A Crossed Time-line

Hyber sat in his oven-like bedroom, sweat running down his forehead from his thick brown hair. A low, oscillating humming fan barely fought off the heat - it wasn't much, but it was the only device he could afford.

"man, summer blows," he exclaims to himself with a prolonged moan feeling the air on the roof of his mouth. He flops onto his bed making the bed whisper a creak as his weight thuds on contact, getting slight aroma of sweat as the air shifts around him. The sheets ruffle from the sudden compact, causing a small, quick, inflated ripple from either side. The bed's fabric acted like a warm furnace as he felt its linen embrace.

On the far end of his room, a silhouette stands motionless within a long rectangular mirror, away from his gaze.

His phone rings with a reverberating gentle melody, which he deems as grating as the seconds fly by of its beckoning call. Hyber relieves an exasperated groan as he flumps his hand on his cold, metallic Cell-phone. Its complexion gave him a moment of thought to press the cold device onto his forehead to cool him off. However the decision passed as the phone lit up from sensory activation as it got closer to his face, the little caller id showing a repetitive streak of the same number throughout the ID's line.

Muffled sirens wailed passed his apartment complex.

"What..?" He scuffed, feeling a numbness in his mind as he perks up from his bed, the sheets clung for only a moment like a loose sticker. He suspects the number to be a scam, keeping his eyes planted on the shaking profile. Beyond his apartment window, muffled chitter-chatter of walking pedestrians rolled past the building with an added burr of a starting engine.

Just as he started to suspect who the number belonged to, the call ended. Hyber shifted back into his setting, placing his phone down to his right, feeling the slight tingle of the bed's sheets from pulling his hand away.

Hyber takes a deep breath, a rush of cold air enters his lungs trying to make sense of the number. Who did it belong to? who could own such a repetitive number? Hyber's forehead wrinkled as he lost himself with thought, creating a unique set of lines escaping towards both ends.

He groans, shaking the thought loose as he pulls his weight off of the bed once more, having an after image of sweat lingering on the sheets.

"Forget it." He orders himself while he detours his body to the window which prototyped a hint of trees amongst a muffled cityscape to the right of him, feeling a pull to open the window to take a heep of fresh air to loosen the subtle buzzing numbness in his gut.

The silhouette within the mirror slips out of view, removing itself from frame.

He gets closer to the window, feeling the summer sun emitting through the glass barrier, but this doesn't deter him from opening the window, upon its prelude, the muffled ambiance of the city to escaped into his apartment.

He takes a long deep breath, feeling a vibration numbness that his mind connects as a "refreshment,' which gradually replaced the feeling in his stomach. The air outside smelled of wet foliage from the neighbor's window garden amongst the spitting sprinklers watering the grass 10 feet below. Amongst the wet smell of plants, he gets a whiff of pollution from nearby. Ah yes - a totally refreshing inhale of fresh-air alright. Hyber thought with a look of amusement coddled with disappointment as he looked down to see the sprinklers working more diligently than the apartment owner could ever do in his entire lifetime.

There were always some sort of problem with his apartment owner, "you're late on rent" he would say, even when Hyber paid three days prior to the date. "You're the worst attendant ever" Another comment the owner had made when he had saw Hyber outside bringing in the fan he recently just bought.

Hyber slunches his head down, dangling it from his stiff arm placement which he placed like a tripod, feeling his trapezius and lower neck muscle burn as he stretched it.

" I could..." He says with a soft subtle feeling from earlier reaching his chest to create a sting, finishing his mind's sentence from a silent voice.

"Hey!" A voice to the right of him speaks, causing him to spark up from his position.

"Oh, hey Cherry." Hyber says, relaxing his posture while his gaze meets hers for a split moment before shifting to her plants she waters at the exact same time, every day at 3:00. It was always good to talk to her whenever the time came, she was his figmented remembrance he still existed.

Hyber leans on the windowsill, "It must be 3:00, huh?" He Gesture to her garden. Seeing his hand faintly wobbling.

"That obvious?" Cherry says with a chuckle, gently adding a bit of man-made rain to one of her plants while forming a warming smile like a gentle mother. Her smile reminded him of that, reminded him of his mother who he hasn't seen in a long time. It made him feel at home, but only if his mother was next door in another apartment room.

"You can say that" Hyber smiles back, forcing the heat of the room away as he retrieved his wobbling hand to the back of himself, soaking in the memories she only sees as transparent within her perspective.

"Neal got you down again?"

"Yeah...he's just." Hyber looks down at the grass, searching for the right words to carry his feelings. But they don't come, all he feels is the stinging in his chest that he needs to let go of. But how can he?

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, no one here likes him." Cherry says with a perked lips and gestures around herself. "He doesn't want my garden here!" She continues, throwing a lazy gesture at her beautiful plants.

Hyber flinched his head slightly back in surprised, "really?" His body trembled, feeling as though he had nothing to eat slowly comes to a halt. Feeling a sort of calmness, or it could be a distraction for this feeling to fade.

