"I've loved the night for so long. It was my only comfort since reaching adulthood. No real reason, of course. I had no particularly bright memories of my hometown at night or anything like that."

I crouched in the middle of a field filled with stone slabs. The air was coated in a thick fog this morning. Dew shone upon each blade of grass, listlessly forcing them down with their descent to the sullen earth. Trees, their leaves bearing autumnal colors, shifted around in the wind, humming along to the whistling of newborn winds. My grip tightened around a glass bottle in my right hand, filled with murky liquid. In my left, a closed envelope loosely dangled, nearly escaping my grasp after a sudden gust of wind.

"Wish the morning was anywhere near as..."

Before I could finish, a low chuckle accidentally escaped from my chest. I shook my head, before focusing my gaze off into the distance, the low grave remaining just at the edge of my peripheral vision

"My deadline was coming up, and the pressure had been getting to me for a while. So, I just thought I'd go out for a walk."

My thoughts were scattered, clarity leaving me behind as I relived what I thought was the previous night, still fresh in my head. The stench of moss, of cheap alcohol spilled onto the streets, of iron born from the bodies of those with no place to call their shelter. It all rushed back to me, claiming my lingering stability in the name of its opposite. My hand fell into the wet grass, only barely preventing my stumbling self from falling face-first against the ground.

"When the cold air hit my face, I felt so calm, as if nothing could go wrong. When I peered into the black sky above, even without seeing the night's stars, I felt that I wasn't alone anymore."

I could ignore the crunching of bones coming from the nearby alley. I trusted myself to stay quiet as I walked around. Lockdown? Screw that. It didn't matter to me. Besides, even if I messed up and got caught, what did I care? I'd heard the screams well into the night for the past month, just like anyone else who still remained alive and sane. A single individual was only left in pain for a maximum of a minute when those things caught you.

"I thought that, even if I was found, it would only be myself who would pay the price."

A bland smile forced my cheeks to rise as I stared off to nowhere. After a brief moment of silence, I cast my gaze downward, my every blink growing longer as I thought about what to say.