Zero O'Clock

Prologue

Prologue 

We called it zero o’clock. Because to us time wasn’t about the number, it was about the feeling we got from it. And somehow, zero o’clock brought this ataraxia that we couldn’t shake off and, for some reason, we liked it.

 

We were insomniacs, but when people asked questions, we told them we were just tired, and avoided the whole “we suffer from a mental disease.” part of the conversation.

 

No one knew me, but everyone knew him. I was kind of an introvert, kept to myself most of the time and tried to block out the noise everyone created. He, on the other hand, was an extrovert, seeing as he befriended mostly everyone he crossed paths with. Though I  personally think he just suffered from monophobia. And when I told him this he just stared at me, laughed and continued up the road.

 

He told me I used too many big words, and that’s why he liked me so much. I guess he was right, I did use big words, but that was only at zero o’clock when nothing made sense. It’s easier to use big words when nothing makes sense.

 

“ Hey, Edith.” He said one time at zero o’clock. “ Why don’t you sleep?”

 

I looked at him for a few seconds. He was kind of like this tall, hauntingly beautiful person and when you looked at him you just wanted to keep staring, hoping he wouldn’t notice.

 

“ Edith?” He waved a hand in my face.

 

“ Huh?” I was still caught in my trance, or his trance per say.

 

“ I asked you why you don’t sleep?” He smirked a little. “ You obviously need it.”

 

“ Well why don’t you sleep?” I forced myself to look away from his face.

 

“ I can’t sleep, I told you.” He sighed a little before holding me by the shoulders. “ Now will you tell me?”

 

I studied him for a second. Finn’s eyes got hard when he was serious, and for some reason they became that much more impossible to look away from.

 

“ Insomnia.” He took his hands off my shoulders and chuckled a little.

 

“ There you go again, using big words.” I rolled my eyes as we continued down the road.

 

“ It’s not that big, and besides you have it too.”  He turned to face me, giving me a silly look, then he went back to staring at his shoes as if he could prevent the cold air from touching his face.

 

“ I have, in-so-mina?” I laughed at his attempt to pronounce the word.

 

“ insomnia.” I corrected him placing my warm hands on my ice cold cheeks. “ It’s when someone can’t fall asleep.”

 

As he looked up I saw his facial expression change a bit.

 

“ Oh, then I definitely insomnia.” He started laughing in a crazed way. “Hell, I probably have chronic insomnia, maybe I’m infected.”

 

I laughed, but not like he was.

“We’re just two lonely kids with insomnia wandering the streets looking for answers from the universe.” I didn’t say anything, because what Finn had said was the perfect end to our conversation. We were just two lost souls looking for answers that we could never get.