The city was still and silent, its suburban residents long since claimed by sleep. Orange streetlights shone beneath a blackened sky, light seeping in through the shapes of the moon and stars. It would have been a beautiful sight. But he was looking down.
At his feet were hazelnuts. The wind rustled the trees they had fallen from, and occasional thunks were the gentle indications of another added to the sea. Someone ought to come around and pick them all up, he thought. It would be a waste to leave them here. He bent to pick one. It felt fragile in his hands, though he knew he would struggle to even dent the shell.
He looked at the hill in front of him. It was a perfectly green hill. He stepped towards it.
Someone called his name, and he turned.
A woman was running to him, red hair a banner flapping in the wind. Her cheeks were flushed, and she was still in her pajamas and slippers.
"Bonnie?" he said. "What are you doing out here?"
She reached him and bent to catch her breath. "What are you doing out here? You should come inside; it's cold."
"You should be inside, then," he said. "You catch cold easily."
"So do you." She looked at the hazelnut in his hands, then reached out and knocked it from his hand. Her fingers wrapped around his, their warmth replacing the hollow place of the hazelnut. "Come on."
Her pull was insistent. He ran with her.
"Where are we going?" he breathed. Behind them, the hill was growing farther and farther away.
"What do you mean?" she said. "We're going home."
YOU ARE READING
Midnight Wonders
FantastikFor Luc, life began seven years ago. It began on a bus, by the hills, beneath a black sky, with no one at his side but his sister, Cora. His world is mundane, routine, and perfectly adequate. At work, he teaches, and at home, he takes care of Cora...
