"Life is too ironic to fully understand.
It takes sadness to know what happiness is.
Noise to appreciate silence.
And absence to value presence."
In which a Kleptomaniac, Sadist, and Nerdy College Student find each other in the dead of night.
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"Monsters don't sleep under your bed, they sleep inside your head"
The world around him felt slow, almost stopped completely if it wasn't for the horridly loud clicks on the side of the wall opposite to his sitting position. The round clock was placed in the corner of the wall where the two pieces are conjoined together, like it too sensed the loudness of the machinery clacking against one another as seconds passed in anything but the allotted time. Slowly wanting to disappear in the wall completely to stop the torment it was providing. Seconds felt like minutes, hours, only enhancing the thought of the world's gravitational orbit being slowed to a stop. Taehyung's legs dangled loosely from his chair. He liked to imagine the floor as a pit of nothingness beneath him. Darkness consumed the bottom of his feet in such a way that if he stared down long enough it looked like the floor was rising to meet his body. Claws coming up to grasp his untied shoelaces only to be met with utter disappointment of reality making it impossible for the long nails to dig into the flesh of the human above.
Taehyung liked to refer to the monster as 'It' because the depths truly had no meaning to him. You were never scared of the darkness itself, you were scared of what could be inside of it. Nobody could ever feel entirely safe in a dark area. Taehyung always felt as if there were little beady eyes staring down his every movement. Prying into his jumbled thoughts and projecting it into the space around him. 'It' only expressed his bottled emotions that repeatedly tore at him from the inside out. A burning sensation would slowly build within him yet he could never find the energy to let those feelings out. He wanted to scream, cry, and shout until his body felt content, empty of all the treacherous thoughts that ran through his mind. However, the most he could do was let out a breathy sigh because there was simply nothing he could let his thoughts out on.
Returning his gaze back to the computer before him, Taehyung brought his fingertips to the sides of his head, rubbing soothing yet tense circles in the spots parallel to his eyebrows. He had wanted to get an early start to a group project that he was, yet again, doing alone as no one wanted to work with the well known loner of the school. It was a ten page book report explaining his opinion on the novel of his choice. Although he wasn't in a literature major, his professor believed that if you could translate your thoughts into writing, you could easily express them with a media of art. Taehyung personally didn't like this project because art wasn't based on opinion, rather your emotions. For example, when an artist is sad they will usually draw an upset person or scenery to portray the concept they are feeling. On rare occasions an artist might draw a happy portrait because they wish to feel that way, yet the pent up emotions still exist because they weren't expressed through anything. You could think of the happy drawings as a way to cover up the artist's underlying sadness.
Shutting his computer lid closed in one fluid motion, Taehyung neatly stored his computer back in it's case and slipped it into his backpack. Reaching into the second largest compartment, Taehyung grabbed his dark blue hoodie, raising his arms over his head and gliding the hoodie down his body to meet at his mid thighs. The hoodie hung over a loose white shirt that covered Taehyung's chest and torso. Zipping both of the compartments to his backpack, Taehyung glanced around his college library to see he was the only one present. Even the workers had disappeared for the night, most likely wanting to get home before the midnight crimes began. Grabbing his phone off the table, Taehyung pressed the power button on the side of his phone looking at the numbers projected on the screen; 1:03am.
Grasping both of his backpack straps tightly, Taehyung jogged out of the library wanting to get home before his brother could become more worried than he already was. Although there were no missed calls on his screen Taehyung knew his brother was clutching onto his phone tightly waiting for his ringer to go off with a call from him. His brother never called first, having the mentality that if Taehyung was actually in trouble, he wouldn't want to give away Taehyung's only source of communication to his attackers. It was better if the phone went unnoticed so he could use it later without having to worry about it being taken. All the perks of having an overprotective brother who only spent his time watching survival videos and tips.
Taehyung exited the school building only to be met with a deserted street. Shivering slightly, Taehyung stuffed his hands into his pockets and started walking at a fast pace. The road and sidewalk were eerily quiet, only the slight flicker of the streetlights from time to time. Taehyung had never been out this late due to his fear of the dark and monsters in the form of kidnappers, thieves, rapists, and murderers.
The worst part is Taehyung has to take a total of four alleyways to get home, each containing no form of light. Taehyung thought about calling his brother and asking him to come walk him home while waiting under a streetlight. However, his brother already babys him beyond belief so he has to prove that he can handle a simple walk home. He doesn't even live far from campus, only a 7 minute walk without shortcuts. It was really just the people he had to encounter while walking to and from college that was the problem. Taehyung had his fair share of hobos and beggars to know that people had anything but the right intentions.
Taehyung came upon his second alleyway aka his least favorite. There was always someone or something living there, whether it's a person or animal. Pressing his ear against the wall on the corner to weigh the amount of danger present, Taehyung heard hushed whispers. He strained his ears slightly, but only enough to hear certain mumbles containing vague words of 'What should we do' and 'I need a new toy'.
It was strange because the people sounded psychotic. Not to the point where they were cynically damaged, but enough that it would raise a few red flags.
The time was nearing 1:20 and Taehyung knew that any second now his brother would be going to the police station to file a missing person report. He had to get home now if he wanted to avoid getting another curfew set by his brother. So, much to his displeasure, Taehyung scurried into the alleyway only to be met with a broad back smack-dab in his face.
