Scared Of The Dark

Miles looked up at the sign before looking back down at the card in his hand. ‘Starlite Lounge’ the names were the same. This place had to be it. The teen pushed through the front doors. Once in, Miles was blinded by the bright neon lights the filled the place. The loud blaring music was so loud that he heard ringing in his ears. The place was full with random people not adding in the waitress who was in the back of the counter.

Slowly Miles approached the waitress who watched him like hawk. “Whatcha want kid? Ain’t it past your bedtime?”

“I’m here for Aaron Davis,” Miles stated, trying his best to filter out the nervousness in his voice. There was a pause as the waitress stared into the teenager with her scorching eyes before walking off saying, “follow me.”

Miles tried to quickly follow the woman down the counter, pushing through tipsy adults. They passed by man who was flat out passed out on the counter with a bottle in hand. The man didn’t look to be moving or breathing.

“Hey um...is he okay? He looks dead..”

“Sure. He’s just napping.”

The waitress kept walking and the teen rushed to catch up. She led them through the large curtains in what looked like to be in the end of the room. It led him into a much nicer and fancier looking part of the lounge with red tables and chairs, a large glass chandelier, and candles. It was a fascinating and weird sight. People dressed in suits and other fancier clothing sat talking about anything from business to other adult things. Their chatter was loud enough to make the music seem weak. The waitress led him to the back table where Aaron sat drinking something while looking down on his phone. He was the only one dressed in casual clothing.

“Davis. You’ve got somebody here looking for you.” The waitress nodded towards Miles.

Aaron only smiles before nodding. The waitress walked away leaving the two alone clearly not interested in anything more about the situation. Aaron turned to the thirteen year old.

“Miles! Just on time! I was about to head out! Take a seat!” Miles took a seat in the booth across from the other male. Before he could apologize, Aaron was already talking.

“What brings you here at…,” Aaron checked his phone, “almost two in the morning?”

Miles felt his face heat up. To say he had came here without thinking things through was an understatement. He didn’t even check the time the whole time walking here, assuming the adult would still be here.

“Couldn’t sleep,” He told him. “Night owl I see. Guess we also go that in common too.” Miles gave Aaron a strained smile. “You know what helps?” The teen looked up, interested in what the other party had to say. “C’mon. I’ll show you.”

“So, what’s up with school? Last I saw you, you were worried about getting in trouble for breaking curfew!” Miles ran to catch up to the older man as they turned the corner. He sighed. “It’s going great. Got lots of friends.” He didn’t bother to cover the sarcasm in his voice. He didn’t find the need too. “You can't tell me it’s all that bad there,” Miles kept a straight face, “smart girls is where it’s at. Place must be full of 'em!” The teen took a moment think and process what the man was asking. “No, there’s no one.” He looked off to the side avoiding eye contact.

Aaron scoffed. “Damn. I can’t have a friend on the streets with no game!”

Miles immediately straightened up his posture and looked at the older male. “I got game!” He tried to play it off cool. However the older male could clearly see he was putting up a front. “There was a new girl, actually, she's kinda into me. You know how it is!”

Miles shoved his hands into his pockets as he remembered the blonde girl from his physics class. “What’s her name?”

The teen opened his mouth to answer but quickly shut it. He stuttered nonsense until he finally said, “--You know we... this is... we’re laying down the groundwork right now.”

“You know about the shoulder touch?”

“Of course I do!” Miles looked away, pretending to be offended, before glancing at Aaron with a curious look. “But uhhh tell me anyways.”

Suddenly the man stopped walking turned to Miles before bending down to his level. “Tomorrow find that girl, walk up to her and be like…” Aaron grabbed Miles shoulder, pretending to look off before looking straight into the teenagers eyes and in a smooth deeper tone saying, “hey.”

Miles bursted out laughing. No way could this have been real. “You serious?” The very thought of doing it was enough to send the teen into a laughing fit.

“I’m telling you man, it’s science!”

Miles tried to catch his breath and looked up at Aaron. “So walk up to her and be like,” Miles tried to copy his friend, “hey.”

“No no no no like...hey.”

“Hey.”

“No. Heyyy.”

“Heyyyy,” Miles mocked. Aaron cackled at the horrible impression. The teen grinned. The two continued walking until they reached the subway entrance. Together they walked down. Miles followed the older more experienced man down into the subway tunnel. He followed him down the dark tunnel, staying close incase of anything. They walked for a few minutes before turning into a secret abandoned looking tunnel. Warning signs and stay out signs littered the tunnel. ‘Alchemax Private Property. STAY OUT’. He looked around before turning to Aaron who clearly wasn’t phased by the warnings. Next thing he new the man jumped over the fence, climbing it like some sort of spider monkey. His jaw dropped open as his friend landed on the other side.

Aaron gave him a patient look as he waited for him to do the same.

‘You shouldn’t do this. The sign says stay out.’ Miles thought as he looked back at the signs. He bit his lower lip. ‘First you sneak out of the house and now you’re gonna break the law?’ The teen was about to back out when he heard Aaron say, “C’mon kid. You can do it. Ain’t that bad, you’ll get use to it. Though you’ll never be as good as the master.”

