Darkness...

It was something he has gotten used to since that night. Except that night, he was scared, but now, it was fear with a hint of curiosity. He advanced further into the darkness until he saw a red glow. It kept getting closer, closer, closer, until...

The red glow suddenly dissipated and the image shifted. The cool wind caressed his skin and his blond hair billowed. He looked up at the dark clouds gathering, trying to understand where he was. He looked down and saw he was wearing grey boots and black ankle socks. He was also standing on grass.

Grass?

"Man, I fucked up there, didn't I?" he heard someone say in front of him.

He looked forward and saw a short-haired man in a crisp white shirt reaching into the back of his pants and he removed a handgun. He aimed it at him and said, "Step away from the girl, McKing."

He felt someone grip the back of his shirt so he whipped around, confused and in a daze. The person was a girl; no older than him. Her hair was straight, long, luscious and dark. Her skin was deathly pale and there was nothing but fear in her dark brown eyes.

"Tori, I want you to run and get help. I'll hold him off as long as I can," he had no control over his mouth. He just spoke.
"What? No! I'm-I'm not leaving you to die," the girl replied, tears already brimming in her eyes.

"You should listen to her, McKing. I'll kill you. I'll do it, I swear to God!" the armed man yelled, a crazed and frantic look in his eyes.

"Tori, now's not the time for this. Go to the gate. Go get Director Gray," he told the girl with as much conviction as he could muster.

"But-"

"Just go, dammit!" he yelled at her. There was no way he was letting her get hurt. He turned to face the armed man squarely as he heard the retreating footsteps of the pale-skinned girl over the howling wind.

The armed man gritted his teeth and clenched the gun tightly. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" he yelled at the cloudy skies. "You brought this on yourself, McKing. At least you'll get to see your parents faster than you thought."

He closed his eyes and waited for his inevitable end. Before he heard the gun go off, he was a shoved aside forcefully by a pair of cold yet soft hands. What followed was a sharp intake of breath.

That sound wasn't from him.

He dropped to the grassy land and opened his eyes slowly. He looked down at his white tee-shirt and shorts, there was no new splotch of red on them. No bullet holes... nothing.

Then he looked to his side... and screamed his lungs out!

He gasped as his eyes flew open. He sat up and breathed heavily. He placed a hand on his chest to calm his fast-beating heart. He sighed and reached out to the nightstand on his right. He grabbed the container of pills amidst the mess on the nightstand. The boy opened the container with a soft click and picked one of the numerous pills.

With a sigh, he realized he had to get water from the sink in the bathroom; which was a good walk away from his bed. Then, a glass of water entered his line of sight, along with the feminine hand of a person.

"Thanks," he muttered as he accepted the glass of water. He already knew who the person was.

He drank a bit of water before he threw the pill in his mouth, swallowing it with the water. Then he gulped down the rest of the water and handed the woman the glass.

"Same nightmare?" she asked as she dropped the glass by the comfy queen-size bed. She was sitting by said bed on an equally comfortable armchair. He rolled across the bed and checked the alarm clock on the other nightstand. It was just after 8! So, what in God's name was she doing in his room?

"I uh...I just got off the phone with Daniel. He says hi," she continued, her leg propped up over the other. He turned to eye her suspiciously but a mop of his blond hair got in his view. He pulled it back and ran a hand through them continuously, to keep them in place. Her long brunette hair was wavy and fell across her back. Even with the lack of sunlight in his room, her fair skin glowed radiantly, as she observed him with keen brown eyes. She was his shrink; Dr. Julia Roberts.

"What are you doing here?" he asked the casually dressed therapist: a simple loose blouse over high-waist jeans. He didn't understand why that made her smile. She reached into her bag and removed a notebook. It had a pen attached to its side. She opened it and scribbled something down. She had gone into "shrink mode."

"That's the first thing you've said in days, Michael. That's good," she commented as she kept writing. Seeing her do that, it... it unnerved him.

"You've still not answered my question. What are you doing in my room?" he asked again with a demanding tone.

She looked up from her notebook and her eye caught a bunch of brochures on the right nightstand. She reached out to grab one but he was quicker. He shoved her outstretched hand out of the way and moved to block her completely, catching her by surprise.

"Michael!" she gasped in disbelief.

The blond-haired boy folded his arms across his chest and frowned down at her. "It's none of your business," he told her.

"Michael... we've been over this. It is my business. Like it's literally my business! We've done this before. Let's not repeat the cycle, how 'bout that?" she said with a small smile.

That smile infuriated him!

What the hell was so exciting that it was making her smile? Was it his misery? His pain? It excited her?

"How 'bout you get out of my room?" he suggested to her calmly. The small smile was wiped off her face. He had ignored her, or insulted her. But he had never asked her to leave.

"What?" she chuckled lightly, "Michael, don't be silly. Sit... let's-"

"Leave me the fuck alone!" the blond boy snapped at the psychotherapist. She flinched at the raised volume of his voice. She rose her hands in surrender and kept her notebook back in her bag.

She stood and carried her bag. Because she was standing, she could see what was on the brochures clearly. She exited the enormous and exquisitely furnished bedroom wondering why the billionaire orphan was home-hunting.

Michael sat back on the bed and bounced as Dr. Roberts closed the large mahogany double-door behind her. He didn't know why she couldn't take a hint. He wanted to be left alone!

