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Day One: During this time of year, the shadows are always growing longer and darker. Ordinarily, it's not something you think about, but for some reason there is something strange about the shadows this year. When walking through the shadows in Destiny City, it feels cold, or maybe even like the shadows briefly clutched at you. You may feel sluggish when passing through them, or you may feel drained or even unnecessarily anxious. It may be easy to brush off at first, but it's certainly unnerving.
The changing of seasons was something Samir usually looked forward to; he loved watching the world change around him, loved the newness of one season arriving after three months of another. The warmer seasons were always his favorite; he liked the freedom to go out in only a shirt and pants. He liked being able to enjoy the sun, to make the best of the daylight hours.
Fall bled into winter and he had been working hard to make the best of it while he could. Things had been hotter this fall, but in the early afternoon he noticed the darkness creeping in. The later seasons always had this strange effect--noon in Spring and Summer was charming. Noon in Fall was risky. Noon in Winter was dreary.
He'd been on his way to get something for lunch; the junkyard had done a lot of business for today and he had someone else covering while he went to tend to his basic human needs. Yesterday, it had felt like summer. Today, Winter.
The shadows crept from one building to the next with strangely ominous darkness and Samir had to check his watch several times to make sure that he hadn't accidentally lost track of time. The cold that slipped into him was very Winter. The sluggishness was very Winter.
Samir found himself rapidly disappointed with the idea that Summer was so far gone and that they'd slipped all the pleasantness of Fall to jump right into every horrible aspect of Winter. There was no crisp, clean Winter air. There was no warm coffee and soup. There was no coat to be bundled in.
There was just cold, anxious, darkness.
Another shadow stretched overhead and this time Samir stopped, squinted, and looked at his phone.
Still early afternoon.
And yet, since he'd left the junkyard and come into town, it looked like five, six hours might have passed. If he hadn't had his phone telling him what time it was, he would have guessed that it might have been drifting towards sunset. He could still see the blue sky around the great buildings, but the sun was hidden from view. Even with the brightness of the midday sky, it still felt dark.
A shiver ran down his spine and he had to force himself to shake his head to clear the mindset.
He had too many things to do to be understanding the weather. Maybe this had something to do with climate change.
...Or maybe he was working too hard.
His stomach growled and he paused to consider that maybe all of this was just a product of his own health: he hadn't slept much last night and he'd been working all day. The last thing he'd eaten was a granola bar for breakfast and coffee.
He was tired and hungry and maybe that explained more than he was giving credit for.
Maybe.
He wasn't sure how to explain the sensation that he was feeling very watched, but maybe paranoia was a side effect of hunger, too.
With a heavy sigh, Samir shook his head.
Destiny City had never really felt unwelcoming but all he could think about was getting lunch and going home.
At least he could still see the sun from the junkyard.
