after dark // arctic [blitz]

There's something about the sundown that makes the hurting and the thinking of a questionable existence riddled with black dust a little less painful; a little more peaceful.

I love the night. It is my escape from the heavy storms and the crashing sea waves inside my head, my book of misfortune and heartache and a portal to a world of silent beauty. As the stars start twinkling faintly in a sky of red and purple, the peacekeepers begin patrolling the grounds and making sure everyone gets safely inside the comfort of their own home--or, what they can consider a home anyhow.

But when they believe their job is done for the day, they disappear too and leave the district an empty landscape cloaked in darkness that could be unsettling to some, but relaxing to others.

Relaxing to me.

I always sneak out of the Laws home late in the evening, sit down some ways away somewhere, and close my eyes as I breathe in the air that the moon and stars bring alongside them. It's cool, and fresh, and...I don't have to worry about anything.

I'm surrounded by no one, the only sounds I hear now being my own with the faint rustling of trees and chirps of crickets. All I have to focus on is taking deep inhales and exhales with the soft noises of nature when everyone has gone to bed.

I don't even bring my journal, always underneath my pillow when I let myself drift off to sleep or to a now unfamiliar district twelve.

I only wish I could stay like this forever, but I don't think I was meant to be a person who could have a peace of mind.