Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Blank

 

                  A girl sat on the beach picking away at seashells with a stick she had found. Trying to find the prettiest one, she spent her time slowly going from sandy patch to sandy patch picking up shells to see their color. Some were big, some were small, but all she cared about was the colors they showed. “Belle!” She turned to see a boy running towards her with something in his hands. He stopped next to her and put his hands on his knees out of breath “Look at this one!” He stretched out his hand and showed Belle a few beautiful shells. Belle was happy that he found these but felt sad that she just couldn’t find them herself. “I’ll be back, I'll get some more!” The boy started running towards the water, but as he ran Belle felt a sense of danger. She tried to stop him. When she tried to run after him, her legs sunk into the sand, pulling her deeper into the ground. She reached out her hand and tried to scream but the boy did not turn back as he ran deeper and deeper into the water. As the sands reached her chest she clawed at the ground trying to bring herself up to warn the boy from going deeper but the sands were too strong until her whole body was dragged underground. She could not breathe, and it felt like the weight of the whole world was around her. Again, she could not get the boy to turn around.

 

Belle woke up as if a force yanked her eyelids apart. She had that dream again. Her stomach was turning. They felt as if butter was being churned in her intestines and her legs felt too weak to hold herself up. She had this dream pretty frequently and felt almost as if he was haunting her. She wanted to call out for help but if she did, the person she would call for would be him. Even if she called for anyone, there would be no ears to fall on at her deserted house. Her bed was cold. It may have been due to the fact that there was only one thin sheet atop of her protecting her from the elements outside. But like what everyone knows, her bed, even though useless against the freezing temperatures, if she gripped her paper thin sheet enough, she would feel safe. After 15 minutes of sulking, she knew she had to get up eventually and worked up the will to get herself out of bed. She put her feet down lazily on the floor by the side of her bed one by one and stood up slowly. She stood at a good 5 '6 and if seeing her for the first time, you could easily mistake her as being some weak girl at the library. Soft spoken, short black hair with glasses, she looked as if even a breeze could pick her off her feet. She looked around the room for a while before spotting a package she had previously put to a random corner of the room. Belle inhaled immensely and after some time kicked the box, watching it fly across the room until it smacked into the adjacent wall falling with a great thud. She had forgotten she had left some of the stress toys she keeps in those boxes, some of which being fairly hard, hurt her feet. But even in her own home she made an effort to not show any pain. After this show of theatrics her body grumbled as it tried to remind her she hadn’t eaten since dinner last night. She gathered herself and started limping towards the kitchen.

 

As she walked through her door frame where the door had fallen off, she saw the painting she had been working on for the past few days. It stood alone in her living room deserted from attention. She had been working on it for class the past week but never quite felt satisfied with every iteration of her own painting. She would always sit down, stare at her work for a few minutes and give up without picking up her brush. After a second to glance, Belle seemed to have a pained look on her face as she continued her walk towards the kitchen.

 

Entering her kitchen she was able to take in the crisp morning air through the cracks that riddled her windows and walls. Through the window above her sink, she could see the beauty of the morning, or rather she couldn't see much at all but the fog that covered the streets but she truly believed this itself was beautiful. The mist added a softness to the streets, the street lights plumed like a glowing ball almost as if a fairy were within them, and the light grayish-blue tone to the world it created was one of her favorites. When she was younger, she used to run down these and play all day but now as she’s aged, they look almost hollow and dead. Belle took four eggs and two slices of bacon from the fridge, cracked them, and placed them on a frying pan to be greeted by a light sizzle. She looked up and allowed herself to be distracted by the view outside for a moment. After a while to stare in admiration of the outside world, she looked back down at the food she was cooking. It was still raw. Belle realized she had turned the heat too low and turned the fire up to the max setting, staring at the eggs almost as if she was trying to fry them with her stare. Since the eggs didn’t seem to be cooking any faster, she eventually let out an annoyed sigh and sat down on the floor until her breakfast was finished.

 

She split the burnt breakfast onto two plates and started eating her portion. After every few bite or so she would glance up at the other plate as if she was waiting for someone to join her, but no one would come, no one would ever come. She devoured her meal and headed towards her painting leaving the other plate untouched. Standing before her table, she examined her work. She tried her best to tell herself it would be good enough to show to her teacher, but she couldn’t help feeling the disappointment. Unsatisfied, she grabbed the edge of the table. She took up her paintbrush and thought intensely about what could be done to ease her mind. After a while of deliberation, she dropped it knowing she did not have the capacity to. Her grip on the brush had tightened, but right as it was about to break, she let go. Her own ineptitude often frustrated her because the visions she would have in her head could never be translated how she wanted onto the canvas. No matter the hours she had worked, it would never be enough. She stood back upright and sighed before her painting in her tote case. 

