Chapter 1

Inspired by Deaf Center's "Fiction Dawn".

The lights danced in the night. Light and darkness were in a deadlock battle. One would declare dominance one moment, the next the other would have the advantage. Denny watched this endless plight from the window, setting on his couch. He was mesmerized  by it,  but he didn’t know why exactly. The flickering lights of the neighbor’s home wasn’t exactly an interesting thing, but he felt there was something like a subtext that he understood in his heart, but not the mind.

Every night, for the last four nights, at exactly 11:43 PM, it began anew. He had lost sleep spending hours just setting, watching the lights flicker on and off. They would be fast and frantic for a while, off and on and off and on with almost a strobe like quality, then they would slow down, it staying lit for a moment or two, then plunging into darkness for another moment. Sometimes, it seemed to take on a green and red hue. Not the kind that made brown, but like the two colors existed together and shared the light rays. The edges of the window it shone from had a rainbow color, much the same kind that oil has in the sunlight. Denny was sure this was all just imagination, but sometimes, it seemed quite convincing.

Perhaps it was the mysterious and timely nature, combined with a lust for adventure that went largely unsatisfied, that peaked his curiosity. Sometimes while working as a clerk at the local Ingles, he almost wished some thug would come in, shoot up the ceiling and demand all the cash in the register. He supposed it was wrong to wish for some trouble to disrupt your peaceful life, but he couldn’t help but think that anything to break the monotony would be refreshing. But it wasn’t like he was really wishing something bad would happen. It was just harmless daydreaming, after all.

He turned from the lights, looked ahead at his TV. There wasn’t much on around 3 AM at night. The best he could find was a paid programming about a revolutionary juicer that would change his life, for the insane fee of just three payments of $19.99. He looked around his apartment, and supposed he should be more happy with it than he was. The kitchen connected to the main room, which contained a small entertainment center that his mother had given him. Inside it was the TV, and his video game console, which he rarely got to play anymore. Across the room from that was the couch he sat on, set to face the TV. Between the two was a coffee table,  which sat on a carpet which covered almost half the room. It rested all the heavy things on it’s back, as to keep from scratching the hardwood floor. Set apart by doors, were the bathroom, the bedroom, and a room he used for storage. It was a very nice place to live, plus the rent was comparatively cheap.

He looked back towards the window that showcased the crude lightshow, watched it for another minute. Then he got up, went out the door, across the parking lot that comprised the middle of the circular gaggle of apartments towards the house with the flickering lights. He came to a stop at the door, and looked right. The lights were still going on as they had been, and it seemed all the more magnificent from this close angle. He raised his hand, hesitated a moment, then knocked on the door. It seemed like he stood there for five minutes, when really it was about thirty seconds.

The door opened, and before him stood an old man with a bit of a hump in his back. He wore a brown flat cap, beige slacks and a plaid button-up shirt. But his most noticeable quality were his eyes. They were a piercing, and somehow disturbing shade of dark green. They seemed to be illuminated beneath the surface, but they didn’t appear to shimmer either. Denny stood for about ten seconds a little taken aback by this character, when finally he was broken of the spell by the old man’s deep, raspy voice. “Yes?” he asked.

“Oh, um, I’m sorry to bother you, I know its really late. I hope I didn’t wake you up.”

“No, you didn’t.” the old man said reassuringly, but less than enthusiastically.

Voice shaking a bit, he began: “Well uh, that’s good. So um, what’s been wrong with your lights lately?”

“How do you mean?” he asked, a bit confused.

“Well, it just that, uh, I noticed your light have been flickering a lot lately, and I figured that has to be really annoying for you.”

“My lights aren’t flickering.” The old man replied, a little more annoyed now.

Surprised by this remark, Denny looked over the old man’s shoulder into the room. Indeed, the lights were not flickering. They weren’t even on. The only light coming from the whole house was that of a small television. Flabbergasted, he looked back at the old man, and couldn’t find any words for a moment. The old man looked back at him, confused, and getting a little suspicious. Finally Denny got out: “Um, I’m sorry for bothering you then. I could have sworn I saw your lights messing up. I guess I’m more tired than I think I am.”

“Alright then. Goodnight.” With that, he turned his back and shut the door, and went back to a quiet night of television. 

Denny stood there for a moment, confused. He looked to his right, at the window again. It was as dark as any other apartment’s window was. He turned around and started a slow walk back home. He took another glance back, but the light had not returned. Surely he hadn’t imagined it four nights in a row, at exactly 11:43 PM. He supposed the old man could have turned the lights off as he came out, and that was probably indeed what had happened. It felt strange nonetheless. Not like the light had just stopped, but that a presence had left. He decided it would be best to get some sleep, and wait until tomorrow, Sunday night, for further investigation. As he walked back into his home, he took one more look back at the house. Still nothing. Maybe there never had been anything. Perhaps his boredom was getting to him worse than he first thought.

Author's Note

I'm gonna try and actually finish this one up, so there should be more coming. Any comments or constructive criticism is more than welcome!

Reviews

[Eve]

Very cool! I loved the description of light and dark dueling for dominance (in such a way that portrays these two entities as actual characters). Also, very good wording here --> "Not the kind that made brown, but like the two colors existed together and shared the light rays." Loved that!! This is a great story you've got brewing here...I'm intrigued and I want to know what was causing those lights! You did a nice job building up how bored Denny is - to the point that he's hoping for trouble. However, I would expound on that concept a bit, reason being that you need to help the reader understand why this guy would go through the trouble of knocking on a weird stranger's door in the middle of the night. Try to pull the reader down into Denny's boredom...almost to the point of despair. You could do this with even more description of how mundane his life is. You were moving in the right direction with the details re: the layout of his apartment, etc. By the time he knocks on that guy's door, you want the reader to share in Denny's motivations to engage in such foolish behavior. Great start though...keep going!! Content is fantastic, idea is great. Would benefit from a little polish, but that's for final editing...no big deal. :)

[hayleee.]

I really like this! ... i could picture the whole lighting across the sky.. it was odd,
and my mental image of the old mans eyes were ... unique. thank you for this!
nice write. :)