After dark comes the light. No matter how dark and how terrified she walks in the shadiest places, she always believes that there's always a light at the end of the road, and hopefully, it will bring new hope to escape from the darkness that she has been scared of for so long.
After Noah's presence at the moment when she was left alone in the dark, At least she won't be alone now, even if she has to get stuck with her worst enemy in this kind of situation, she doesn't mind at all. Her Nyctophobia makes her hate being alone at dusk and soon this place will be completely swarthy.
By the way FYI; For most of you who had no idea what Nyctophobia is, it is a kind of phobia or psychological problem, mostly caused by a traumatizing incident that happened to the person during a specific time, like in her case, it happens to her during her childhood, it's an extreme fear of the dark. People with nyctophobia may fear being alone in the dark. She could have anxiety in dark places, and she has trouble sleeping in a darkened room. This is one of her biggest problems.
After walking by herself trembling all over her body with each step her heart pounding all the way, and then once she saw Noah appear out of the dark, spontaneously she jumped on Noah and hugged him without even thinking. She just can't help it to express her feeling of happiness for not being alone in the dark.
"Get off me!" He was yelling at her but she didn't care at all and she freaked out with both of her hands lingering on his shoulder.
"Thank you for being here Noah, I was terrified being alone here in the dark, I am lost and hopeless don't know where to go"
"Stop, I'm right here for a reason and FYI, I'm not trying to rescue you, and I get lost because I'm following you, so wake up!"
"Why are you following me, are you a stalker?"
"Oh please stop, there's no way I'm stalking such unattractive nerd country girls like you!"
"Oh, then why are you following me then?"
"It's all because my stupid sister became your best friend that's why!"
"Hold on, what do you mean by that; what it has to do with her I don't get it?"
"She threatened me that she will tell my dad about the accident that happened to her because of me, so she keeps bugging me to protect you from far away while she's not around so I just following you"
"Wait what, how could you do that to her, she's your sister you moron!"
"What did you just call me, alright then you go find your way and I'll go my way, I don't even want to babysit you for her if it's not because of her blackmailing me, but now I don't care anymore, goodbye"
"Wait, hold a sec, I apologized to you for calling you a moron, you know she's my best friend and I love her, I just can't believe that you hurt your own sister, in my opinion, brother has to protect his sister, I'm just saying but still don't leave me alone please I beg of you"
"It was an accident, I did not intentionally make her fall from the stairs, she strumbled by herself while I tried to scare her so it wasn't my fault"
"Alright I believed you, but please don't leave me alone here because I had Nyctophobia and my anxiety is killing me, I'm really scared"
"Phobia what, what kind of phobia is that?"
"It's a phobia of darkness"
"Alright whatever, but you have to tell Emma that I've been helping you up and told her not to tell my dad about her accident that day, deal?"
"Deal".
They shook hands for the first time and it felt so weird thinking about how badly he treated her at school and they became enemies, but here they are, ended up being stuck together and making a deal for helping each other, it just doesn't feel right, isn't it?
They were trying to keep walking and luckily he has a lighter with a flashlight. So it wasn't dreadful anymore.
But then the sounds of an animal roaring, and howling echoing from the distance, scared the freak out of her. The only thing that came into her mind was that she is going to die not because of her phobia but maybe because of a tiger, a wolf, or any other animal around here. Her anxiety warmed up her brain, it feels like a fire that was ready to burn some crazy negativity in her brain, and all she think about is how she gonna die here, she began to create her own death scene in her brain, isn't it insane?
The sky is completely darker, there's only the moonlight, and stars are shining bright, through the dimmest night sky. but it was still hard to see anything, so they decided to stay for a night until the sun goes up in the morning and then continue their journey.
The night is frigid, Amber opens up her backpacks and builds a tent for both of them to sleep in, Luckily she brought everything she needs and a tent since she knows that she won't sleep with anybody, but Noah doesn't bring anything with him except for his dead phone which is gonna be completely useless.
"Thank God you're well prepared, thanks for building me a tent so at least I won't get bitten by dozens of mosquitoes over here"
"Oh excuse me, what did you just say, there's no way I would share my tent with you, we can never sleep together there a-a, never"
"Then where the hell am I going to sleep?"
"How the hell should I know"
"I have nothing with me except for my iPhone and it's dead"
"Gosh, you are ridiculous, we are going to the mountain dude, not to the mall, and how come you brought nothing here?"
"Of Course, I pack some stuff but why would I bother to carry it by myself when I have someone who would do it for me so no I'm not stupid"
"Oh ya no wonder why, I guess you all rich people never work hard in your life, you can just easily pay someone to do things for you without getting your sweat dropped"
"Hmm I guess so, money talks, now lemme ask you what money can't buy?"
"For me, Money Can't Buy Happiness, which means, that true happiness comes from within, not from possessions that can be bought so yeah in my opinion you can't buy happiness noted it!"
"Alright whatever, I don't care, now can you solve my problem, I can't sleep outside with mosquitoes and you can't stay alone in the dark, are you okay if I just leave you alone here?"
"No no no wait, don't do this to me please don't leave me, alright you can sleep inside but don't you dare touch me or do anything stupid!"
"Who wants to touch you, don't worry you're not my type at all, your fashion style from hair to toe is outdated, you look unattractive, and you are just a nerd, so"
"Alright stop right there, whatever you say that's enough, are you gonna help me or not, or I will just let you sleep outside?"
