Luciano Deregardo, age 18, having stormed out of his home the night of his birthday found himself in a weird situation, weird, but delightful as he had awaited this moment for five good years.
Let's do a rewind.
* * 2 hours ago * * *
An hour had passed since Luciano stormed out of the house and he began to worry for Dexter and maybe a tiny bit for Delilah, he didn't want anyone dying of concern because of him so he decided to give Dex a call.
Turning on his phone, Luciano discovered there was no signal and he sighed wondering how on earth he failed to consider that here was no reception in the woods surrounding their home. 'In any case, I probably won't need my phone anyway eo it doesn't matter' he shrugged as he stuffed his phone in his jeans pocket before putting his hands in his coat pockets for warmth. Along the way, his mind began to drift back to what had happened at home leading to his leaving the house and his lips curved downwards in a frown.
'I can't believe mom was still taking Leila's side! Ugh, now I mentioned her name by mistake! Why can't mom be my mom for once, Leila can take care of her pretty self-absorbed self! I mean, the bitch annoys the f*** put of me. Why can't she just smirk whenever things go her way like the gree tea bitch she is?! That's how it goes in them Chinese drama' he ranted in his thoughts. Once he was done venting, which was basically unrelated chatter about Leila being perfect example of a green tea bitch, as was characteristic to his childish nature, he let out a final huff kicking a pebble in his path at some bushes.
The clicking sound the pebble made as it skipped on the stone-covered forest ground before finally landing in a bush made Luciano very aware of his surroundings, like how eerily quiet it was, how still the air seemed, how humid it was becoming and most especially, how he was the only moving, living thing in sight. Not even a single cricket.
Just at that moment, a gush of wind blew over the forest rustling the leaves and bushes, causing the hanging branches on the trees to sway and overall creating a loud whistling sound as it passed through the trees.
Luciano's heart beat accelerated as he began to walk faster. He wasn't easily spooked, but he sure as hell wanted to get the f*** out of that forest quickly.
'Think about something Luce, come on! A distraction, distraction....' His eyes rolled around in their sockets as he searched his visage for something he could think about to distract himself. His head tilted up and his line of sight met with the moon. It hung over the forest in it's round full glory shining brightly and illuminating it so the entire forest was nearly clear as day.
"Her!" He breathed out as he stared at it. Just as suddenly as he had looked up, his head came down in a flash and he continued sprint-walking satisfied with his choice of a distraction.
'Hmmm..... I wonder how she is?' he thought as he recalled their first time ever meeting and a smirk emerged on his face. 'her voice sounded so damn sexy, I wonder if it's different now. How is it even possible that a person could exude so much sexiness while looking so cute?' he gushed his smirk turning into an adoring smile before he pressed his lips together and he breathed in deeply. "I hope I get to see her again" he muttered with a sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck.
He continued his walk in silence, now calm after the perfect distraction and it took a while, but eventually he realized something; 'I've been walking for a hella long time, why the hell haven't I left the forest yet?'
The path from his home to Laklow City wasn't all forest-y and at some point, there would be a clearing before he entered a less congested forest that would lead to Laklow City's entrance.
Luciano turned on his phone to check what time it was and his body froze from what he saw. "11:59pm.... If I remember correctly, that was the time I saw when I turned on my phone earlier" he muttered quietly, his face looking like he had just had the living daylights punched out of him. His hand holding the phone began to shake so violently that he almost dropped it, his pupils quivered and his breath hitched.
For the first time in his life, Luciano doubted his memory.
Okay Luce, let's calm down. Calm down' he repeated in his mind trying to calm himself as he quickly put his phone back in his pocket to avoid breaking it. Unfortunately, before he could get himself to calm down, his vision became blurred as fog started to condense quickly in the forest. The earlier whistling sound generated from wind, which had died down to a low hum earlier, spiked back up filling the air with it's piercing sound, the sounds of wings flapping and crows cawing filled the air despite the fact that not a single crow or bird could be seen.
With those sounds, came a barage if others. Crickets chirping loudly, creatures crawling and prowling over dry leaves, the sounds of rapid heavy footsteps. Feeling overwhelmed, Luciano pressed his hands over his ears and closed his eyes tightly while groaning in pain. His steps became staggered and he stumbled in different directions no longer aware what direction he was going. He stumbled forward and collided hard with a tree, the impact bruising his forehead.
Startled, he instinctively swiped at the tree with his right hand and four deep gashes immediately formed in the tree. Shocked even more by its appearance, Luciano stumbled back as he stared at it deeply, his breathing returning in a whirlwind as he gasped for air.
His mind was completely lost.