 

Her front door let out a loud, rusty creak as she walked outside before mounting the old bike on her porch. A friend of hers lent her their bike out of pity one day and forgot to ask for it back and ever since then it's been her main mode of transportation. Even though it may sound strange, she quite liked her bike. It may have had a few screws missing and you had to squeeze the brakes a little harder than usual to get it to work, but since it had been with her through all her rough times, helping her get from point A to point B without fail, it had been one of the few consistent things she had in her life for the past few years. She got on her bike and made her way to her college campus, down the same road she always goes through. Her neighborhood had a handy trail by a creek, leading right towards her school and every time she would take this trail she would always admire what nature had to offer, never being bored of what she was seeing. When she was younger, she would always go down to the creek to see if any little fishes would be swimming around. She would often be disappointed but on those rare occasions where she would see one she would jump with joy and look towards her brother who would be standing right over her with the same look in his eyes. He would always try to catch one of the fishes making them scatter but time and time again he would never give up hope and dive his hands to the water whenever he would see the chance. Whenever Belle would ask him why he would do it even though he knew he would never catch one, and he would just respond with
“I’m hungry.” with a bright smile. However, for some reason, she has never dared to cross the creek. A part of her was scared to cross the creek, but the main reason was that it felt disrespectful. Like she would be intruding in on whatever was on the other side of this invisible boundary. After thirty minutes of cycling, she arrived at her college. In most of her classes she kept the same philosophy. “I am not important in their lives and they are not to me.” She would walk in, walk straight to her chair, put her bag down and sit up straight and pay attention to class, nothing more. If anyone talked to her or asked her for something, she would merely do the task silently and gave a smile back when she was done. She didn’t necessarily hate anyone, she just wasn’t ready to let other people into her own life. Eventually it came time to go to her art class. She walked through the hallway towards her class and even the sound of her own footsteps scared her. Her professor was very harsh in nature and was harsher towards Belle in particular. She entered the room and took her seat shivering with fear. Belle knew she did a lackluster job and so she knew what was coming. Class started and everyone was tasked to do their warm ups. Everyone around her was giggling and chattering about their weeks while Belle’s hands were shaking.

 

“Did you watch that new episode of Gobayashi?”

“Yeah it was so cute! The new character is so adorable! Wait, oh my god, look what my boyfriend got me!!” The random girl pulled out her bag towards the other girl. They sat right behind Belle so their conversation was unavoidable. Belle herself took out her bag and from within she grabbed a stress toy and held it on her lap where it could not be seen. She then furiously gripped it to get out her anger.

“Oh my god, where’d he get that it’s so cute!”

“He got it for me at the arcade!! It was his first time and I didn’t think he would get it!”

“Awwww I wish my boyfriend would win things at the arcade for meeee, but he’s too dumb to even pick up his clothes off the floor I don’t think he could pick up a plush for me.”

 

Belle seemed annoyed at these girls for breaking her concentration but after a while she let her curiosity get to her and looked over her shoulder slyly to see what the whole fuss was about. On this girl’s bag dangled a little seal plush, and on top of that…it was blushing. Belle tried her best to compose herself. But even as she looked down at her table she kept thinking about that lil seal. She heard a little plunk next to her table.  On the floor was a pink pencil.

 

“Hey you dummy you dropped your pencil.”

“Oh no, oh it just dropped right in front of me it’s not a big deal.”

“Are you gonna get it?” the girls went silent.

“No, I'll just get it after class.”

 

Belle leaned over to pick up the stray pencil to hand it over to the girls. This would have been the perfect moment for her to tell them how cute she thought the plushie was, but all that came out was a smile. She had lived a life isolated from others around her and when she tried to speak she felt that she was betraying herself. She did not hate these girls, so why didn’t she speak to them. The time came for when the teacher would come over to review everyone’s works and the anxiety collapsed on Belle. The professor came towards Belle’s desk like a predator hunting its prey circling the tables around her before arriving at her, and when she arrived, the words came. Belle sat there for over 5 minutes as this madman kept screaming at her about how her work “lacked inspiration” and nitpicking at every little detail this person could find in her work. Belle stayed resilient and silent as the barrage of words came at her until the professor was finally finished and she just gave them a little nod. Class ended. 

