As Argos slipped on his jacket and headed out the door, he looked back at Mr. Plant. He's been asleep for quite some time now, He thought, maybe he just isn't getting much rest lately.
Argos exhaled the tumbling worries out of his mouth and slipped a sticky note out of his side bag, placing it on the wooden stool that sat beside the front door. He grabbed an ink pen from his coat pocket and began to write, the pen and paper hugging each other tightly as he wrote –
Going to work. See you : ) - Argos
Argos then set the pen down on its side beside the warm pinkish note after doodling a few eyes on the paper – Just in case Mr. Plant didn't know it was him who wrote it.
He wasn't even sure if Mr. Plant would read it – these kinds of things with Mr. Plant always worried Argos. Despite how kind, caring and gentle Mr. Plant is to Argos, Argos' walls were too high to see that the colourful vines and flowers that bloomed from his chest expanded far beyond his own parameters and stretched until they nearly snapped.
The birds sang to the soft sky above as Argos stepped outside, the morning call almost like an alarm to Argos' half-asleep mind. He lifted his feet off of the ground and hopped on his bike, the vehicle slightly swaying side to side as Argos shifted uncomfortably to remain in his balance. He slugged his side bag over his shoulder and looked up at the morning sunrise; a sight that constantly reminded him of his childhood and the things that he compared it with – Yellow for the crochet stuffed rabbit he had when he was younger, orange for the fireplace his Grandfather always lit, and purple for the blooming lilacs in his childhood garden, where him and his Grandfather always went when Argos' parents were fighting or passed out. The colourful flowers and venture never failed to distract Argos from his parents' booming voices that were filled with anger and the drinks they drank only to pass out. The sight of the foliage calmed him with a wave of inner peace and well-being, making him feel more grounded and down-to-earth as he let all of his troubles fade from him.
When he thought deeply enough, he could remember seeing the same exact sunset every morning when he went to school – His arms and legs as cold as stone as he was placed gently into his Grandfather's warm and soft truck, the radio playing whatever station came on as Argos fell asleep on the way to the campus – He would enter the school day half-awake, but no longer cold.
As the tires strode against the concrete, he felt himself get a little dizzy. It's likely nothing, He thought, Maybe I'm just tired. After all, I didn't sleep very well last night, so...
He felt the uneasiness spiral amongst his body, crawling up his stomach onto his neck like oversized maggots – The feeling got harder and harder to ignore and he felt like he might faint. Argos adjusted uncomfortably in his seat, making a pitiful attempt to focus only on the horizon ahead of him. It was gorgeous, sure, yet he still couldn't help but take and examine the uneasy feeling given to him.
The nauseous feeling made him tremble. He could only describe it as a combination of feeling weak, uneasy and.. Maybe hungry?
No, no, Argos thought, I don't need to eat. I shouldn't. I had breakfast yesterday.
But still, no amount of frantically reassuring himself helped – It only made him feel worse.
Suddenly, Argos felt the bike sway a little – His mind started to go blank, and his stomach filled with panic. His face grew hotter and hotter until he could barely compose his own balance, and whilst attempting to skid to a stop on his bike – He fell to the ground with a heavy thud, the side of his body colliding with the concrete at once.
Argos tried to lift himself back up. His arms trembled like cold branches in the freezing winter wind, about to snap even at the slightest scurry of a bird – But his mind was already engulfed in the night sky in which he and Mr. Plant slept under, and he soon realized that he couldn't quite swim himself out of the dark void in which he fell into.
