VMK. FEATHERS FOR ONE, A CROW FOR THREE.

05

     It was too dark to see the stars.

     Shadows encased the cramped space. There was an endless void swallowing up any and all bursts of light. Stars would spark and twinkle, letting milky light create their own universes and galaxies, shaping and forming life. And then it would wink out like a zipper being pulled closed, no evidence of creation. Just a flat layer of impenetrable darkness. An intimidating force purely existing to torment and haunt.

     Muffles of sheets and blankets and incessant ringing exiled the writhing chasm. The light came flooding back in a shock of color and stinging pain in the back of his skull. Jeongguk rubbed his eyes with the back of his palms, a gruff groan leaving his mouth to verbalize the teen's ever-present annoyance.

     His brief period of resting was weighing him down with a stubborn pang of drowsiness. It was a temptation in his bones, sleepy residue left over to attempt and drag Jeongguk back under his covers. He threw said material off his legs, the warmth escaping elsewhere, blinking away the fuzzy film over his eyes.

     The sun had fully lowered, its place taken by a bright beacon of ivory in the night. The moon could be seen in thin slivers through the blinds. Jeongguk winced, dragging a hand through his tangled hair. He'd slept too long.

     Jeongguk told himself this was okay as he shrugged his jacket back on, as he brushed through his hair in front of his bathroom mirror that was speckled with long evaporated water droplets. Even when his phone started blaring a familiar ringtone, he told himself it didn't matter. He was the one in charge. No one else's opinions mattered. Not on his night or any other time.

     "What is it, Joon?"

     "You little fucker."

      Jeongguk positioned his phone to hold it between his shoulder and cheek as he pulled on fresh socks, a new unlit cigarette already between the corner of his lips, muffling his words. "Calm your shit. I'll be there in ten."

     "Tell that to the thirty kids here waiting. For two hours now."

     "Fuck."

    "Yeah, fuck. They're all a bunch of little assholes. Twice they've tried to jump the gun and get on with it. If you don't hurry, I'll let 'em next time."

     "Do that and I'll have your head." Jeongguk was already in his home's doorway, roughly tugging on his signature boots, the distant sounds of the tv playing in the background could be heard.

     "Worry about that once you're even here."

     "Alright, pissy pants. I'm out the door. Hear that? Just shut it. Be there soon." There was the sound of a low grumble before his best friend begrudgingly hung up the phone. Jeongguk's shoulders sagged, hands already itching to grab his lighter.

     The night sky ate up everything it touched. Stars shone down brightly, the little pinpricks of light staring down mockingly at the boy separated from his true home within the milky ways above. Smoke unfurled down below, its taunting fingers stretching high above, but not far enough to ever reach the heavenly bodies seducing grip.

     There was a different species of amber that glowed in the raven's grasp, ashes trickling to the asphalt beneath his assured footsteps. Fumes curled around and in his inky locks that wisped and danced in the freeing spirit of the wind, traipsing along with his mouth, arms, torso, every piece of clothing on him. He was drenched with the acrid smell, the walking form of smoldering leaves.

     Crawling stories winded up his neck, just peeking underneath his collar, the long absorbed ink pulsing with every beat in his chest. A symphony of evidence his lungs were still kicking, oxygen filtering through his bloodstream. A complex system to give life. The cigarette burning away in his hold was the polar opposite of such a message. Life. What a joke.