Out of the Shadows

The next morning, Darvin stood in the corner of his room with one hand to the wall for balance as he frowned at the floor. He had been standing there for a few minutes now, and if someone had asked him, he would not have been able to say why.

Outside his window rain still fell heavily, lightning illuminating his room and the distant sound of thunder rumbling through the walls. Darvin had woken up freezing, his blankets thrown off the bed, and the power having blacked out. That had been then, now the power had returned and the apartment was quickly warming.

He lived alone in the small one bedroom apartment, ever since Jane had divorced him. He didn’t mind the place, or simply, he didn’t care where he lived. Everything was tidy; clothes were in the wardrobe, books on the single small bookcase, the bed, though it hadn’t been made, barely appeared to have been slept in.

It wasn’t that he needed everything to be neat and organised, Darvin just liked having things ordered, and had just quickly become a habit he hadn’t dropped.

Darvin’s phone started to vibrate on his side table, snapping him back to reality. Stepping away from the wall, he picked up his phone, and looked at the screen. ‘WAKE UP – 7AM’ it read, so he clicked the screen, turning it off.

Not putting down the phone, Darvin’s eyes travelled around the room, until he was looking out the large single window, where the storm still raged. Something called to him. In moments, his eyes had gone distant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” Mathis said talking into his phone as he picked his jacket up off his bed.

“All right, see you then. Bye.” A voice replied on the other end and was followed by a click of them hanging up the phone.

It was almost eight in the morning when the ex security guard opened his front door, jacket over his shoulder and keys in hand. Mathis pulled his door shut behind him, testing the handle to make sure it was locked. It was. Walking down the corridor, he stopped outside of the first apartment, and wrapped his knuckles on the door.

At first, no one responded, so he raised his hand to knock again, when the door swung open, to show Darvin standing awkwardly, trying to get his arm into his own jacket. “Morning,” he greeted gruffly, finally pulling the jacket on. “I missed my alarm, I think.”

He thinks? Mathis stepped back, giving the taller man room to leave the apartment. Darvin grabbed two of his umbrellas. Why the man had so many, was beyond him, but it didn’t matter. Darvin handed him one, which Mathis took casually with a nod. “I told David I would be in the office in 20 minutes.” Mathis said, moving to the buildings front door. “He said it was important.”

“Prick probably left his drink in the kitchen, and can’t be bothered to get up off his ass to get it.”

Mathis smirked, knowing all too well it was a possibility. David didn’t exactly know what was important, and what wasn’t. However, he was their boss. “Isn’t that what he hired his secretary for?”

Darvin shrugged as they left the building, both men opening their umbrellas. “We need a boat.” Darvin muttered as they walked into the rain. “It’s been raining for a bloody week; why not invest in a boat? The city is gonna be an ocean soon.”

“Maybe,” said Mathis, walking towards his car. “Though, parking would be horrible.”

The drive to work was quiet, Mathis focusing on the road, silently glaring at every other driver, and Darvin staring out the passenger window, his face blank.

“The nerve of that woman,” Darvin growled suddenly, glancing around.

“Who, Jane? She seemed friendly enough last night.”

Grunting, the younger man looked at Mathis and frowned. It sounded like sarcasm, so he took it as such. “She came over last night, expecting me to be all open armed and forgiving, because HER boyfriend cheated on her. Really? Who the hell does that? I should have thrown her ass out the door the moment she arrived. No! I should never have answered the phone.” Pausing for a moment, he smiled. “Did you change my contact list?” He asked.

“No.” Mathis answered easily, as the car turned around a corner. “I think that was Frank, when you went out for lunch last week.” The lights up ahead turned red, so he slowed down the car to a halt. “I think they made bets on if you’d answer or not.”

Darvin fell silent, staring up at the lightning dancing in the sky, its thunderous music having long ago fallen into the background. When you heard something often enough, you learned to ignore it. Mathis watched the younger man thoughtfully, as he turned the car into a parking lot. Over the past two weeks, he had caught Darvin staring out at the storm, his eyes unfocused and distant, and he never seemed to notice the lapses of time.

Not really knowing why, Mathis was worried about him.

“We’re here.” He said, finding a park.

Nodding, Darvin unclicked his seat belt, still staring at the storm. “What do you see out there?” Mathis asked.

Turning, Darvin frowned. “I’m trying to work that out,” he answered, then suddenly realising he had just spoke, clicked his teeth shut, sending his friend a glare. “Nothing.”

Shrugging, Mathis got out of the car, and Darvin followed.

They walked to a small building just off from the car park where a short man stood out front, his arms crossed before him like a bouncer. “Good morning lovelies,” he greeted them cheerfully.

“Must you?” Darvin asked, scowling at the man. “Every bloody morning.”

“Just for you, princess,” the man grinned, which was an unusual expression on his hard face. “Mathis, David wants you. Now.”

The short man opened the door for them, letting Mathis in first. When Darvin tried to enter, the man pulled the door shut. “Hey! Fuck, are you doing this again you lit…”

Mathis smiled to himself as the door cut off the rest of the rant. The smaller man mostly just enjoyed aggravating Darvin, simply because Darvin always took things personally, somehow unable to see the joke.

“I’m here,” Mathis called out, leaning against the door frame.

“Good.” The voice from earlier that morning replied. “Did your friend not join you?”

“Roger is playing with him, I can fill him in later.”

On the other side of the large foyer, Landon walked out of his office, leaning heavily on a thin metal cane. “I would like to meet him, actually.” Straightening himself, Landon pulled a letter out of his jacket pocket, and held it out before him. “We just got the results back. I would very much like to meet your friend indeed.”

Quickly moving across the foyer, Mathis took the letter from Landon’s outstretched hand. “He’s positive?”

“Well, yes and no.”

Glancing at him, Mathis scanned though the letter, his body visibly relaxing. “He has it, but he can’t use it then? What now, do we train him?”

“No,” Landon replied softly, drawing a raised eyebrow from Mathis. “We’re short on staff here, it would probably be best to send him to the Spire. There, at least my sister can watch over him.”

Nodding, Mathis handed the paper back, and turned to the door where he had come in, just as it started to open. “Roger, leave him be.” Mathis said raising his voice.

The short man poked his head inside, and quickly nodded before pushing it wide for the younger man.

Darvin limped in angrily, slamming the door shut behind him. “Why the fuck do we still have that half sized piece of crap?” He growled to Mathis, not noticing Landon. “I have no idea what the hell he did, but now I can’t feel my foot, the fuck right?”

“Ah, maybe I wasn’t so keen to meet your friend after all,” Landon said slowly, his expression blank.

With a start, Darvin stood up straight, but managed to stop himself from glaring. “Sorry,” He said, glancing away.

“So you should.” Mathis rumbled, grinning. “Landon can’t tolerate cursing; his blood line is too… rich for such demeaning language.”

“I would rather we proceed with what you came here to do, Mathis, not play ‘fix the socially challenged’ game.” Leaning on his cane, Landon looked closely at Darvin. “Do you know who I am?”

“Uh, no.”

Landon smiled. “Good. Tomorrow, I’d like to see you back here, and we can get you started on what we actually hired you for.” Without another word, he turned, and went back into his office, shutting the door behind him.

“Uh.”

“That was your boss.” Mathis said, pushing Darvin towards the door. “Now, on the way back, you’ll tell me what’s been on your mind all morning.”