Gold Fever (m×m) ✔

II: Thud, thud, thud

《 ELIAN PHOENIX 》

I can't for the life of me understand people who just close their eyes and fall asleep. No catastrophizing, overthinking or counting sheep. Whereas, in order for me to fall asleep, I need a spell, a password with big and small letters, numbers and special characters, and a good old knock on the head with a sledgehammer. Even then it's a lottery whether or not I'll sleep through the night.

Then, of course, there's the end of the world, which apparently also comes in the form of a thin, lumpy mattress on the floor of an abandoned mall. My back ached in a way a 23-year-old's back shouldn't ache, and I kept tossing around to find a comfortable position. It didn't help that Rain was snoring, having fallen asleep with his head on Rio's chest and consequently getting his windpipe all knotted up.

I muffled a frustrated groan, and fumbled for my Walkman. As soon as I had the earphones on and music filled my ears, I started to feel better. I couldn't play an instrument and I sure as hell didn't have the voice of an angel, but I did appreciate the art musical people created with their talent. I'm not sure if I have any remarkable talents, other than getting people to follow my lead and disappointing my parents.

To be fair, I was non compos mentis, not in control of my actions, most of those times. It isn't my fault my parents refuse to acknowledge the intense changes in my mood, or that they call me lazy even as I actually can't make myself get up from the bed. It's also not my fault that I sometimes stay up for days, cleaning cobwebs from the ceilings and frantically writing in the margins of books.

So, I think it's safe to say that my parents do not understand me. Music, on the other hand, does. Which is the reason I would save my beloved Walkman from a burning house even if it were the only thing I could get to. I let my eyes flutter shut, my arms stretched over and my palms under the back of my head. Then, by some miracle, I started to drift off.

When I woke up, the a side of the cassette had come to its end, and silence had fallen into our camp. It was just one sheltered corner, in a hallway behind a hardware store, but over the course of the past few weeks it had started to feel like a home. Apart from the lumpy mattress and the lack of food and hygiene products, I had little to complain.

I was fully awake in an instant as I heard a faint sound carrying from some other part of the mall. I sat up, pulling the earbuds off my head and letting them dangle around my neck. Without even noticing it, I held my breath and the muscles in my legs readied themselves to flee in case of danger. But it was quiet again, apart from the sounds of breathing coming from my resting companions.

I bit my inner cheek and made myself take a deep breath. I was still just on edge after the peeping tom incident the previous day, that had to be it. Just me imagining sounds and predicting danger where there was none.

Then I heard a faint thud, thud, thud which sounded awfully lot like footsteps. Could it be that groundhog, or some other animal? As much as I wanted to assure myself so, I doubted it. Anyway, the smart guy that I am, I sneaked away from my friends without waking anyone up and telling them what was going on. It is always a splendid idea to split up and go investigate by yourself.

I took a peek around the corner, finding it empty of unwanted visitors. Just the old store entrances and the littered floors greeted me. Hearing the thud, thud, thud closer this time, I spun around to scan the other end of the hallway. My heart fell into my stomach with a sickening lurch when I spotted two figures standing there.

"Every goddamn time.." I mumbled to myself, rubbing my chest like that could somehow slow down the frantic beat of my heart. The fact that you get to see those golden human statues all around you somehow doesn't make them any less creepy. I muttered to myself: "Fucking hell, seriously. Get hold of yourself, Phoenix."