7.1: Reading Exercise – Longing for the Night

Image by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

Longing for the Night

By James Thibeault

Diego was in the apartment and scrolling through his phone when Ethan came rushing down the stairs.

“Your car here?” asked Ethan.

“Yeah, where else would it—”

“Good, let’s go.” Ethan hastily reached for the door.

Diego dropped his phone on the table and stood up. “Go where? It’s like 10:30. Nothing’s open on a Thursday night in this dead-quiet town.”

Ethan turned around to stare his roommate down. His shirt was oddly buttoned, and his unkept hair desperately needed a combing.

“I’ll tell you in the car.” Ethan tugged at Diego’s shirt and guided him to the door. Diego was just able to grab his keys before being escorted down the stairs. By the time he reached the driveway, Ethan was waiting for him on the passenger side of the car, like a dog. “Come on, come on,” he said while tapping the hood.

Diego walked around Ethan to get to the driver’s side. They rarely hung out, and even when they did, it was on a Saturday night to pick up some tacos down the road. Most of the time, Ethan was out at night. Sometimes, he would sporadically be gone for a couple of days—only to arrive disheveled and not wanting to be asked questions. Still, Diego unlocked the door with his key fob. Ethan scurried in and hastily buckled his seatbelt. Tightly grasping the fob, Ethan hesitated to get in. Maybe Ethan was just hungry. When Deigo looked in the window, Ethan beckoned him with his hand to start the car. With a shrug, Diego entered the car, turned on the ignition, and backed out of the driveway.

“Thanks man,” said Ethan, eagerly slapping the dashboard. “Usually, you’re pretty lame, so I appreciate you doing this for me.”

“Doing what?”

Ethan groaned. “Why you got to be like that? See, this is your problem. The world has given you an opportunity to go on an unprompted adventure, and you’re afraid. You’re afraid of everything, so you stay safe in your apartment. Do me a favor and don’t think. Just drive.”

Diego gripped the steering wheel, “I want to know where we are going.”

“Just to the mall.”

“The mall closed last year.”

“Yeah.” Ethan rolled down the window and stuck his arm out. He slapped the side of the car. They both went to school in a quiet country town, where the college was the only building that wasn’t a farm. Outside of campus, the only things around were fields, cows, and trees.

“Can you please tell me—”

Ethan turned on the radio and cranked the volume up. “Woo! Woo! Woo!” he cried in three even screams. The roads were deserted with nothing but trees on both sides. Using his high beams, Diego focused on driving. Maybe Ethan was right. Diego rarely left the apartment, and it was his senior year. He heard wild stories of his father partying in an abandoned pool or setting a minivan on fire. The only exciting thing Diego had done this year was crack the top ten in his video game Speedrunning. He turned to Ethan who was looking out the window—bobbing his head to the beat.

“Woo!” Diego shouted, gently patting the steering wheel.

“Turn!”

“What?”

“Turn!” Ethan pulled hard on the steering wheel, and the car jerked to the right. They went down a dirt road with loose rocks and bumps. Desperately trying to regain control of the car, he couldn’t turn off the music. “You said the mall!” Diego shouted over the sound.

“The mall closed last year!”

“I know, so where are we—”

“Look out!”

The headlights spotted the gaping hole in the road—the size of his whole car. Diego veered the car to the left and just barely avoided a disaster.

The trees thinned out, and they entered a grass clearing. Diego finally felt safe to pull over.

“Ethan, where are we going?”

“Here.” Ethan went to open the door, but Diego pulled at his sleeve.

“Where is here?”

Ethan, almost disgusted by Diego touching his unwashed shirt, swatted it away. “Come with me and find out.” With a slam of the door, Ethan exited the car and walked to the top of the grassy hill—the moonlight guiding him. Stunned, Diego gripped tight on the steering wheel until his knuckles were red. “No,” he told himself, “see it through, could be something. Could be something.” Diego locked the car and jogged to catch up with Ethan. By the time they reached one another, they were atop a grassy hill. The stars and moon were out, and far off in the distance were the small, flickering lights of the highway.

“Alright, cut this out,” shouted Diego. “You’re going to tell me right now what you’re excited about.”

