Sebastian cursed inwardly as he heard the familiar yet hateful noise of his phone’s alarm. He appreciated the iPhone at first, he really did. Until he heard the fucking terrifying thing it calls an alarm. Every time he wakes up he feels like his mind is being forcefully dragged out of sleep by an angry devil, a feeling that he’d honestly trade away for any another in a heartbeat.

He’d almost prefer it was an actual angry devil. At least that way there’d be a reason for the terrifying noise. He groaned as he got out of bed, finally turning the alarm off after a few dazed attempts, only so he could sit on the edge of his bed with his head cradled within his hands for a few minutes.

Sebastian Albrecht, he just turned twenty five, it’s the middle of January. He ticked off all the items on his mental checklist, making sure all the information came to mind quickly and smoothly. He found it helped give himself a grasp on his own being, and it was something he needed desperately recently. The only thing he needed more was a new alarm clock.

He took a look around at his apartment, the piece of crap. It was new, for him at least. He had just moved in so the place looked rancid. Peeling paint, creaky floor boards, water that barely ran, let alone with temperatures that weren’t extremely hot or extremely cold. It would probably just be more efficient to move than to fix it all.

The issue is he couldn’t afford either.

He forced himself off of the bed, stretching his arms and legs out slightly, cracking his neck with a slight wince. He bent his knees, twisted his waist and reached his arms behind his back diagonally before clasping his hands together. A neat trick he could do, but not one that ever impressed. Worked wonders for stretching though.

He straightened himself out with a grunt, bringing his hands back down to his sides. He did some stationary lunges, and once he felt nice and limber, he made his way to his shitshow of a bathroom.

Everything bad about the rest of the apartment was just worse here, and the water temperature was completely random, let alone one extreme or the other. He turned the light and fan on, avoided looking at his own face in the mirror, and then turned the water on with a relaxed sigh.

Still can’t do it. He gave the mirror a look from within the shower, before showing a wry smile and shaking his head. He glanced over the scars on his arms as he cleaned himself, tracing over his ring finger a few times as he let the water splash him in the face, thoroughly waking him up. He only let himself enjoy the water for a few minutes before he made himself leave, once again ignoring the mirror.

Throwing on a pair of jeans and a black shirt, he grabbed the vest with the logo for Dallas’ Deals on it from the dresser and grabbed his phone. Giving himself a once over, he checked his clothes, put on his leather jacket and then walked himself out the door. Every day he hoped he’d never see this place again, but he knew that would only mean two things.

He was dead, or he was far older than twenty five.

Sebastian walked down the stairs of his apartment and stepped outside, into the city of West Cairn. Night life was rather calm here, the only relief he had about living there and working the nights. At the same time, a lot of wildlife came out at night, creating a rather nice atmosphere for his walks that he greatly appreciated.

West Cairn was a rather calm city. Crime is low, and a lot of the city has been designated as park zones or natural reserves. Even so, it has large business and commercial districts that provide a lot of work for younger folk. It’s half the reason he moved here. Only half.

In all honesty he liked West Cairn quite a bit. He wouldn’t have minded moving here even if he wasn’t forced to by the circumstances, but it seems like fate wasn’t really going his way in this regard. He had even been forced to downgrade his job to a shitty security operator of a supermarket. He just watches the cameras.

He had always had a good build. Nothing like an athlete, but he was nearly six feet tall. He had some bulk to him, enough for him to work security in most places. It’s exactly because West Cairns has such low crime that his line of work wasn’t exactly something needed. He probably wouldn’t have even been hired if the supermarket hadn’t just opened.

He had finished high school, of course, but he got caught in the trap of taking a gap year before moving to post-secondary and never managed to get himself out of it. Long story short, it led to his current circumstances within a short seven years.

He stopped by a night cafe on the way to the bus stop, greeting the barista, Michael, with a smile. A teenager that reminded him of himself in some ways, he actually enjoyed conversing with him quite a bit. Michael was a rather jovial lad, not letting his family’s circumstances getting to him. He was confident he’d save up enough for university, so Sebastian always tipped generously.

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“Did you see a man on your walk today?” The barista smiled as he got to making Sebastian’s usual.

“No, never do. Why, there a new regular?” Sebastian rubbed the back of his neck, the idea of potentially meeting another person not boding well for him.

“Not sure yet. He’s older than you though, that’s for sure. Always smells like metal, too. Odd dude and a big guy, either way.”

