The Tenth Night: Incog

Night One: Night Walk (final draft)

Late into the night it was when the eleven turned into a new twelve, and both the uncle and his nephew fell asleep sorrowly, but slowly. In his mind, he thought of many ways how he would tell his co-workers the next day about his moving. He knew he couldn't leave his nephew home, that's child endangerment; but he knew he couldn't take him with him since every Tuesday, some of the neighbors throw a house party at any uninhabited apartment that they found lying around.

The last time that happened to him was 4 years ago when he first moved in and all of the neighbors on the left side of the third floor decided to have a party at his apartment.

He thought of many ways how to deal with the situation, before feeling like he couldn't and got up almost every 40 minutes.

By the time it was 3:00 at night, he then felt that something was pulling him; unsure of what to do or think, left his bed and put on some shoes before leaving the apartment, contrary to what his dreams were thinking of before. As he walked through the streets, he could sense a fear arising in him every time that he walked; it wasn't like that fear earlier, it was a different type of fear. The fear unanimously stopped when he passed a pet store that was tied to a gas station.

On many hot days, he usually saw this place when walking to his apartment. It was the first thing that he saw when moving to the city. Although he often passed this place, he never entered either building, but since the gas station was open, he decided to go in for a while. The man entered the building on the left to find a very clean gas station with very few people there.

"Welcome! Can I help you sir?" The Clerk asked. "

No, thank you." the man said in a calm yet fearful voice.

The man decided to walk around the store for a while for something to buy. He wondered how he seemed normal to the others in the store. He tried to smile, seeming curious about what he was looking for until he heard a familiar voice."Is that you, Jack?"Jack turned around and saw that the voice came from his boss, Carol.

"Carol?" The man said. "What are you doing here?"

"Taking a Night Walk." His boss calmly replied. "It's something I've been doing for a few weeks now; help me when I get to work later in the day."Jack knew that Carol was someone who could be stern with her job, but also have a level of compassion outside of work, so he told her about the accident that happened hours ago, and that he'll be moving far away to live with his nephew."

That must be terrible." his boss replied. "If you don't mind, I can open the market earlier and have you clean your desk."Thanks, Boss." Jack replied. The woman with her long, but dark chestnut brown hair then waved goodbye, before exiting the gas station.

The man felt lost on where to go; instead of returning to his apartment, the first thing that hit him was the big, bush forest that he usually went to once or twice a month to feel in contact with the dark, strange earth that lived there. Without hesitating, the man got up and left the store unanimously.

It was like the same pull as earlier, only heavier, yet still feeling weightless.

He started seeing flashes of red screens almost every other second, but he never stopped walking. Soon enough, he stopped when he was deep into the forest. Every time he went to the forest, he found something new within it; whether it be new animals, plants, or if the branches of the trees fell.

He then saw a small lizard right near a well that he never saw before. As he moved to it, the red flashing stopped for a moment.

The Pull suddenly stopped, as did the red flashing. He then felt a sharp pain in his chest, like if a sharp stick stabbed into him. He fell to the floor, groaning in pain, before using almost all of his strength to get up.

"I can't keep going like this." Jack said to himself.

As he walked home, the pain suddenly stopped, but a voice replaced it instead.

"You can't run forever, Jack."