 

She went outside to her usual spot on top of a hill in the back of the school, tucked away from where anyone could see her. There was a tree on top of the hill that gave her shade but there was no seating area so usually no one would sit here so Belle felt no pressure to enjoy her alone time. From her bag she pulled out a cute penguin toy. She sat with her back against the tree and gazed upon this adorable penguin, and then with a firm grip, squeezed it so hard the toy’s eyes seemed like it was gonna pop out from its sockets. Belle kept a variety of stress toys in her bag for days she needed to take out her frustrations. This day in particular she was even more stressed than usual so she began slamming the poor penguin repeatedly against the tree.

 

After a while Belle knew there was another place she had to be so onto her bike she went. These roads were a lot more rough than the ride to the college and were riddled with constant bumps. The more she biked, the more bumps would appear until those bumps turned into cracks and those cracks turned into sprouts of grass. The sides of the roads were overgrown and seemed like no one had taken care of it since the invention of electricity, and at the end of this road, was a lonesome house. The ugly duckling of even this terrible neighborhood was this terrible house. Exposed wood, windows broken in, and doors falling off the hinges, it seemed amazing how anyone was still living there. But in front of this worn down, disgusting house, sat a girl, waiting. She seemed as though she had been waiting for days on that broken pile of woods they called their front porch. As Belle came increasingly closer, the lonesome girl leaned in close and began to squint. She scrunched her face so hard she almost looked like a crumpled piece of paper. Only when Belle was just a few feet in front of her did the girl realize who it was. She jumped from that place and a look of absolute joy washed over her previously rundown face. 

 

“BELLE!!,” she yelled in a whisper.

“Lily!!,” Belle responded too in a whisper. Talking to Lily was like talking to a glass menagerie. She seemed so fragile and brittle whenever she would speak all the while being incredibly soft. She was a young middle school girl and anyone could tell from just looking at her that she had a heart of gold. When Belle looked at her today she could immediately tell a new bruise had formed on her arm.  “Are you alright? How’s your home life been?”

“Oh I’m okay…I…I’m happy you’re here Belle…I missed you a.. a lot” Anytime Lily would talk her eyes would always be fixated on the floor. Belle couldn’t control the smile that crept onto her face. 

“Well, that’s a good thing because I missed you too Lily.” 

Lily’s eyes shot straight up to Belle.

“Are we going on another adventure?!,” Lily ran up ahead, fumbling here and there. “I’m ready, I'm ready!!,” Belle looked on with a smile. “Where are we going today ?!” This sent a chill down Belle’s spine. Belle looked off to the side trying to dodge the conversation.

“Well, you know, maybe we can play in the real world today.” 

“No !!” Lily whispered louder. “I..I want to see…your world…its m…my favorite part…”. Lily looked into Belle’s eyes with such determination. Belle couldn’t say no to this. Belle slowly reached for her painting wracked with nervousness. Why was she nervous, she wasn’t showing her teacher, she was just showing a kid, a kid that always loved her paintings. But even still, she could feel her knees tremble, and as soon as her fingers made contact with her painting, she stopped for a moment.

“We could go to one of my other worl-”

“NO!” Lily said this in what seemed like a normal volume which seemed to shock both Belle and herself. “N-no…sorry.” Lily’s eyes were glued back onto the floor. Belle let out a big sigh. She knew what she had to do. Inside her bag she grabbed…her stress toy and squeezed with all her might. Much like a bandaid, she pulled out her drawing in an instant and showed Lily. Belle looked away at first, nervous about Lily’s reaction. Slowly, she turned her head towards Lily, eyes closed. She did not know what to expect, would she hate it? Would she be disappointed? To her shock, when she eventually opened her eyes, she was greeted with a bright smile. 

“This garden is beautiful! I feel like I could just fly across it! Is it a magical world Belle?!” Belle smiled.

“Of course, when are my worlds not magical?” Lily ran out with her arms out.

“Look I’m flying! I’m flying!”

“Watch out for the rose bushes up there ! Those ones are dangerous ! Woah is that a poisonous plant monster?! Use your cryo magic to freeze it!”

