"Goodnight Dad, see you in the morning!" Yelled as your hand shut the door and tucked yourself under your comforter, choking back a yawn and turning to the side shutting your eyes, seeing nothing but darkness.
Abruptly getting shaken awake by rough hands, your eyes shoot open and see your best friend standing in front of your bed. "Hurry up! We're gonna be late!" They yell in your face startling you, rubbing your eyes and pulling the comforter back while you sit up.
"Where are we going?" Brows furrowed, looking around your room seeing no light coming in from the window, must be early. Getting up out of bed, walking to your closet to change clothes, when you walk back out your friend is sitting in your bean bag chair in the corner of your room next to your nightstand.
Eyes scanning around them as they move to their feet and walk past you to the door "Cmon, I don't want to miss it." Swearing you could have seen the clock on your nightstand shining 11:24pm before they walked in front of your vision, now reading 00:00.
"What's wrong with my clock?" You asked walking over to it, dismissing your friends comment about missing something, you can't recall making plans lately, actually you can't recall last night. Must've slept really well.
"You unplugged it last week when you moved your bedroom around," Turning your head to their voice. "Never got around to setting the time up again, you don't remember?" No you don't remember, how could you. All this feels like a dream.
"Whatever... Let's go I guess," Gliding your feet against your carpet floor to your bedroom door and grabbing the handle opening it against yourself, doing a swift hand movement, "You first remember?"
They grab your hand and pull you through the door with them. Your door always did shut on its own, something about your house being built on a slant, so it was no surprise when the door followed you and shut. "What time is it even? Do you know?" Following them down your hallway grabbing your jacket off the hook and sliding your sneakers on. Propping your foot on the bench next to your front door as you tie your laces.
"Yeah, we're definitely late." As they slide on their boots, leaning over to grab their bag on the floor, you notice their hands are stained red.
Not a scarlet red, but a dark Burgundy red. "Nice hands loser, been painting?" Opening the door for them yet again, grabbing your keys from your back pocket and locking the door as you follow them out. It's still dark. The street light in front of your neighbours house isn't on, but the rest around you are.
The air outside is crisp, mid October and no snow. Your birthday just passed, you don't remember it. You know your best friend was there, but you can't remember what you did.
"Something like that, sure." Shoving their hands in their coat pocket, their bag slung onto their shoulders, leading the way. It's not abnormal for them to give you weird, and awkward replies, that's something they've always done. Walking quickly to catch up to them, they've always been a fast walker. Small glow of the moon shines from above, turning your face to your friends, they have their head down staring at the path.
Linking your arm around theirs you follow them down a small dirt path under a bridge, the water is dirty, and the path is riddled with trash; empty beer cans, ripped chip bags and cigarette packages. By habit you scrunch your nose from the stench, leaning your head into your jacket to breathe in something, anything else. "It smells worse in the summer, no one cleans up until that bitch at house 303 walks her son down to the park and sees the mess." They pip up beside you chuckling loosely at your reaction, almost nearing the end. "You remember when she went to city meeting and blamed the homeless for it? Everyone knows it's the College kids who get thrown out of frat parties, no one can blame them, they have rich parents."
"I never did understand why she chose this path, isn't there like 4 others from her house?" Picking at the skin on your nail "I know her husband died and all, but she's a real-"
"Hey! Don't speak badly about the families of the dead." They hissed. You heard them mumble something else but missed it at the sound of a train nearby going through town. You never even notice them slip their arm from yours and step forward, leading you downtown.
You both had been walking for 10 minutes in silence since the last word, they being a few steps ahead of you. Following their trail, wondering what you did wrong. You said a similar thing as they did.
Walking in front of an apartment building, you open the door and they quickly scan something, loud buzzer sound in your ear for you to open the door. It finally stops when you shut it after you're both in the main lobby.
"Elevator out of use." Are you kidding me? "Hey! What are we doing here?" You called to them, they started heading for the stairs.
"You're late."
