Duskwood // one-shot collection

first_date_data

Author's note: The draft of this one-shot was made a while ago, I was finally in the mood to finish it. I also needed a little break from everything else :')

Enjoy ❤

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Standing alone in front of a large red neon sign, alone, in the shadows, with my eyes locked on the parking lot, I wonder how I got myself into such a preposterous situation.

This is a false statement.

I know precisely well how I got myself into this preposterous situation.

Another false statement.

Is the situation, in fact, preposterous? How can one even assess the preposterousness of a situation? Where is the line that makes something preposterous or not? Can something like this even be done? Of course it can, everything can be done with enough time, data and willpower.

And coffee.

This is something I know almost too well from my own experience. I wish I didn't know that, it would make things much easier. That way I would be convince most of the things I did were impossible, therefore I wouldn't do them.

But every little thing I've done has brought me here. To this place. Right here where I stand. Alone. Alone for now.

Do I regret any of it?

It depends.

What a convenient answer. I can do better than that. This is the worst answer anybody can give. Of course it depends. Everything depends on everything else, there is no denying it. Nothing is simple black and white, things are rarely either 1 or 0.

Rarely, but not never.

I do know all about that.

So I'm asking myself again, do I regret anything?

Negative.

Because, as ridiculous as it sounds, am about to have a date with a girl. A woman.

And this is what makes the situation preposterous.

It's been only a second or two since I looked at that red neon sign. I think fast, I always think fast, but now my mind is working as fast as greased lightning.

This statement is neither false or true.

It's nonsensical.

But it doesn't change the fact, that the thoughts in my head are scattered. I never allow that. I simply cannot allow that. It's inefficient. How can you act productively when your mind is wandering?

You cannot. It's a simple answer. That's why you don't do it.

Yet here I am.

I am standing in the shadows, just at the edge of the light from a nearby lamp. Red neon makes everything shrouded in a red glow of horror.

There is no such thing.

This is what happens when your mind wanders. Ridiculous thoughts. Inaccurate observations. No logic.

True nightmare.

This is when I decide that's the end of that thread of thought.