caliginous

𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕝𝕠𝕘𝕦𝕖: ѕadιѕтιc nιgнт

【𝖉𝖊𝖘𝖕𝖆𝖎𝖗 𝖍𝖆𝖘 𝖎𝖙𝖘 𝖔𝖜𝖓 𝖈𝖆𝖑𝖒𝖘】

october tenth:

The tick of the ancient grandfather clock echoed throughout the hallway, its seemingly endless noise driving the boy who couldn't sleep mad. His head ached and he was always irritable. He was always awake. Insomnia, doctors concluded. But he could not bring himself to believe their more or less "professional" medical advice. Sure, he found difficulty sleeping at night, which in turn made him groggy throughout the day. However, he knew he didn't experience any cognitive symptoms. He was only 10, but he knew he wasn't depressed, nor did feel any slowness in his activity. It was quite the opposite actually, there were times he felt he could move at the speed of light. Not that he mentioned it to anyone.

He stared at the darkened domed ceiling above him with bloodshot eyes. His chest heaved with every breath he took, he was completely restless. He felt like he should be doing anything other than sleeping. The night seemed to pass by so agonizingly slow and he couldn't understand it. Moreover, he always felt completely parched.

It drove him crazy.

The ticking continued, immediately he sat up, taking in the cold room all at once. Though it was well past midnight at this point and utterly bathed in darkness, he could see. He could see every little detail in his space, the dresser a little ways off, a mirror to the left, all in detail. He never questioned it.

His head still rang painfully in his ears, so he mustered all the strength he had to trudge his way to the bathroom for some pills or anything that might dampen the intense sensation.

The feeling seemed to creep along his jawline, did his teeth hurt?

He blinked into the stark lighting of the spacious bathroom, stumbling into the sink that held up a grand mirror. He stared at his reflection, his skin eerily pale and eyes still bloodshot. But, as he stared longer and harder, he realized his eyes weren't the normal type of red. The veins were not inflamed, no. It was instead his iris that had become a ring of scarlet. He stepped back in shock, yelping a bit. The movement was so spontaneous and erratic that soon he realized a coppery tang filled his mouth.

He leaned forward once more to inspect, and that's when he noticed it. It was hard to miss.

Right above the puncture on his lower lip, his canine. Now an entire inch longer than it should be. He fully opened his mouth, it came with three more. Blood dripped out of his lips in a single stream as he stood there with his mouth now agape with incredulity.

"So, you've finally figured it out."

He recognized the feminine voice from behind but could not bring himself to face her. Everything he had ever known, insomnia, the pain, the strange sensations, and cravings, it all just came crashing down at once like bricks.

"Take this, my dear. I'll explain when you're older." A neatly folded sheet of paper was shoved into his shaking fists.

"I promise it'll make sense when the time comes, okay?"

The boy glanced into the mirror as she made her exit, not knowing that would be the last time he would hear her soothing voice. He stared back into his fiery eyes, taking in the entire appearance, but not the reasoning behind it all. Would he really have to live like this? And for how long? Were the others like this? Was she too, a monster?

»»-----　☠　-----««

present-day:

You hissed at the annoying streaks of light that the sun managed to sneak through your blinds. During the summer, you had become accustomed to staying up late and waking up after noon. But now that it was almost over you had to get back into a normal sleep schedule. It was a pain in the ass, really. You stretched out your limbs in bed and reached over to check your phone. Every morning there were always countless notifications so it became a habit to sort through them as soon as you woke up. And by sort, they were most likely all disregarded and cleared.

However emails you actually had to read through as they usually had important information from your school. Sometimes it was over financial aid or a weekly check-in with the orientation team. Things like that.

As soon as you read the word "Congratulations" on one of them you held your breath and pressed down on it without hesitation. This year you had applied for studying abroad, wanting to be able to travel and learn about different cultures. You skimmed through the logistics of the email, now wide awake with an eager heart pumping wildly.

And there it was, full acceptance! You let out a noise of disbelief and then rolled out of bed to race towards the kitchen. This was so crazy and delightful you just had to share the news. Your mother was there cooking breakfast as usual and you walked right up to her to show and tell her everything you just took in about a minute ago. You were beyond excited, this was everything you ever wanted! A chance to get out there and see the world, be independent and learn life lessons and all that.

"It says here that it'll count as regular tuition for my second year, which is already covered. I just need to worry about books and stuff, if that's a thing," you quickly explained, almost rambling as you waited for her response. Your mother turned away from the stove, crossing her arms with a concerned look on her face.

"Does it say anything about housing?" she stared at you.

"What?" you were confused. Obviously going to school in another county would mean you'd have to live there. But you don't remember the email mentioning living expenses.

"Are there dorms?"

"It doesn't say, so-"

"So you'll need a host family. Why don't you do Airbnb? I know some people out there, they owe me anyway, it'd save us money too."

"You know people in Korea?"

"I have business everywhere, honey."

Not wanting to hesitate or let her get second thoughts about the whole ordeal you agreed to let her take care of it. You ran back to your room and flopped on your bed, scrolling through the acceptance email to confirm attendance. Your stomach did flips as you thought of all the fun you'd have out there.

A month and a half couldn't come any sooner.

»»-------------¤-------------««

【"ｉｎ　ｔｈｅ　ｔｅａｒｉｎｇ　ｓｉｌｅｎｃｅ　ｏｆ　ｔｈｅ　      ｍｏｏｎｌｉｔ　ｌｉｇｈｔ"】

|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|̲̅̅=̲̅̅|̲̅̅●̲̅̅| mr.sadistic night - hikaru midorikawa, kōsuke toriumi