Ethan smiled, but he showed too much of his teeth. “I’m excited about this moment—woo!” He threw his arms up in the air and tried to embrace the sky. “I don’t get a whole lot of moments like this. You see,” he pointed up to the sky. “People who are in the sun … they don’t burn … never burn.” Ethan jumped up and down—smacking his head to pump himself up. “You need to really bake in the sun … perfect conditions … to get that burn. You got to bask, but what if there’re clouds? What if you are surrounded by shade? What if something is blocking the source of the burning?”

“Ethan, are you okay?”

“Oh man, I’m the best right now. It’s clear, cloudless, and there is nothing in the way. Woo! Woo! Woo!”

He ripped off his poorly buttoned shirt. Although Ethan had seen him without his shirt as he roamed around the apartment, he didn’t remember him being this hairy. Diego pulled the keys out of his pocket.

“This is crazy, I’m going home.”

Before Diego could unlock his car, Ethan lashed out and grabbed the fob. Stunned, Diego watched as Ethan squeezed the keys until they were a mess of metal and plastic. Diego took a few steps back. Ethan advanced, matching his pace.

“Every time … conditions … too cloudy … not enough time from the last incident … suspicious … no conditions, ideal.” Ethan turned his back to Diego and looked up at the sky. The full moon glowed aggressively. Horror flowed through Diego’s spine. He couldn’t move. His feet clung to the grass. Even a cry for help could not escape his lips. Ethan turned back to face Diego. Now, his eyes were yellow as sickness and his skin was rough as leather. Fur covered all but his eyes, which stared at Diego eagerly.

“Run, run, run … Let me enjoy this! Woooooo!” the beast howled.

Unstuck from the earth, Diego ran down the hill. He stumbled, rolling through the wild grass until he hit the flat surface. Up top, a silhouette with a tail and mane stared down at Diego. The moon’s white light glowed behind it. Diego reached for his phone. He patted his left and right leg, then scrambled to pat anywhere on his body to find it. Groping around on the ground for his phone, he suddenly realized that Ethan had pulled him away before he could grab it off the table. Panicked, Diego fumbled to stand and ran to his car. He desperately pulled at the handle, swearing and screaming for it to open.

When he looked back at the top of the hill, only the moon remained. There was silence, except for the drone of trucks from the highway. Diego sprinted to the forest, toward the path of the motors and asphalt. Perhaps if he made it to lights and sound, that thing wouldn’t pursue him. A howl broke through the still night. Diego refused to look behind him. He dashed down the dirt road and into the dark rows of trees. It didn’t matter that he was blindly running into the night. All that mattered was distance from the howl, from the beast that was once his roommate. Diego’s breathing somehow echoed in the night—a loud, piecing cry that could only alert the beast of his location. Uncontrollably, his lungs sought and rejected air. With wide, terrified eyes, Diego could not see in front of him. He listened closely for cars in the distance but heard none. He was so preoccupied with the hope of sound, he lost his footing and tripped on a rock.

On the ground, his ankle throbbed in pain. He tried to rise, but any pressure sent him back down. No longer did he hear traffic. The wind moved the trees above, and that was all. Diego reached for anything nearby, looking for a rock or something to defend himself. Instead, his hand plunged into nothing. Surprised, he waved his hand around and remembered the large ditch that the car had almost crashed into. Crawling, digging his hands into the dirt, he managed to push his body around to the other side of the hole. Fighting through the pain, he cried for the wolf, “Woo!”

He waited. Then, a response emerged through the black. The howl was not stationary, it was getting louder by the second. Diego cried again, louder and more confident this time. This time, Diego heard a snarl and saw the shifting of shadows in the distance. He heard the aggressive steps edging closer to him. One last time, Diego howled and closed his eyes—ready to embrace whatever happened next. A splash of dirt hit his face, and then Diego heard another howl. This one sad, defeated.

Diego opened his eyes and looked down. Yellow eyes darted back and forth. Down below, the beast was trapped and breathing heavily. With the last bit of his strength, Diego snarled back at the beast. He crawled a few feet away from the hole before passing out.

---

When the sunlight finally managed to hit Diego’s face, he bolted awake. Instantly, his foot reminded him of the pain. Then another thought hit him. Carefully, he edged closer to the hole and looked down. Ethan looked up at him with his arms crossed.

“Bout time you woke up.”

Comprehension Questions for Longing for the Night

Questions on Writing Tension and Suspense for Longing for the Night