"Ugh, alright I'll help you just because I can build a better tent thank you"
"Alright go on, do it then"
After building a tent for them both to catch a snooze tonight, she pull her coat tightly wrapping her body to keep her warm but she still felt her legs trembling, her hands shaking and her chest so tight, her anxiety is still controlling her body, and the flashlight doesn't cure her phobia at all even if Noah were here beside her but still, she needs more light and some more it's freezing out here in the cold weather, she needs something to warm up her body.
"Noah, are you gonna sleep now?"
"I don't know it's boring, I never used to sleep at this time"
"So, could you please help me with something, I couldn't sleep, my anxiety is still there"
"What can I do, I never treat someone with this kind of phobia ever in my life, is it require any medicine, if yes do you have it, if you have then just take it and go to sleep, simple as that"
"I know, but I forgot to bring it with me, it's some kind of pill for anxiety, It helps me slow down my racing heartbeat"
"Oh come on how could you forget to bring the most essential things, first of all, if you have this kind of phobia before you go camping you should pack your medicine, and at least bring the brightest flashlight as you know that we go to the mountain and stay over here, and there will be no lights at all unless we bring it here, now what else I can do, there's no pharmacy, how do I get you your pills, now tell me"
"You scold me as if you bring anything with you, I'm not asking you to do an impossible job like that, but how about a bonfire, I agree to join the camping just because of the bonfire they will burn at the campsite, so it won't be so dark. but unlucky I ended up here with you with just a flashlight, I shouldn't have to join this camping if I know that this thing will happen"
"None of us could predict this thing would happen, so, neither be it, well, it's a great idea, I can build it if you want, I have a lighter with me, we just have to find some branches and burned it, what do you think?"
"Wonderful, I couldn't be more excited, can you do it now?"
"Sure, let me gather some of the tree branches around here, but I need help though"
"Sure, let's do it"
"Shall we"
They worked together hand to hand picking up some of the tree branches as a teammate and putting together a tent and bonfire. Noah isn't that bad after all. And eventually, she fumbled the warmth and her anxiety is calming down because it was not so shady anymore, she could see his face clearly with the lights of the fire adorning his face and surrounding, He looks so charming in her eyesight, and her eyes were focusing on Noah, but she keeps assuming there was nothing between them so all she has to do is to avoid any kind of feeling drawn in by his charm, and she kept saying “It's not gonna happen”
As the bonfire begins to scorch, then they sit surrounding it and pull their hands closer to the bonfire to feel the warmth.
"Let's sit down, feel the warmth, and relax for a while" he sat on the ground and folded his legs against his chest.
"Yes, this is what I need the most right now, thanks Noah"
"It's alright, but I need food right now, I'm starving"
"Oh I only have some marshmallows, do you want some?"
"Yes please, may I?"
"Sure, of course, I have plenty in my bag we could share it if you want and it's even better to roast it on fire"
"That's right, let's eat and chill"
"Sure"
"Anyway, how do you feel now?"
"I feel so much better, thanks"
"Great, anyway may I ask you something?"
"Yea sure, go ahead"
"Umm, since when do you have this phobia?"
"Since I was small"
"Is it alright if you shared it with me what was the reason behind this phobia?"
"It's a long story"
"I've got plenty of time to listen, I'm just bored so yeah tell me about you"
"Why would I tell you"
"You still don't trust me?"
"It's hard to trust you after everything you did to me at school"
"Can we just act as a friend in this kind of situation, and be grateful a bit, at least I helped you right?"
"Alright, I've got no Idea how to start it, but here is my story, it happened when I was small, I'm an orphan living in foster care before I get adopted by my foster mom, from what I remember, I used to have parents when I was a little, I barely remember them but I do remember exactly what happened to me when the first time I got really scared, that time I was just six years old kid, I've got kidnapped by someone who knows my parents, and he locked me up in a basement, abusing me, he closes my eyes the whole time, he beat me up sometimes and feed me no food only just water, I've been kidnap for almost forty hours till the police came to the rescue, once I go out of that place, they took me to the hospital but when I asked them about my parents, they told me that my parents are dead. I was so shocked after finding out that the kidnapper who kidnapped me and torture me, is the killer of my parents, he kidnapped me while I was sleeping in my room after murdering both of my parents. After that, my life was completely changed, I have been doing some therapy to help me live a normal life like a normal person, but now I'm more than just fine, I'm happy to finally found someone who adopts me and loves me unconditionally like my foster mom, she encourages me to let go of the past and started a new beginning, I still have this phobia but at least I can live a normal life and be happy as long as it wasn't dark, I'm still fine, so that's my bitter story, is there anything else that you like to know about me?"
"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss, I feel so bad about what I've done to you this whole time, I'm regretful"
"No it's fine, I get it, it's because I'm different from everyone and an easy target to get bullied so yeah"
"No it's not okay, I won't bully you from now on"
"Chill I'm okay, don't think too much let's sleep shall we?"
"Alright then, let's sleep"
"But don't you dare to sleep close to me or touch me!"
"Seriously, that's the last thing that came across into my mind so don't worry"
"Alright, good night then"
"Night night"
On the coldest of the night Under the glowing night sky with the blanket of stars that stretched to infinity with the pale crescent moon shining like a silvery claw in the middle of the jungle of the mountain, they ended up sleeping together and that was the first, one-night stands for them both differently. No hanky-panky, just slumber.
Good night everyone, I hope you enjoy every chapter of Black is the new white, see you in the next chapter.