The two went on like this for hours until they exhausted themselves. Belle dropped Lily off back at her place but their goodbyes were filled with remorse. 

“You’ll come back soon right Belle?” Lily said, staring back at the floor.

“Of course Lily, I’ll be back very soon” Belle patted Lily on the head a few times. “Stay safe and healthy okay ? Let me know if anything ever happens to you okay?”

“O-okay…” Lily looked back up to Belle for a brief moment before walking back inside the house.

Once Lily was gone, Belle took a second to just smile. Hanging out with Lily was always a spot of sunlight in the sandbox of night to her. She couldn’t wait to start on her next painting, and the next one, more magical than ever. Belle departed from Lily’s house with a melancholy feeling. She still had roughly a 30 minute bike ride to get home and she felt as if she needed a pick-me-up. She decided to head towards the diner that she frequents to get some food and coffee before she had to make the trip back home. She slowly walked her bike back to the diner. The walk was slow and tedious as always, but today she felt something different. She had always visited Lily after every art project, she would always go to the same diner, she would always take the same route, always. But today, she felt much more lonely. For some reason her heart started to ache as she thought back on her life. She chose to live a life of solitude after all these years and now, like an overworked muscle, the pain was starting to catch up to her. Her arms became shakier on her bike and as day turned into night, the gentle winds that caressed her before turned into a storm of daggers on her skin. ‘I don’t need anything else, I just need to survive another day’ Belle thought. She gripped her handlebars tighter and pushed forward. At the moment, the soothing sounds of the creek was the only thing keeping her sane, but even still she couldn’t stop her eyes from watering. When she could see the diner in the distance, she collected herself for a second and gripped the bike tightly.  She took in a deep breath and headed to the diner for some pancakes. The warmth and smell engulfed her as she took her first step in and all the frustrations she felt outside seemed to disappear with the smell of freshly brewed coffee. There were a few people in this diner as it was a lot of people’s comfort place to sit and relax while eating some food. She took a seat in the furthest corner of the restaurant as far away as possible from the old man that kept muttering to himself. She sat and enjoyed the time to relax by herself for a while, slowly eating away at the stacks of pancakes and a slightly too bitter cup of coffee. She didn’t like her coffee bitter, but she dealt with it because there were no sugar packets on the table, and she would rather flail her body into an active volcano than ask a waiter for help. Time flew by, she saw many people come and go as she just sat by herself in her lonesome. She took out her painting to examine it.  ‘Maybe my teacher is right, maybe I’m just a terrible artist.’ Belle thought to herself. But she couldn’t give up, Lily would be destroyed. This painting was very barren, full of very white. She didn’t do this because she gave up, however, she did this because she thought the white sky was far prettier than if she filled it with blue. Shades of bright and dark greens sprouted from the ground as grass, while an almost clear translucent river flowed across. Splashes of pastel pinks and lavender made up the flowers but a few of them looked to be withered. Gray rocks lined the river and made little stepping stones through the current, almost inviting the observer to jump and try to see what’s beyond. She looked away not in disgust this time, but in disappointment. She felt crushed because she felt as if the visions and dreams of beautiful things she would have would never be able to find a home on her paper. She took a few minutes to gaze at the lights outside and thought how hard they’re working to keep the streets so bright. These little things pierced the darkness and showed everyone things they couldn’t see otherwise so in her mind these little lights had a valuable job. Always in perfect rows down the street, never breaking formation, almost like little stars floating right over our heads.

 

“I think those lights are beautiful too.”

 

Belle turned sharply at the man that was standing right beside her table looking outside at the same spot she had been. He was a man about her age, in a long black coat with chains of necklaces, rings around his fingers, and bracelets lining his wrists. He stood absolutely entranced in the view of the outside world while slightly grinning to himself almost as if he didn’t even realize that he approached her. 

 

“I’ve always thought every different light has its own beauty and color. They work so hard all night to look this bright and these are some of the brightest I’ve seen.”

 

Belle looked at the man silently, her face unchanging, but a storm of emotions brewing inside. This man, about her own age, just came up to her and struck up a conversation. Her mind was going crazy, is this how people talk to people? Is this how people make friends? Why was he sweating? Didn’t he just come out of the bathroom? The man turned towards her and they stared at each other for a moment before the man looked visibly uncomfortable realizing what he just did. He started fidgeting and playing with his fingers almost in a panic at the situation he caused.