"So I said, screw you! - I'll keep what I want!" Cherry gestures with talkative arms as she goes off on her tangent. Expressing tight arrowed lines between her eyebrows, complementing her furrowed lip.

"You tell him, Cherry" Hyber smile as his head jerked slightly, pressing his eyebrows together as one flew up, it was like he was talking to a relative of his. He lets her continue, allowing her to vent. Hoping that if he does, Cherry wouldn't feel that dull buzz in her chest as he does. He knows this feeling all too well, almost like a family member that doesn't have a physical appearance. A sinking feeling of coming up on a dead end, but only for it to never show.

Within a half-moment, Hyber had a belief that Cherry could be a parental figure he never had. "They'll be coming soon, Dear. Better get inside" Cherry says with an eerie smile.

"What?" Hyber inquires as Cherry goes deeper into her apartment complex, but then stops " I didn't say anything." She informs him, then thanks him for an ear before she closes the conversation.

His eyebrows squeezed together as he thinks, maybe what she said was all in his head, but it sounded hallow, like a passive warning. letting what he heard go as he turns himself back into facing the street with a gentle honking of cars to his left.

Hyber heaves a heavy sigh, sensing the little dullness residing in his chest vanish for only a moment as he gets reintroduced to the foliage and the stink of the city. Maybe life wouldn't be so bad if he explored the city more. Staring off into the backdrop of a buzzing city with unseen life from his perspective, wondering what's missing. Shaping his face into a distant emotion while he conjures a mask to prevent the expression from spilling.

The air around him feels like warm water coming with a quick aroma he would describe as "clear," like the scent belonged to nothing in particular. He slowly drifts off to feel a prolonged bite towards his chest accompanied with a gentle warm breeze swaying his hair. Hyber's face tinges, forcing a soft squeeze as the feeling that could never be erased crosses through him.

From outside a subtle noise of a car door thuds originating from the street down below.

While the air stirred like an emotional soup, his phone rings again. Knocking him back a few moments to recall that strange cellar ID, with the recollection, a sense of daja-vu surrounds him. Hyber turns around, resting his hand on the window sill as he peers at his vibrating, ringing phone dancing on his bed.

A thick wave of surrealism washes over him as he stares emotionless at his ethereal illuminating phone. Paintings of blue hued on his bedroom walls, crating an illusion that a figure was in the mirror, looking at his phone - summoning goose-flesh rippling down his back; it was like a scene in a movie. Knowing what lies on the other end couldn't be good from the perspective of the audience. Yet the pull was there, and his stroll was already gradually gaining the distance. He couldn't stop himself, it was like he was under a mystical spell - telling him to pick up the phone.

His feet quietly thudded on his apartment floor as he reached the bed. Hyber picks up his cold metallic cellphone with a trembling haste, his hands softly quaking. He turns it around to have the glow brighten his face within the sunsetting lights of his room.

His eyes widened, trembling with unease. It can't be. Seeing a flickering glitch of a name. Hyber could feel his body sinking in on itself as if he were in quick sand, feeling his stomach forming into a complex knot as he continues to stare at the repetitive number, sending a quickened chill down his spine.

Hyber's face remained statuesque, feeling a sense of uneasiness as the clinging cold sweat gnawed on his body. The profile shakes, awaiting for him to answer the phone.

Time around him felt thin; stretching around him like a fine line of playdoh.

He answers, tapping his cold sweaty thumb onto the little green image of the cellphone.

"Hello?" His voice trembles softly, barely noticeable.

Static only answered back, his voice creaked as he repeats "Hello?" Hyber's eyes forms a gentle squeeze, fighting off the urge to hang up the call. From within the corridors of the apartment hallway, he hears a distinct sound of shoes reverberating closer, muffling a faint calming voice on the other end of the call just right for Hyber to miss it.

Before Hyber's feeling engulfed him, a familiar voice broke through the static ambivalence.

The sound of high-heeled shoes inches closer within the hallway, layering a finite coat to the revolving suffocating atmosphere with a subtle sound of cars honking in the distance for the only escape.

"Hello, Hyber." His skin crawled, itched even as his ears submerged the voice on the other end, matching his single breath he let loose before a gulp as the voice rolled the greeting. This can't be, this has to be a prank, this has to be some kind of voice recorder. He matches the voice to a cord he knows truly well.

"You have to leave, Hyber. They're coming."

The echo stops just beyond his door. Hyber slowly turns his widened eyes to the door, feeling a pulse in his throat.

"Hyber, Hunny?" The voice on the other-side of the door pierces Hyber's ears like a dull needle.

"RUN!"

Hyber's skin jumps as though bolts of electricity had passed through him, yet he remained frozen in place, the clasping cold sweat acting as an oil to the now burning room.

Dust animates as the door opens slowly with a creaking groan.