The bed started to vibrate under him. That was weird because it wasn't a vibrating bed. The blond kid reached to the side of one of the numerous fluffy pillows and grabbed his phone. He saw he had another message from the same unknown number that had been pestering him.

He knew who it was. He just didn't want to read what the man had to type.
It became four unread messages from the dark-skinned director of The COSP, Crestville City.

But he could read the header of the message. It read, "Hey kiddo. How u holdin' up? I'd really like it if u..."

His grip on the phone tightened as he scrunched up his face and his eyes started welling up. Out of anger, he stood and threw the phone against the stark white wall. It smashed against the wall and dropped to the plush carpeted floor in pieces.

He sat on the bed and sighed to himself.
"Great... now I gotta get a new phone," he muttered.

The filthy-rich boy pulled out the cabinet of the nightstand and reached in without looking. He moved his hand around before he finally got what he was looking for.

He removed his hand and in it was a stack of freshly printed cash. He counted an excessive amount and kept it on the bed, returning the rest. He grabbed his robe; which matched his pajama pants, and wore it over his faded t-shirt. Then, he pocketed the money and headed out of his bedroom.

Sergeant Albert and Appleman; his security detail who happened to be police officers, were going to drop him off at a phone store. Anyone would do...

«»

Michael McKing waited for the sensor doors to slide open, then he walked in. The air-conditioning was at its fullest. It was summer after all.
The store didn't have a lot of people inside, but those there were staring at him strangely.

It wasn't every day you saw a tween walk into a phone store dressed in his PJs and flip-flops.

The shabbily-dressed boy ignored their stares and started moving, looking at the phones set out for display. He kept walking and avoided anyone that tried to walk into him accidentally.

After a minute of walking in squares, he finally found the same model of his previous phone. He grabbed it from its showroom and moved to go to the cashier at the end of the store. That was until someone blindsided him and caused him to almost drop the new phone. He fumbled around with it before he finally caught it.

"What...the hell?" Michael grumbled and turned slowly to see who almost cost him an extra thousand dollars.

She was slightly taller than he was. Her long hair was tied up in a bun. Her narrow eyes and small nose were what gave up her Asian descent, though it was watered down. Her slightly curvy and developed form was the only indication that she was older than him.

"OMG! I'm so sorry! I was just in a hurry to get the air pods," she said hastily, pointing at said air pods. It was in the showroom just beside his phone's.
"I've searched all over town, looking for it. Every phone store said they had run out and I was like, 'OMG! Where am I gonna get them?' And this cute cashier at the last phone store I was in, told me this place should have one left. And-"

Michael's eye was twitching as the girl kept talking. She was talking so fast; he couldn't keep up with what she was saying. And she was really getting on his nerves!

"-Anyway, when I saw you walking towards the air pods, I freaked! I thought you wanted to buy it or something. I guess I was wrong... Silly me," she finally finished with a beaming smile.

Michael looked from her to the air pods, then a thought came to mind. He turned and grabbed the item along with the new phone. He headed over to the cashier's corner, not sparing the gaping Asian girl a glance.

The cashier was explaining how he'd operate the phone and the air pods; after he asked for some means of identification, but Michael wasn't paying attention. The blond billionaire turned and looked at the Asian girl, who was standing in place and staring right back at him in disbelief.

He knew her kind. Her voice and attitude screamed "queen bee's tagalong." Kind of like one of the girls in Mindy's crew. Since he dropped out of Crestville Junior High months ago, Michael hadn't heard any news about the pale, bratty girl, but he bet she had terrorized other kids. And he bet the Asian girl had done the same to some innocent kids in her school as well...

She seemed like the type who always got what she wanted, so he'd help teach her a lesson.

"Hey, man. Did you get that?" the young cashier brought him out of his thoughts. The blond billionaire nodded his head and turned to face the cashier, who was scanning and packing the phone and the air pods.

"Oh no. Don't pack the air pods. I want to use them on my way out," he told the cashier.

"Okay, man. That'll be uh -" he punched in a few keys on the keyboard in front of him and stared at the slim monitor, "-$1300.00."
Michael reached into the pocket of his robe and removed a wad of cash. The cashier's eyes widened dramatically, so did the Asian girl's.

The boy counted the exact amount and handed it to the cashier, who was still wide-eyed. He received the money before he snapped out of his daze. He counted the money himself to see it was complete, and real.

He printed out the receipt and gave it to the boy, along with the phone and unpacked air pods.
"Uh... thank you and uh... come again sometime," he said to the retreating blond.

The Asian girl walked up to him angrily and let out her anger, "Yo-you can't just do something like that! I told you I've searched everywhere for those air pods!"

"Yeah well, I just remembered I wanted to buy those exact air pods. And I was here first, wasn't I? Michael replied with a smug expression on his face. His response was enough to shut the Asian girl up. He was there first. First come, first serve...

Somewhat depressed, she half-heartedly watched as he dropped the air pods to the white tiled floors. Before she could say anything, the blond boy stomped on the air pods fiercely and broke them apart; beyond repair.
The sound echoed around the store and faded, but it remained in her head. She wasn't sure if she screamed or not. She just knew she suddenly had a newfound hatred for blonds!

Michael smirked as he exited the store. If he was being honest, all the reasons he thought of as to why he wanted to teach the Asian girl a lesson were just complete B.S.

The truth was, he just didn't like her voice...