 

“Aren’t lights so fun! They’re just so…bright !! aaaand shiny ! And WOW ! You like seeing? Can’t do that without lights right? Ha haaaaa”

 

Belle knew it. This man is certified crazy. But she had been prepared for this moment. She reached into her bag to choose between grabbing the knife or the pepper spra-

 

“Btw I’m Blank. Sorry, maybe I should have started with that. I just um, wanted to talk to you about the um…is that your drawing?” Blank pointed at the painting on Belle’s table. 

 

He was visibly uncomfortable but now he seemed more nervous. Again there was an awkward air.

Belle thought to herself ‘First of all it’s a painting not a dRaWiNg. Second of all, why are you talking to me right now? We are at a diner in the middle of the night and I do not trust you. I have a knife and pepper spray with your name on it in this bag so if you don’t back away right this insta-’

 

“I think it’s quite beautiful.”

 

This stopped everything for Belle. Since she’s always had minimal interaction with people, she’s never actually ever heard a compliment. She’s become so accustomed to the ridicule from her professor so when this man so genuinely complimented her, she was taken somewhat aback. 

 

“It looks almost as if you imagined a whole new world in your head, an amazing little world and this is just one scene from it. I just wanted to tell you that. If I didn’t I woulda walked away disappointed in myself that I wasn't able to thank the person who made my day better.” 

 

Belle was flustered. Instead of grabbing the pepper spray or the knife, she opted for the third option, the arsenal of stress toys. Frantically squeezing and choking out her stress toys, she tried to get a grasp of the situation. She didn’t know what to say but her thoughts were going a mile per minute. Do I compliment him ? Am I creeped out ? Do I have food in my teeth ? What if he’s after my money, wait I don’t have any money. Maybe I could ask about the weather.  As she kept thinking no words came out of her which created yet another awkward and silent situation between these two. 

 

The man said timidly, “Anyways, I’ll let you get along with your day now, you take care”. He looked outside, then back at Belle again, as he turned around to depart forever. To be truthful, Belle didn’t want this man to leave. The more time went on the more he intrigued her. She has never seen anyone as gentle as him, the way he talked, the way he moved, the look in his eyes. She knew he was something different but she was scared. If this man walked away her life would go on the same as it always has been, the same cycle every day. But maybe today was the day she should break out of her shell. Quickly without thinking her body reacted.

 

You are reading story Your World at novel35.com

“Thank you.” The man turned back to face her. This was the most she could muster for the moment. She wanted to say more but couldn’t think of the words. She became slightly more embarrassed looking around the room for words to appear to her to say. The more time went on the more embarrassed she became but when she looked at the man, he was just waiting there patiently. This calmed down Belle for a minute and she continued. “Usually no one ever takes interest in my paintings, no one but one other person really…, so I was just caught a little off guard when you said that.” 

 

A smile grew on his face when her words were spoken.

“Well that’s a mighty shame isn’t it.”

The two just stood there for a few minutes. An awkward lull has crushed the atmosphere and both of them started to sweat in panic. Neither of them knew what to say but neither of them wanted to walk away. If Belle sat down then Blank would be awkwardly just standing there and have to walk away because he was fully faced towards her. If blank turned back around he would have done a 360 turn pretty much like a ballerina. In a moment of inspiration, Blank had a question.

 

“Is this place a place you’ve been ? Or did you see it somewhere?”

 

This question relaxed Belle for some reason. She looked down at her painting. 

 

“It was from a dream” She responded. “Most of the time, my dreams are unbearable and dark, but every now and then they take me away to this magical place. It may sound silly but in this world, I would have the power where everything I touch grows and the skies are so blue I could just fall in it and swim around.” Belle realized the words that just came out of her mouth. It was cringe. But she did cherish every one of them, like picking apples at the grocery. But even still she couldn’t have but felt some warm glow take over her cheeks. When Belle saw Blank reacting with a gentle smile, not saying a single word but instead listening, she felt at ease and continued.

 

“Sometimes my dreams are kind enough to let me explore this amazing world, and from these dreams I would paint. One day I want to be good enough where I could paint one of these so well where I could just step inside and live there forever.”

 

Blank looked deeply into the painting. “I hope I could one day step inside too.” After a while of staring, he spoke “You know I’m a little jealous, I’ve always wanted to be an artist but I never learned.”

