an annoying insect, but the uneasiness was still there. He stood up, convinced himself it was nothing. It was gone. And maybe a walk will eventually dispel any traces of feeling it might leave lingering.
So Julian walked back. He passed the Altis where the kitten was. He thought of the Cheshire Cat in Alice In Wonderland and he almost thought he saw the kitten’s grimace fading out amidst the shadows under the car. He passed the familiar streets to his house, and it wasn’t as wet anymore as he would have liked. He got home, went back quietly into his room and laid down, windbreaker and sneakers and all. He turned off the lights and closed his eyes, thinking what a pointless story he had made.
He never thought about the uneasiness in his mind again. Although it was still there. And he didn’t know it, but the presence was watching him. Constantly, irrevocably watching him. Mew...
