Adrien Lowell woke up in cold sweat.
Breathing heavily, he shook his head as he buried his face in his hands, trying to make sense of the empty feeling threatening to take over his body. This time, the dream’s effects seemed to have amplified, and Ardyn was stumped over what he should do.
He closed his eyes and remembered the man’s words, his soft yet sad voice echoing slightly.
[“Come find me…”]
“Who the hell are you?” Ardyn mumbled aloud, his voice a strangled whisper. Once again, he was having the same headache that pounded at his brain, the same longing feeling that was ripping his heart out.
It was always the same frustrating sensation and it was driving him absolutely crazy.
'Just what is going on with me? Why?'
'Just why…'
However, the more he tried to think about it, the more his mind grew blank.
It was strange. Bit by bit, his thoughts turned empty as though his head was being wiped clean, leaving it an empty slate.
He couldn’t remember the dream anymore.
Ardyn sighed heavily, the thought of it leaving a bitter aftertaste in his mouth. He licked his dry, chapped lips and wiped the sweat from his forehead using the back of his hand.
It was always like this. Whenever he had a dream that left his heart racing like crazy, feeling like he had lost a part of himself somewhere in a world he couldn’t reach, the memory of it was erased from his mind, leaving him no chance of recalling what really happened.
He just couldn’t understand why he felt so lonely.
Blankly, his eyes swept across the room. The surroundings were dim, thanks to the thick curtains that covered the closed windows. He figured he should have bought light-colored curtains instead, but he didn’t like the sunlight streaming through his room when he woke up, so he just put blinds on the windows and dark curtains to keep the sun out completely.
For him, the darkness was calming.
'What time is it?' Ardyn wondered absently. Still groggy from sleep, he shook his head once more, trying to regain his clarity. Stifling a yawn, he reached for the lamp on his nightstand, switched it on, and peeked at the alarm clock.
7:21 AM.
His eyes fluttered wide open in an instant.
“Shit! I’m late!” he exclaimed in shock, hastily throwing away the blankets from his body.
The lingering feelings from the dream instantly forgotten, Ardyn made a run for the bathroom, hoping that he could somehow make it in time for his college graduation.
“Why the hell didn’t the alarm go off?!”
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* * *
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“Where are you? Ardyn? Are you there? Are you listening to me?”
Ardyn groaned as he shifted impatiently in his seat, glancing nervously for the hundredth time at the flock of suspended cars in the surroundings. “Calm down, Mom,” he whined. “I’m in the middle of a huge traffic jam right now—”
“What?!” Ardyn had to lean away from his phone to save his poor eardrums from his mother’s startled screech. “You idiot son! Do you know what time it is right now? Your graduation ceremony is going to start in less than five minutes! Your professor has been looking for you nonstop! If you don’t get here right now, you might not be able to get in—”
“I know, I know!” Ardyn interrupted, his nerves getting frayed by the pressure. “Damn it, I could’ve sworn I set the alarm—”
“Forget the alarm!” his mother screeched. “Your father and I have been calling you an hour before the designated time to make sure that you won’t be late! But when you didn’t answer, we thought that you must’ve already been on the way here since you always answer your phone and—”
Ardyn had to restrain a groan from escaping his lips. His mother’s constant rants and nagging always gave him a major headache, so he learned how to tune them out from one ear to the other.
His parents lived in a town far away from where his apartment was, but they made an effort to come to his graduation ceremony even though it took them more than an hour to commute from there.
Ardyn was grateful and knew that it was his fault he was late, but he couldn’t help feeling annoyed at his mother for scolding him about this too much. It was supposed to be his big day after all, but things were just not going his way so far and it was making his mood plummet to the ground.
“Mister, what the hell is happening over there?” Ardyn asked the driver beside him after finally calming his mother down and promising to call her once he finally escaped the traffic.
The taxi driver seemed confused as well while peering at the countless rows of cars in front of them. “I don’t know, either. Maybe there’s been a minor collision or something.”
Ardyn stifled a groan. 'Great. Just what I need…'
Earlier, while he was in the middle of trying to hail a cab, he peeked at his chats and was astounded at the number of messages he received. He got a few worried texts from friends and some inquiries from the student council concerning his whereabouts. He answered them all the best he could and explained the situation.
'This is so stressful,' Ardyn thought, fingers coming up to massage his temples. 'Why the hell didn’t the alarm go off…'
'Did I forget to set it before I went to sleep? Strange… I usually don’t forget to do it every single night…'
He sighed. 'I should’ve set an alarm on my phone too, but my alarm clock is the only thing loud and annoying enough to wake me up…'
The cars finally moved a few minutes later, and a wave of relief instantly swept over him. He could probably still make it to the university more or less about fifteen minutes late. That was good enough as long as it didn’t exceed thirty minutes.
