4 A Black Nigh

At the back of the bus, Xavier was staring into the scenery playing out like a reel. It was the brightest hour of the day and he was wasting it away sitting still like a hobo with no home to go back to. It wasn't as if he had anything else to do but still it ate at him like a gnat.

He had paid a stranger that had just by chance sat down next to him for the pair of earphones he was using.

Listening to music as the bus made its way around the city over and over, he was beginning to understand something. Never once did the bus ever make a second trip to any stops. It was constantly picking people up and dropping them at a new location which it would never revisit.

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There were a lot of things in Xavier's mind especially the lingering thoughts of whether or not what the bus driver was doing legal. After an hour of pushing through the boring ride, he increased the volume of his music, leaned further into his seat, closed his eyes, and drifted off into a world of pitch black.

He was having a peculiar dream. He was sitting on a worn down wooden chair that was disproportionate causing a lean to the left. There was nothing around him other than the abyss and the company of his own thoughts.

Every time he attempted to get out from the chair, the force of a thousand stars would push down on his shoulders. He could feel the weight physically crushing the life out of his body but the chair stood as firm as it could.

The more he stared into the unknown, the better he got at seeing past all of that darkness revealing an almost completely transparent hand that would occasionally reach forward but would pull back after quite a bit of shaking.

The dream felt like an eternity. Constant repetitions of the same routine over and over until Xavier's pale face finally began to get some color back after he had woken up from that horrible nightmare.

He slid himself up from the awkward position he had put himself in and reached into the spacious pockets of his shorts and pulled out his phone. He lowered the music as it would echo, bounce around, and vibrate in his skull.

Opening up his phone, he almost jumped out of his seat because he had just read 6:05 on the bright screen that burned his eyes. Closing his phone, he began rubbing his eyes. He slid his phone back into his pocket, then slowly pulled it out again. Opening it once again, he was able to take a breath of fresh air as he had the two important numbers messed up.

Unplugging his earphones, he rolled it into a wheel using his hand as the base and stuffed it deep into the ocean.

Making his way over to the front, he had noticed that no one was left on the bus. Other than the bus driver and himself, the bus was dead silent. The rear mirror was facing perfectly at him. The outside noise wasn't even a part of the scenario however there was quite a few windows open.

Passing a bridge, it felt as though Xavier had just left civilization completely. No signs of man-made structures. Only trees and a dirt road fit for a single bus.

The bus slowed down as it entered deeper into the woods until it came to a complete stop. The bus driver leaned over to his side and pulled the lever opening up the twin doors. Xavier got up from his seat. He was walking down the steps when he turned back around to thank the bus driver.

In place of the greasy, overweight, middle-aged man with a cap on was a skeleton with blue fire in the socket of its soul. It was wearing a black robe that was withered and defying the laws of gravity.

It didn't have a facial expression and yet, it looked as if it was smiling at him.

Xavier felt his jaw dislocate, his eyes fall out, and his heart frozen in time. He blinked once, and the person he saw when he had entered was back sitting in his seat. He asked him, "Is there anything else I can help you with?" as he put a tighter grip on the lever.

Xavier didn't understand what sorcery was that but he still acted natural and responded, "Uhm… no. I just wanted to thank you for driving me to my destination. That's all." And he exited the bus. He had finally remade contact with the ground.

"No problem. No problem at all," the bus driver said. He let out a few eerie chuckles that echoed into the early shadows of dusk. His voice drifted like a wave sending shivers down Xavier's back. Stiff, Xavier turned around and was met with an empty road with no vehicles in sight.

In the exact spot where the bus driver was sitting, there was a black fog that was making out a rough shape resembling a skull with tentacles growing out from the back.

It slowly faded away into the distance revealing dusk, when the green and purple melt into grey slowly bringing us moonlight to relight the ground. The day had passed and night was just waiting at the horizon. The birds were singing good night while rabbit were out foraging and playing.

