Hidden

Chapter 4

Hours had passed by. It was dark outside now. There were only a few stars in the sky, but the moon wasn't visible because it was a new moon. Birch Leaf was pretty dark at night, with only a few lamp posts in the streets to prevent mobs from spawning within the fenced off community.

Aiden didn't know how late it was, but he decided to take a break from writing his novel. He set down his quill and closed his journal and took a sip of water from his cup. As he did, he looked at the clock he set up in the item from next to the desk he was sitting at in his and Maya's room at the in..

"Oh man... almost three am... a new record..." he said quietly when he realized how late it was. "Best to stop for sure, or else I'll stay up all the way until dawn..."

To make sure he wouldn't continue writing and keep himself up even more, Aiden put his book and quill back in his book bag.

But despite how he was done writing for the night, he couldn't sleep. Sure, he was exhausted from the trip to Birch Leaf earlier, but he wasn't tired enough to want to go to bed. Strangely, he felt wide awake still.

"Guess writing really made me want to stay up..." he said.

Aiden quietly crept over to the nearby closet and pulled out his backpack. He changed out of his attire and into his pajamas. Then he quietly made his way to the bathroom and brushed his teeth.

But even after getting ready for bed, he still wasn't tired enough to actually want to go to sleep.

Aiden sat down in the desk chair, sighing a bit. He didn't bring any books with him, despite how he loved to read before going to sleep. And he certainly wasn't going to read what he wrote so far on his novel, or else he might want to get back to writing it.

He pulled out his cell phone and looked at the contacts. He couldn't call anyone in his universe because of the current time, but some of the universes were either ahead or behind in time zone just by a couple hours.

He found a number he could dial without disrupting their time zone, and he knew that this person was bound to be up late like him.

"Hey Kate," he whispered.

There was a pause.

"No. It's almost three am where I am. I was up writing," he said.

Another pause.

"Heh, we're both writers. We do our best writing at night, that's for sure," Aiden said. He chuckled a bit.

Another pause.

"Nothing much. New job has been good so far. Though... I think we'll chat more later. I heard you yawn, and yawns are highly contagious," said Aiden.

He suddenly yawned.

"Heh. Just like I said. So... I just wanted to say hi really quick. I'll talk to you later?" he asked.

One last pause.

"Okay. Bye, and good night," said Aiden.

As Aiden set down his phone, he let out a sigh. Even after that, he still wasn't tired. He got up from his seat and looked out the window.

The streets were dimly lit by the lamp posts, but they were bright enough to prevent mobs from spawning in. The only things that would roam the streets at three in the morning like this were a few chickens, a couple pigs, a strange man just standing out in the middle of the path, two cows in the grassy field, and a few bats were flying around.

Aiden let out a yawn and turned away from the window, but as he did, he heard a strange noise. He looked out the window, and saw the man that was out in the street. But before he could get a glimpse of what the man looked like, the noise went off again, and the man was gone.