Besides, his name wouldn’t be called until later after the long, dragging speeches. He could just sneak into his designated seat after apologizing to the administrator and his professors.
Leaning back against the seat, Ardyn unlocked his phone and sent his mother a quick message, telling her that he had finally escaped the traffic. After that, he put it back in his pocket.
“Something fancy happening at the university, young man?” the driver asked conversationally. “You’re dressed quite formally.”
“Fancy? I guess you could call it that.” Ardyn chuckled, feeling more at ease now that the car was moving. “I’m graduating today, mister.”
“Ah, is that so?” The driver smiled in a fatherly manner. “Reminds me of the time when my daughter invited me to her graduation ceremony a few years ago. Are your parents attending?”
Ardyn nodded politely. “They’re already there. I’m the only one who’s late,” he added sheepishly.
The driver laughed. “Don’t worry, lad. I’ll get you to your school as fast as I can.”
Ardyn chuckled along. “Thanks a lot, mister. I appreciate it.”
The conversation naturally died down as a new, soothing instrumental played in the car speakers. The kind driver was focused on the road before him, humming quietly from time to time.
Ardyn tilted his head sideways to look outside the window, wishing for time to go slower.
He didn’t even dare look at his watch. Knowing would only make him feel more anxious.
'I sure hope the rest of the day will go smoothly…' Ardyn thought to himself as he watched the buildings move past his line of vision. People were walking busily on the streets, all engrossed in their respective businesses. The shops were all open and bustling, with more than a few customers going in and out the doors. In short, it was just another typical busy day in the city.
Ardyn’s heart leaped in his chest when he spotted a familiar skyscraper approaching his gaze. He remembered that this particular building was placed before a certain crossroad, indicating that they were now only a few blocks away from his university. Following that realization, his gaze shifted forward to peek at the incoming traffic lights.
The red had just changed to green. Perfect timing!
Ardyn breathed out another sigh of relief and turned back to the window with a slightly chipper expression on his face.
At that moment, something caught his eye.
Something unusual.
It happened so unexpectedly that Ardyn was taken aback. He watched in surprise and fascination as a blue butterfly flew past the window, its wings fluttering gracefully with the wind.
But that wasn’t what caught his entire attention.
The butterfly didn’t seem… normal.
It was a butterfly, but it had two different colored wings. One wing was completely black with blue skeletal designs that made it look almost eerie. The other wing was completely blue, but so pale that it appeared transparent at the same time. It was nothing like he had ever seen before.
As the butterfly’s flight turned slower, almost purposefully, it looked so dazzling under the sun.
It might be a trick of light, but it seemed to be enveloped in a blue, spherical glow, leaving behind a trail of sparkles in its wake.
While Ardyn was momentarily captivated, things began to spiral out of control too fast.
The taxi began approaching the crossroads. A sedan stopped before the red light on the adjacent side, waiting for it to change.
The butterfly quickly faded out of existence. Thinking that it flew away into the sun, Ardyn absently shifted his gaze to the side, right where the sedan was located.
But then he spotted something unusual far ahead, a distance behind the aforementioned vehicle.
'What’s that?' he wondered.
Suddenly, in his peripheral vision, he saw a couple on the sidewalk take a step back in shock, their hands flying towards their mouths.
At the same time, he finally spotted a speeding car from behind the sedan, looking as though it had no intention of stopping.
When it grew closer without even decreasing its speed, as if the brakes weren’t working, Ardyn’s heart stopped beating and his mouth hung open in a silent scream.
The sound of the collision was so loud, it kept drumming in his ears despite the closed car window. Helpless and unable to shout, he watched the sedan being struck from behind with tremendous force, causing it to rear up and barrel in their direction just as the taxi was crossing the center of the road.
The last thing Ardyn saw was the sedan crashing into his window, shattering the glass. The taxi flipped upside down, sending their bodies lurching violently against their seatbelts. Not long after this internal collision, the speeding vehicle from earlier careened into the wreckage, escalating the catastrophe.
Later that day, an ambulance and fire truck arrived at the scene of the accident. The firefighters worked to extinguish the raging flames ignited by the crash while paramedics struggled to extract the occupants from the mangled vehicles.
Meanwhile, not too far away from the scene, a single bag lay abandoned with its zipper wide open, its contents scattered haphazardly across the asphalt.
Among the strewn belongings, a small university ID card with Ardyn’s smiling photo was smeared with dirt and ash, like a remnant of a disaster.