 

“Anyone can be an artist, it's just time and practice.” Belle responded. But she was kind of disappointed in herself. This was just what we call an expected response. A response just to try to keep a conversation going, something anyone would say. She felt that her response didn’t give him justice for what she felt.

 

“Thank you. You know, I’ve actually been practicing but I just can’t quite seem to get better.” He pulled out a folded piece of paper from his back pocket and revealed it to Belle. It was horrible. Belle couldn’t quite understand what she was seeing. It was almost grotesque, horrific. Was this a Tree or a man with a beard throwing his hands in the air….maybe beef jerky. She tried to force a smile but he saw right through her.

“I know I suck, but I think I'm getting better.”

 

THIS WAS GETTING BETTER?? She couldn’t imagine what it was before, and she didn’t want to know. Blank slipped the paper back into his pocket embarrassed.

 

“You know I’m taking art classes and they’re helping out a lot, maybe you could look into taking some classes too? They could probably help out if you're really serious about it.”

A waiter came over to their table. “Hello! We’re actually closing up soon so here’s the check whenever you’re ready…so please leave.” The waiter left as soon as she arrived. Quickly blank snatched it up and said.

“It’s on me this time, for the conversation.” Belle had a serious look on her face. She did not want him to pay this bill. Blank looked down and from the corner of his eyes, he saw the glimmer of what seemed to be a knife in Belle’s bag and Belle’s serious face. “On second thought I’ll just pay for my own.” Belle’s grin spread from ear to ear. As Blank went to go to pay for his bill,  she thought of the conversation she shared with Blank. This was the first time she had a random human interaction and walked away feeling kind of happy. What a strange word that is. She thought about how strange she felt and how strange Blank was, but the more questions she had, the more she would smile to herself. She took one last sip of her coffee and for some reason, this sip was much sweeter, almost as if by magic.

 

Blank and Belle left the restaurant at the same time. Blank looked over at Belle and asked if she had a ride home. Belle merely thumbed towards the rusty old bike she has. When Belle asked Blank the same question, he merely just pointed at his feet and smiled. Belle got onto her bike to ride off into the night. When she started pedaling however she realized there was a small problem. She was moving nowhere. Belle didn’t know what to do so she kept huffing and puffing to try to get through it, but after it all she moved approximately 2 feet. She slowly dismounted the bike, stared at it for a few seconds, and gave it a kick in anger. She immediately regained her composure and started walking her bike into the night pretending like nothing was wrong. Blank’s head shot back her way. 

 

“Are you okay?” Blank said instinctively.

 

“Yeah,” Belle said in response. “I think I just got a flat tire. I’ll be okay though, I’m just gonna walk home. Bye-bye” As soon as she had started walking, she stopped for a moment “Thank you for liking my painting.” She said with a genuine smile. As genuine as she could produce at the moment through the disappointment of her bike failing on her. She didn’t want to admit it to herself but the warmth she felt within herself was almost like poison. After so long of being alone and pushing people away, someone worming in and showing her compassion hurt in a sort of way. 

 

“Are you sure you’re gonna be alright?”

 

“Yeah I’ve done it multiple times I should be fine” Belle was visibly shaking and Blank could obviously tell. But with a heroic look and a tall back, she started slugging her way into the night’s veil. Suddenly a bright light shined right beside her. As she looked over it was Blank with what seemingly looked like a lantern straight out of a historical documentary. The light was warm. Almost like those hugs Belle used to get when she was younger. The warmth emitted from the light seemed to embrace Belle, protecting her from the biting cold of night.

 

“Could I accompany you just for a little while?”

 

Belle couldn’t say no. Admittedly she was still scared of walking through the night. It had always been taxing to her physically and emotionally to tread through the darkness of dusk so she gave this a lot of thought. She could see her breath plume out in front as she thought. After a while, she turned to him and gave him a smile and a nod and he ran to her side like an excited puppy. They walked silently for a while, both too afraid to start a conversation, but that didn’t stop Blank from trying to break the ice a few times with a “so what do you do for fun?” or a “what’s your favorite food?” Both getting very flat responses from Belle. They walked like this for a while by the creek until Belle noticed that Blank had been staring at the little stream.

 

“I’ve always loved this creek,”said Belle. “The sound of the gentle water, the crickets in the background from every which direction. I used to come here all the time whenever I needed to clear my head after a long day.” Blank smiled as she spoke. Belle stopped for a second and looked over the horizon beyond the creek, into the dark trenches where the light couldn't reach.