Sebastian just smiled wryly and didn’t respond, letting them slip into a comfortable silence. It’s why he actually enjoyed going here every night, Michael read his mood super well and never tried to force conversation.

“One double double!” The barista smiled and slid the coffee across the counter as Sebastian paid with cash, slipping a ten dollar into the tip jar when Michael wasn’t looking and then jogging awkwardly out of the cafe. Doesn’t usually tip so much, but he felt generous tonight.

Michael turned back around and opened his mouth to speak, but simply smiled gently when he saw the tip and that the man had left the building. He shook his head with a continued smile. “That poor man.”

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Sebastian felt his body warm in the cold winter night as he took a sip of his coffee, letting out a satisfied sigh as he waited at the bus stop. He looked up at the night sky, a habit that got him through the waiting every night. The stars were such a beautiful sight, and the light pollution only made them all the more beautiful. The rarer something is, the more it costs, right? Supply and demand and all that.

He shrugged as he did his best to find stars he could see, something he felt was harder and harder by the day. Would he have liked the stars?

He smiled, a gentle smile that hardly ever crossed his face anymore. Sebastian stood there, looking up at the sky with an occasional sip of his coffee for what must have been ten minutes before he finally heard and saw the bus approach his stop. His expression quickly turned stoic again as he made his coat look presentable.

The bus stopped and opened it’s doors for him, the driver giving him a wave as she greeted him quietly. She was a shy woman but always tried to greet the people she gave a ride to every night, and most of them appreciated it.

Sebastian suddenly stopped as he put one of his feet on the steps of the bus, looking to the night sky once more with some confusion. Not a single star in sight anymore.

Has the sky always been so.. Dark?

He rolled his eyes at his own stupid question as he greeted the driver back with a thank you, and then sat down on a very particular seat beside the middle doors. It put him right in the middle of everyone else on the bus, a crowd he had gotten rather familiar with.

John and Kiara were both teens who found work at night nearby, probably similar jobs to Michael. He never really asked, so he simply left the possibilities to his curiosity to sort out. Were they baristas? Or a ‘sandwich artist’ He laughed internally at the name. Some brands are fucking ridiculous.

He only even found out their names because Kiara had hit on John during one of Sebastian’s first trips on the bus, an attempt that was shot down with just six words.

“My name is John, I’m gay.”

Sebastian likes to think Kiara refuses to interact with him because of how hard he laughed at that, but John had in fact warmed up to him a little for it. They talked occasionally, but mostly kept to themselves just like every other rider on the bus.

As if feeling guilty about thinking about it, he looked up to greet the two proper, but his eyes narrowed when he saw the scene outside the bus windows. The lamps were growing.. brighter. Really fucking bright, actually. It didn’t take long for him to have to start squinting. Then the lights in the bus started too. The light felt stifling almost, as if it was something much more than, well, light. He couldn’t quite put the feeling into words.

“Driver? Are you seeing all of this too?” One of the other people on the bus piped up.

“The warm light? Yeah.” She nodded, but her voice sounded odd, almost as if she was intoxicated and pretending not to be. It earned a weird expression from Sebastian. He looked back outside the bus, only for the light to suddenly become blinding.

The world had been filled with a cold white light, giving off a pressure that made him feel small and weak, yet Sebastian also had the weird feeling that the light wasn’t something seen.. with his eyes. And it scared the fuck out of him.

He felt like the bus seat under him had disappeared, and if he reached behind him, the walls of the bus weren’t there anymore. The material under his feet was no longer metal, but gave him a peculiar sensation he felt even through his shoes, one hard to describe.

He closed his eyes, an act that didn’t stop him from seeing the light as he stood there, unmoving. Too afraid to do anything, he remained motionless. Sebastian wasn’t sure how long he had stayed still for, but eventually he felt something was different. Instinctually, almost.

He once again heard the sounds of the bus engine, felt the bumps of the road as the bus drove over them, felt the cold air from the air conditioner against his skin. He breathed in deeply, opening his eyes as he exhaled. The light was gone.

Completely. Not a single street light remained working, and the bus lights seem to have shattered on their own, luckily not hurting anyone. He looked around the bus, his eyes adjusting to the darkness as he looked at the other people on board. From what he saw, everyone was okay.

He finally looked over to the bus driver with a sigh of belief, before his eyes dilated suddenly and his body froze.

Where was the driver?

And then the bus flipped.