without the dark || Chapter 1 [OPEN]
...you can’t see the stars.
Harley had heard that somewhere, or something like it. He thought it was especially appropriate, now.
With all the lights off in the observatory, the great glass window at the back of the train was a portal to the galaxy above. Floating over the trees whisking by them, a million billlion lights twinkled overhead, hidden only by the shadow of the moon. His hunch, earlier, had been right; you really did get a fantastic view here, at this time.
If that had been the only thing he had to think about, he might have thought it was heaven on Earth. A return, in an unconventional way, to his favourite sight on the planet.
The watch felt like a leaden weight in his hand, face illuminated under the starlight filtering in through the wide, wide window, his thumb itching with what would happen if I just--
Harley put it back in his pocket, before he could dwell on it any longer.
The Killing Hour. It sounded like a bad horror movie plot -- click a button, one hour to murder, get your dreams granted. And Hallelujah, everything’s fine. He hadn’t completely dismissed the idea that it was a reality show, yet... but in reality shows, there was all sorts of stuff involved behind the scenes, camera trickery to make it look like everyone had been surprised with this when it had all been laid out for them beforehand. Surprises didn’t exist, on television; not for the actors.
And, well, colour him surprised.
Now, when he looked out of the window, at those stars, his eyes felt drawn to the tracks below. He wondered how easily the glass would break. He wondered if the train was going fast enough that a body, pushed out of the back of the room, would be rent to pieces on the rails below. Failing that, if the fall itself would kill them, blunt force trauma doing what friction couldn’t.
The cabin door slid open behind him, and Harley turned, banishing the thought from his mind, from his eyes, from his smile.
“Evening.” he said, shadowed against the window, his tone as light, cheerful, as if they had been given no news at all. “Beautiful night, huh?”