“What do you think is beyond the creek here?” Blank stopped to observe with Belle.

 

“Hmm I don’t know, maybe it could be something beautiful? Or maybe it could be an adventure waiting to happen.” Blank turned to Belle almost proud of himself that he said something that sounded smart. But Belle’s gaze from the horizon did not falter.

 

“I hope it’s something beautiful. But when you look during the night, it reminds you how scary life could be.”

 

“Why don’t you take a look one day? When it's brighter”

 

“No” Belle looked over to Blank “Sometimes you just know when you have to stay away from things, and I hate adventures” and then proceeded to walk forward into the night leaving behind the stunned Blank.

 

“But what if it is something beautiful !” Blank shouted as he ran towards Belle until he finally caught up to her. “What if it is something beautiful and you never go just because you’re too scared.”

 

“Then I guess I’ll never know.” Belle said calmly.

 

They walk down a bit longer but Belle noticed that Blank was being a lot more vigilant here than before, almost as if he was looking out for something. To be honest Belle was actually very afraid of the night but she had been trying her best not to show it. Watching him so on guard made her slightly nervous. She kept looking at this man next to her and realized a few details that she had previously not noticed. On one of his necklaces, was what seemed to be a fiery haechi. Strangely, the necklace seemed to radiate warmth, and the more she stared at the necklace the more it seemed to stare back at her. She only noticed for a moment before being distracted by a random crow cawing loudly and passing by them in the sky. She jumped a little and clutched the handlebars of her bike as she kept walking. She then slowly turned to Blank to see if he had jumped too but his face seemed unchanged.

“Are you scared of the night?” Belle asked. Blank laughed.

 

“You never know what could be out in the night. There could be monsters that want to attack you, or spirits that might want to suck out your emotions. It’s easy to hide your dark thoughts in the night, so I feel like it brings out creatures that want to bring you down. Like right there” Blank looked into a seemingly random direction and stopped. He put his hand out and touched his middle finger to his thumb and then motioned it to the right and clenched his fist. Literally nothing happened. Belle thought that Blank was trying to be cool and show something off but he just looked right at her and smiled almost saying with his eyes that he’s ready to keep walking. Maybe he was trying to be poetic. Maybe he was just weird. “The night brings out all sorts of things, but for most, it brings out the vulnerable.” They walked for a bit longer again until Belle got pretty close to her house.

 

“I live just around here. I can make it home from here. Thank you.”

 

“Alright get home safe. Thank you for today, it was nice looking a bit more into that world of yours” Blank walked closer to Belle. Belle was worried for this moment. A man walking with a woman in the dark, no one else around, nowhere to run to. She knew what was gonna happen. As he approached her she felt a sense of nervousness and danger come about as she reached into her bag to grab a “safety device” But when he came a foot or two away from Belle he stopped and reached over to her bike handle and tied the lantern he was carrying to the handle bar.

“Take this with you until you get home.” Belle looked at the blank confused.

 

“Wait, how are you gonna see when you get home?-” Immediately Blank took out his phone and turned on the flashlight. Belle stood in disbelief. She has never felt more embarrassed in her life. She could have just done this the whole time.

 

“Well you better get going before it gets too late.” Blank said.

 

“Wait, how am I gonna give you back your lantern?”

 

“I’ll see you one day, I’m sure of it.” Blank waved at Belle as if telling her it was alright to leave. Belle smiled and waved back, she turned around and left for her house. Usually whenever she would walk back in the dark of night, she always felt like her soul would be sapped away with her slowly until she got home, but today, whatever the reason may be, she felt warm, like the lantern swinging on her bike. 

 

When she arrived home she parked her bike and brought in the lantern through the rusty door as it slammed behind her. She headed towards her room and put the lantern down on her table but the second she placed it, the light’s warm glow turned off. She tapped at the glass, but decidedly gave up on trying to turn it back on immediately. She walked over to her wall flicked on the light switch to no effect. She punched the wall a few times causing the lights to flicker but in the end the room stayed dark. She got a match out from the shelf on the table and brought out a candle to light. She made her way to the kitchen to check on the other plate she had left out, only to see the burnt breakfast completely intact. She sat the candle down on the kitchen table and ate the meal fully. 

 

“I wonder when he’ll come back.”

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