Chapter 4: The Midnight People

44 5 6
                                    

"Hey man, wake up," Jay said as he shook the young man's shoulder.

The young man slowly opened his eyes and squinted to see another young man in front of him.

"What's your name?" Jay asked.

"Uh...Zylen," He answered.

"How old are you?" Jay asked as he extended his arm and pulled Zylen from the slushy snow and as the others backed away.

"Um...a few days old...I think," Zylen responded while he surveyed his surroundings.

"I'm Jay and I've been dead for five years now...and that's Kaleb who has been dead for two years, and Loren who has been dead for six months now," Jay said while pointing to Kaleb, a scrawny young man with brown eyes and hazel- colored hair, and to Loren, a young woman with black long curly hair and dark green eyes.

"Nice to meet you guys," Zylen replied.

They began to walk on the streets covered with snow. The night was cold and calm, and the skies were undisturbed from any meandering clouds. Loren and Kaleb stared at Jay, the young man with the light brown hair and blue eyes and rather pale complexion, as he continued to speak to Zylen.

"So, why were you laying on the ground?" Jay asked.

"Honestly, I have no idea," Zylen responded.

"Do you remember how you died?" Jay asked.

"No, not really, I don't exactly remember what I was doing before I died either..." He replied.

"Don't you worry, eventually you'll remember. I didn't recall my death until a few weeks in," Jay said.

They continued to walk on the streets and besides the parked cars while the conversation went on. The window-sills of the tall brick buildings were layered with snow and the windows were covered with a thin coating of ice. As Zylen listened to Jay's words, he started to scrutinize the fact that none of them created any footprints as they stepped firmly into the snow. He also took notice that the drivers weren't at all bothered that they were walking on the road rather than the sidewalk. They had finally approached a decrepit building in which they entered. The ample room, Zylen, Jay, Kaleb, and Loren were in, had three chairs placed close to each other.

"Let me grab you a chair," Jay said to Zylen.

As Jay was pulling the chair towards the group, Zylen thought: "We cannot make physical footprints, but we can still grab and move a chair?"

"Go ahead, sit down," Jay pointed at the chair.

"So, how did you guys die?" Zylen asked the group.

"Come on Kaleb and Loren it's your time to talk for a bit...you don't expect me to keep talking do ya?" Jay said with a chuckle.

"Tell'em how you guys got here," Jay added.

"I'll go first then," Kaleb said.

"Well, two years ago when I had turned eighteen, I decided to come out to my parents. I was planning it for quite awhile. I had waited till my parents came home from work. Once they entered through the front-door, I was waiting for them on the couch. They looked at me a bit suspicious and asked me what was wrong. I simply answered that nothing was wrong and that I just needed to tell them something. So, they sat down and I just blurted it out. They didn't take it well---at all---especially my dad. He..." Kaleb paused and slightly turned his head to the side while ignoring eye contact. He took a breath and proceeded.

Midnight InsomniaWhere stories live. Discover now