Darkness

Panya MacGregor, sat on her bed watching the golden sun set in the distance through the window that was placed directly next to the place she was sitting. Her back was straight as can be and her movements, nonexistent. She was not waiting for the sun to go all the way down. Oh no, it was far from that. She was listening very closely to the sound of her mother's footsteps. Around the same time every night, Panya's mother resided to her bead, took her sleeping medication, and fell asleep with nothing to wake her until it was exactly 8:00 A.M.; Mrs. MacGregor could sleep through anything.

Panya smirked when she heard the sound of her mother's overbearing snoring. When she was a little kid, her mother's snores were the one thing she hated the most; now it is the thing that gives her freedom.

Out of habit, she tip-toed as quietly as she could across the room towards the black hoodie that was sprawled across the top of her dresser. In the summer, she normally had no need for it, but on this particular night she didn't want to risk the rain from earlier today affecting her. She doubted it would, but better safe than sorry. Pulling on the skin-tight garment, she briskly grabbed the key to her house off her desk and proceeded to the front door of the small apartment that her mother and she lived in.

She bit her lip nervously as she pulled the door shut. Despite having made the escape almost every night since the beginning of last year, the fear of her mother discovering that she was sneaking out every night haunted her every movement on the way out the door. She took a few more cautiously silent steps, then took off.

Sprinting down the long hallway, she felt the pang of anxiety she always got when she was preparing to make the first leap. That was how it always was, though. The first leap being the hardest. It was that first leap that gave her the confidence to send her flying through the air every night. If it wasn't for that first leap, she'd be in her room at home sleeping.

She squeezed her eyes shut, inhaling sharply. The adrenaline was making her heart beat out of her chest, but that's what it did every time. She knew she should be used to the feeling at this point, but it was a proven fact that she didn't enjoy the feeling of adrenaline pumping through her veins and her heart beating at a million miles an hour.

The good thing was, she didn't do this every night for the thrill.

She felt the window coming closer as she made mentally and physically prepared for the leap. She counted the final steps...three....two...one...

When she hit that final mark, all the feelings of nervousness and anxiety immediately left her. She sprang up, flying through the window with exact precision, knowing exactly where the edges of the window were around her body, and where her next destination was located. At this point, however, thinking was unneeded. When she did the adventure every night, the only ability she needed was the emotion.

Flying through the air and across buildings, she felt the familiar pattern of gripping and landing flow through her every movement. She knew every single spot by heart. Every nook, cranny, bar, window, and rooftop was memorized like her ABCs. It came to her like she had known it all her life.

Up, down, jump, land, grip, swing, somersault. Every motion followed a rhythm, a thick beat pulsing in her head like a pendulum booming across a room. She felt like a monkey; soaring through the air, so close to flying but not enough to get her that far.

She was almost finished with the routine, coming close to a small building that was short enough to spring off from. She was on her hands and knees about to leap up like a frog to the next rooftop, which led to the one where she would conclude, but something interrupted her.

As she leapt upward, she collided with something in midair. She couldn't see what it was at first glance (the sun was almost completely set), but when she rose to her feet, what she saw immediately angered her.