Dark Hearts

Chapter 11 (Part 2)

The moment reality vanished before his eyes, Cade did nothing. He simply stared in awe at the vast darkness. It hadn't fully processed in his mind perhaps, but the panic that any rational person would feel never arrived. In fact, he felt quite calm, contrary to the slowly budding anger that began to brew moments earlier. Something told him that a reason to fear the endless nothing was not necessary, that all would fit into place in due time. The thought made him question the weakness that it implied but the soothing darkness dulled it quickly. The surroundings felt almost comforting, in a strange way.

But peace never sat well with Cade. Slowly, restlessness trickled its way to the front of the line and made him shift constantly in compensation for the broken logic, which left instinct in control. He incessantly willed the thought process to use any means needed to complete the task of answering his questions, but even his own body appeared in combat with him. The more he moved, the more he realized that the twitches failed to advance him towards his goal. The realization that nothing he did gained him any achievements hit hard, especially since the time trapped in this simulation of hell stretched to wild lengths. Frustration grew faster than an uncontrollable avalanche.

Just as Cade reached the limit of irritation with everything imaginable and opened his mouth to release a string of curses tied together with choice names, the scenery -or lack thereof- changed. At first he hardly noticed and decided to continue with his original plan of extricating the pent up emotions. Then the adjustments became more prominent.

His body went slack with the intrigued tilt of his head at the sight, and the scream disintegrated into dust by the hands of curiosity. The distraction drained the negative emotions and thoughts from the body, and once again brought back the shadow of relaxation that hugged the boy's frame. Off in the distance, barely visible, was a small sparkling speck. To his left, far into the darkness, was a similar dot with a bright glow. Above his head, much closer than the other few, was a glimmering silver fleck that twinkled at him in a playful manner. It took only the slightest of seconds for the explanation to come crashing to his mind, just as the rate at which the spots appeared began to speed up rapidly.

A grin crept onto the boy's face at the realization of the situation, once the entire scene had filled itself with the small specks of light that blinked at him with joy at his conclusion. Cade marveled at the sight of the millions of flecks surrounding him with an excited smile that matched the fascination consuming his body whole. He almost laughed out loud at the sight. In a full circle, he span to take in as much of the view as he could in the remaining time exposed to such a marvelous feature. They remained painted against the pure darkness but surrounded his body completely as if he'd been tied down to the bottom of a lake. Never before had a more pure form of happiness consumed the young boy; it brought a pleasant warmth throughout his body that made him lightheaded and ignorant to the problems that constantly lurked around the corners of his mind. A feeling of breathlessness overcame the boy -a gentle one- and it required him to take large vats of air in to fill the lungs that expanded to accompany the awe.

He circled the space once more with the same goofy grin. "The bastard caught the stars," Cade whispered underneath his breath as if the volume of his words would drive the precious features away from the scene. Each second that passed posed more questions than the capacity of his brain allowed, but they refrained from prodding mercilessly by the threats of peace encasing his consciousness.

Suddenly, far off in the distance -or what appeared to be- a previously small dot began to emanate a brighter glow. The distinct change made the boy alter his position so that the sight came in from both eyes instead of the corner of one. Cade watched in fascination as the star began to grow in size and give off a pulsing light. It grew closer in proximity to the boy at a rapid pace, one that had its size doubling every half second and distance shrinking just as quick.