From Darkness It Comes

Restless Sunday Morning

There is pain and itching behind his eyes as he decides to just get up, not getting any real rest this time. His joints ache. His head is muddled with thoughts and fears. The world he thought he knew no longer makes the same sense it did before. There is something more happening. Something large and dark. Something only he seems to see any signs of, besides that strange man giving him some clues and pieces of knowledge. Darrin isn't even sure he will ever be able to get a good night's sleep again.

He gets up and heads to the bathroom for his morning shower, dragging his feet the whole way down the hall. After the shower the room is filled with steam as he wipes the mirror clean to see a face he doesn't exactly recognize staring back at him. It looks mostly like him, but there are dark circles around his eyes and wrinkles that never seemed to be there before. There is also a depth inside his eyes that he never saw there before, sunken and dark but wise and alive.

Wrapped in his towel he walks back into his room to ready himself for his last free day before classes start. Nothing seems safe any more, but he tries not to let it get to him. He dressed casually in jeans and a loose shirt, but often glance down at his desk drawer where the notes he took and things sit hidden from view. Unsafe things. Clues.

He shakes his head and tosses a couple things in his backpack before heading out into the day. He's still not sure what he's going to do, but he has to do something other than sit around his room and think about these things. So he walks into the courtyard and...