Sitting down at the bench, Xavier watched as the final speckles of sunlight drain away making it hard to make out shadows. The crown of the moon peeked out from the horizon revealing it's illuminating rays bringing forth a different kind of light that served not the purpose of revealing the shapes of the land but the beauty only visible under the moonlight.

The darkest hour of the night. What did that mean? Xavier wanted to search it up but there was no service where he was at. The only thing he had accompanying him was the songs of chirps and gusts of wind that would pull his hair back just after he fixed it.

With such a bright moon out, Xavier didn't need the internet to know that it wasn't any time soon. He laid his body on the bench and wanted to sleep but the discomfort and the fear of having that nightmare again kept him awake.

His mind was completely empty as he stared into the sky full of gloomy clouds that looked like they would move faster at some points while move extremely slow at others. Without even thinking about it, he was tapping his fingers on his stomach making a hypnotic beat that made his eyelids take longer time to open.

He was getting sleepier and sleepier but in the back of his mind, the overwhelming weight he had felt all throughout his body was the rope wrapped around his body that would yanked him back up just as he was about to reach the ground.

An hour had passed, two, then three. Not once was Xavier able to return to the world of imagination. Every time he was ready to hit the snooze button, the alarm would ring right then and there waking him up completely.

He continued to spend the whole night staring into the grey sky. His body was at a state of absolute emptiness. No thinking, moving, or consciousness. He was like a corpse. Alive but was as dead as could be.

Then the world around began changing. The grey slowly was sucked away to another side of the world and blackness took its place. There was no shadows on the ground, no light in the sky, no visible clouds to keep him hypnotized. Xavier came back to life.

He sat up and looked down at the ground. A quarter later, there was a faint sound. It was rhythmical and had a pattern to it. Four rapid taps on the ground, a short silence, then another four.

Remembering the text of instructions, he closed his eyes. The sound got louder and the pattern got slower until each tap could be heard individually. It came to a stop. A creaking sound was made a light gust of wind blew against Xavier.

One step could be heard. It was brief but powerful. Then a long pause. Xavier was tempted to open his eyes but had an unconfirmed feeling that he would be staring at death if he was to do so.

The longest hand made its way around the clock completely plus a few more ticks before another step could be heard. This time, it was even more powerful and the sound of a strange breathing pattern traveled into his ears. A short breath in, silence, then as though it couldn't hold back the air, a forced ejection of air. Followed with a longer silence before another breath in.

It took three trips around the clock before the next and final step was made. Another sound hit the ground forming a wave that vibrated all the way up to Xavier. It sounded inanimate like a mixture between metal and wood.

Xavier couldn't see what was going on but he felt a presence get closer and closer. The crackling sound of a hand unwrapping and moving forward. Each fingers moved in order from the smallest to the index like a pianist. Xavier could practically make out the soft sound of a piano playing.

It came to a stop just a few inches away from Xavier. Although his back was a waterfall, he followed the presence and grabbed hold of the hand reached to him. It felt lifeless. There was no skin and meat softening the grip. It was hard and smooth.

Getting up from the bench, Xavier was escorted up the set of stairs, into the mysterious room. Released, the hand tapped his shoulder gesturing for him to sit which Xavier unknowingly understood and complied. He felt a soft cushion pressing up against him. As he sat further in, his back touched a wooden wall that felt cold and more dead than the usual.

His escort didn't join him. They closed what sounded like a door and made their way down before climbing on top of what Xavier guessed to be a horse.

A whip cracked and the horse, rather the three horses began running. They were synchronized but there was a distinguished sound that each of their hooves made. Each step felt nauseous and made Xavier's organs feel like they were not only out of place but also a few seconds behind as though his body was moving too fast for them to catch up.

The journey was brief but the aftermath made up for it. Xavier felt his lunch crawl up but he swallowed it back down leaving a horrible taste in his mouth. His brain felt like it was spinning and his heart was beating the other way around.

Then finally, he was able to see again as he heard the soft sound of a bell, most likely tiny as Sato claimed. He opened his eyes and he was sitting in an office full of people, workers, and mothers guiding their children.