The Midnight Before Me by Elizabeth Lo

Author:Elizabeth Lo [Lo, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Westbrook Publishing
Published: 2019-10-09T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Midnight

In Hanbury

I keep tossing and turning. It’s hard to fall asleep. I feel as if I’m anticipating something, but what, I don’t know. The air just feels disturbed all of a sudden. The room feels heavy, and it’s hard to breathe. My eyes won’t stay closed, and even under two layers of blankets, I feel an inner frost growing from within me.

It feels just like those cold lonely nights locked in my room all over again. What’s wrong with me? This strange aura seems to be shaking all of Hanbury. It’s making me feel hot and restless. As if I’m not alone… but not in a good way.

The world blurs over in blue as I suddenly twist out of bed, wide awake. Sweat drips down my back, and my hands are clammy and shaky. Usually, my sleep is turbulent anyway, but never to this extent. I haven’t even dreamt yet.

The moon is already looming high overhead. When I breathe, fog comes out. This is Hanbury, I guess. I forgot there’s a heating system I was supposed to activate. The window is still cracked open slightly, and outside is a dark and empty street with a chill throughout.

The window doesn’t take much convincing to open, though it squeals to an annoyingly loud extent. In complete silence, even the smallest of sounds seem ten times their actual volume.

I need to get out. Something in me feels like running and hiding all at the same time.

I’ve barely cracked the opening enough to get through, and I bet I look less-than-graceful as I squeeze myself through the gap. It took me a little too long to remember how far the drop is, and the wind almost doesn’t catch me from smacking into the pavement.

I realize I’ve forgotten completely about shoes or, really, anything remotely practical. I’m still in the clothes I wore during the day with Lafayette, and the image of the white chrysanthemums still burns itself in my mind.

So even now, it’s not any more comfortable in the fresh, outside air. Similar to the way a snake seems when its scales are brushed the wrong way, the tension is tangible.

During the night, the cheery citizens have apparently been replaced by shabby, underground people wandering the streets like zombies in the dark corners of the city. Twilight was the only time when there was barely anybody wandering the streets. Now, I have lots of company.

My steps sway at a calm rhythm as I walk around the night, the cool breeze drying my sticky back. But I still feel off. There’s something coursing through my veins… what is it? Fear?

Just keep walking. Maybe if I keep moving, I won’t have to face it.

It’s just dark enough that I keep tripping over my own feet. Exercising my unique, officially named True Sight ability, I theatrically spin around in the street to get a panorama of my surroundings.

That’s when I realize that the danger that I’ve just put myself in.

All around me, hidden in the shadows of the night, are bodies holding two souls each.

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