Miles looked at his friend and glared. He could very well do this with no problem! I’ll show him who’s the master. For a split second, Miles was able to let go of all the great responsibility on his shoulders and let all of his worries go. He jumped, climbing over the fence as quickly as he possibly could. One he reached the top he jumped down sicking the infamous Spider-Man landing.

Which he had totally meant to do.

That totally wasn’t on accident.

Silence filled the subway. For a moment the teen wondered if he had done something wrong. Maybe he shouldn’t have showed off like that. He was thirteen, thirteen year olds don’t magically gain the skill the jump over metal gates! Did Aaron think he was a freak now? Was he gonna ditch him and call the cops who will in turn call the fbi who’ll take him away and experiment on him? His heart began to race as the silence continued, only making him worry more.

“Damn…,” Miles looked at back at the adult nervously, “looks like the kid actually does got some game.” The teenager let out a relieved sigh. The worry drained out of his body like a waterfall. He stood up with the cheekest smile on his face.

“Told you!” The teen announced proudly. It was stupid but Miles couldn’t help but feel ecstatic at the fact Aaron was impressed by him. He wasn’t sure why he was so out to please the older individual. Maybe it was because to him Aaron was the cool guy and he just wanted to show him he was cool too. Together the two boys walked into a large space that had spiderwebs as big as cotton candy spread all throughout the space. However that wasn’t what made the teen’s mouth drop.

“Woah.”

The room was filled with street art from dozens of different artists, all beautiful and unique in their own way. He admire the different uses of colors and shapes morphed into other artists art. “BROOKLYN!” The teen called out, listening to his voice bouncing off the walls, echoing back to him.

“There’s a lot of history on these walls.”

“This is so fresh!” Aaron gestured towards a wall where a clean blank space lied calling out to him. It was clear to the teen that the wall had recently been wiped down just for him. The older man smiled, leaned down, reached into his bag then proceed to reveal a bunch of spray paint cans tucked inside. He then pulls out a can, tossing it to Miles, before pulling out his own stereo.

Miles grinned as excitement over took his whole body. Once the music began to play Aaron began to show him the ropes. Teaching him everything he needed to know all while letting him create his own vision on the wall.

“Now you’re on your own,” Aaron told him after imparting him with all his wisdom and helping him start out. From there Miles was letting his imagination run wild all while turning all his stress and worry in something beautiful. It was like nothing else mattered as his hands glided across the wall just like the other man showed him. All he could focus on was the task at hand while at the same time listening to Aaron’s tips and advice. When he was done, he turned to the other man, holding up a can of white spray paint. He stood in front of his piece letting the older individual trace him.

“Wow.” Miles turned around to look at his masterpiece. Colors exploded on the wall, built

around Miles silhouette with nothing painted inside it. Blank inside. “No Expectations” was written above.

“Is it really that bad?”

“No man,” Aaron shook his head, “Miles I see exactly what you’re doing here, man.” Miles smiled. It felt good to be seen. To finally be acknowledged by his work. Emotionally and physically.  

“Yeah...you know you kinda remind me of my brother. We used to do stuff like this back in the day.”

“Really?”

“Yup.”

“What happened?” There was pregnant pause. For a split second the teen could see the grief in Aaron’s eyes. He’s seen it in his father’s eyes and he could see it in his friends right now. It was subtle yet stuck out to him like a sore thumb. “We uh…” Aaron exhaled. “We kinda drifted apart when he took on being a cop.” Miles eyes fell as he listened to the older man speak. He could hear the sorrow weighing down on his voice. “He’s uh,” Aaron cleared his voice, “he’s gone now...crazy house fire.”

The thought of losing a sibling was something he could never imagine. He was a single child and never had a sibling to get close to. However he was not a stranger to death. When his Aunt passed away he lost more than just a important family member. He lost a part of his father as well. Though to be fair he lost him a long time ago after his Aunt MJ left.

“I’m sorry.” Miles wanted to hit himself. ‘I’m sorry’ was that all he had to say? This man lost somebody clearly very dear to him and all he had to say was sorry?

“It’s okay. It’s in the past,” Aaron told him. However the teen could tell the older man didn’t completely mean it. Though Miles decided not to press on it. It wasn’t his place.

Suddenly Aaron’s phone begins to vibrate. The teen looked over to see the older man check his phone. Right before his eyes he watched as the once open sorrowful face turned stoic as a shadow fell upon him.

“Alright man, I’ve got to go.” The teen didn’t get a chance to ask about it before Aaron walked out leaving the teen alone. Disheartened that their adventure was over, he looked over at the art they created. He pulled out his phone, taking a photo of the finished product.

“Miles lets go!”

Not wanting to delay the departure any further, Miles ran to catch up with the man.

When Miles arrived at home the sun was gonna start rising soon. He checked the area before he climbed up from the side of the building towards the window. When he came across his it was slightly cracked open just like he had left it. Climbing back inside through it as quietly as he possibly could. Once inside he slowly closed the window before tiptoeing towards his bed.

Miles slipped off his shoes and jacket. He could feel his eyes grow heavy as he approached his bed. The thought of going to sleep sounded so appealing to his sluggish mind yet so terrifying.

However once his body hit his soft bed Miles was out like a light.