One Foggy Night (5): As the seasons shift, the temperature changes too. It’s not uncommon for fog to roll in, sometimes from the mountains, sometimes out of nowhere. This fog is particularly thick and difficult to see through; Destiny City has issued several weather warnings and cautions being out or driving at night. It’s easy to get lost and difficult to see obstacles. Not to mention the strange, smothering sensation of dread and fear that rolls in with the fog. While there is sometimes the sensation of being watched, it worsens when the sun goes down. Some have even said they’ve caught glimpses of a tall, horned figure traveling with the fog. The news has reported that this is probably just a side effect of climate change and suspects that weather patterns should return to normal towards the end of the month.


Ever since that several nights ago Harvey swore, he swore, that he’d never again be out and about past a certain hour. Of course, being a night owl meant that he had actually been out late the following night, and by the time tonight had come around he had already lost count of how many times he’d been out late.

Tonight he was out because there was some kind of restless energy in his room and no matter what he did he couldn’t seem to find a way to focus. Which was a shame because, well, he was so close to finally finishing his project. It wasn’t too often that he struggled to get to the finish line, so tonight he was both restless and frustrated. Not to mention annoyed, but that was more a constant state of being for him so he hardly ever noticed that anymore.

The late night air was brisk, the temperatures having dropped significantly now that they were late into October. It was hard to believe how miserable the summer had been. In actuality, the past summer was neither too hot nor too humid, but anything over the mid to high 60s was sweltering for him. His room was a freezer year-round; he kept his A/C running (and didn’t mind the insanely high bill) all summer, and he actually opened his windows on days when it didn’t snow in the winter. So tonight was refreshing, and the man wore a right smile on his face as he walked leisurely around the block. A rare sight indeed, the smile and the leisurely pace.

He had his hands in his pockets as he went, fiddling with his keys and his phone to fill the night air with just a bit of sound that wasn’t his sandals scraping the concrete with each step. When he was about halfway down the block, in the very brief moment that he’d stopped fiddling and it was just silence all around him again, that he thought he felt a pair of eyes on him.

Harvey stopped for a moment and glanced around, blinking. A fog had suddenly started rolling in, he noticed, and he looked thoughtful for a moment before pressing on with his walk.

The eyes seemed to follow him.

His leisurely pace was abandoned for his more normal “walk with purpose” pace. His fast walk very quickly became sprint walking as he hurried home. He could still feel the eyes on him the entire time, and he could all but stop himself from imagining what sort of person...creatures...monster...thing...those eyes belonged to. He’d seen the movies, he knew what happened to the idiot who was out for a night stroll in those.

He, or she, wound up very dead, and only showed up again later down the line as a zombie or as a lesson to teach the hero, heroine, or both.

“I swear I won’t be out this late again,” he whispered, out of breath as he kept walking. The only reason he didn’t start running was because what if that thing started running after him? “I swear I won’t be out this late again,” he repeated as he went, heart thundering in his ears. His legs were starting to ache—was their block always this massive?—but he sprint-walked on. All the way home.

Only when he managed to shut the door behind him and lock it did his shoulders finally relax. In fact, his whole body did, and he made a show of it by collapsing onto the floor in a small heap. His chest heaved as he fought to catch his breath, the rest of his body now numb and covered in a cold sweat.

And he lay there for a long while, just catching his breath and trying his hardest to calm down. He’d mostly succeeded after ten or so minutes, actually, and was about to get up and go to his room when a piercing scream broke the near perfect silence of their home.

Harvey shot up off the ground so fast he could feel the blood drain out of his head, and slammed his back against the door, hands up in what was apparently supposed to be a defensive type of stance. His eyes were wild for a moment, the adrenaline mostly dictating what he was doing.

And then the lights switched on and the adrenaline slowly began to fade away. Only when he could make out his roommate’s horrifyingly bewildered expression gradually turn into one of unbridled amusement did he lower his hands. It wasn’t long before she was laughing hysterically at his expense, and Harvey could feel his blood rushing twice as fast back to his head, concentrating particularly on his cheeks.

“Shut up,” he mumbled almost to himself; she was laughing so hard he’d be surprised if she did hear him. But he tried and that was enough for him. He hurried past her, not stopping as she tried (and failed) to control herself enough that she could say something to him, heading for his room and soon closing the door behind him.

As he slumped onto his bed he realized it had been quite some time since he’d had such an unproductive night. The restless energy was still there as he lay back, clothes damp with sweat and clinging uncomfortably to his skin, and rather than possibly get tired from the walk he found that he was more wired after being scared out of his mind.

Twice.

He curled his lip at the thought, noting the laughter outside had died down now. He wondered briefly why she was up and what she was doing out there; he half hoped she was making coffee. Despite being a stimulant, coffee was always the best thing for him when he needed to calm down. He let that sink in for a moment before slowly sitting up again. No sense in wasting a sleepless night, he thought. So he stood up and made his way out, deciding it was worth the risk of Melz laughing in his face if it meant he could at least calm himself down with a nice, fresh cup of coffee.

1035 (gdocs)
Featuring Melody Weber, played with permission from her owner.