1 “Le jour commence au crépuscule”

- Ankh's POV-

It was almost 7 pm when I got out of the house for the first time that day. My father used to call me 'vampire ' for that habit of only stepping out at dusk... how nostalgic.

I took a moment to contemplate the last of the sunlight, that fading orange hue that I liked so much. Dusk is the beginning of the day! I thought.

Unfortunately I had no time to savor the thought When I started 'melting'. It was a very hot Sahel summer, and night wasn't spared by the high temperatures. Top it off with an incompetent national energy provider ( energy happens to be a state monopoly) famous for its 'delestage' a.k.a power shortages, and you have me heading to startup the generator as if my lifestyle depended on it.

The generator was in the dedicated room and Facing the main gate, the generator room was 200m to the left. I took advantage of the small walk to stretch my sore body, result of a lifestyle of reading LNs and manga all day, lying in bed. *smirk* Otaku-des!

The yard was completely paved with customized concrete tiles, which is a shame considering the potential for a magnificent lawn right?

Unfortunately, only rich or stupid people would cover their yards with greenery. It wasn't practical and it was expensive.

Walking on Level ground, I reached metal door of the generator room and unlocked it. The sturdy metallic door opened outward and, believe it or not, I had to put a brick at the foot of the door to keep it from slamming shut behind me. As I moved into the dark room I reflexively reached my hand along the wall to switch the light on.... just to remember why I was actually here. *sigh* frustrating.

I took out my phone and switched on the torchlight app.

The room was not big but it wasn't cramped either. "3 to 4 people could manage to fit in without an hitch but they would probably have to line up two by two like this (::)"

The generator was close to the far wall facing the entrance, so I moved towards it, not really paying attention to my surrounding covered in darkness.

Night had already fallen, but in here I was focused on not rousing the dust accumulated during the day. I had a white shirt on after all...*cough*.

Starting the generator was an easy task, it was a matter of pressing the (0) button on top of it and withstand the atrocious buzzing sound it made while starting up.

Trtrtrtr turrrr turururu Lang Lang....

Trtrtrtr turrrr turururu bang bang bopbop Keng!

Damnation! Is The thing dead!?? I dramatically said out loud after two attempts.

" yup! it's dead. No more diesel in the generator... you know what that means?"

A purposefully sinister voice arose from behind me.

" no light, no tv, and no freaking AC! Damn it so hot! Let me look at this thing. I'm sure I can make it work if I blow in it•, and I also didn't try to start it manually, I'll fix it! I'll try to?": I said without turning around , fretting and shaking as if I was distressed. I really was distressed.*cough*

A laugh erupted from the person behind me and, as if reading my mind, the moment I turned my head to the origin of the laugh, he lit his flashlight from under his chin making a devilish grin.

It took a second to register the sight and then I burst out laughing at the ridiculous display then cheerfully moved toward my brother to 'check' him.

Ankh (me): I wassup bro! How long have you been here? I didn't even hear you coming in. Sneaking up on me like a ninja I see.

Louis: Ahaha I have Been here a while ago dude, I was stuck in here.

- seriously !? How man? Were you re-enacting a scene from 'trapped in the closet' or something? I said half worried and half mocking.

Louis: I was tryna drop some of my old paintings here to tidy up my room and the fucking door slammed into me like a snitch. I actually passed out for a bit.

Ankh: Duh! Serves you, you know about that thing. I got door slapped once as well.... never again *shivers*

Why didn't you call me.... oh I forgot that this place somehow blocks signal and all...

Louis: Yeah exactly. You know how the door doesn't open from the inside right? They ignored this flaw because it was the sturdiest door available, but it's really a pain in the butt.

I tried turning the generator on when I came to, but it's no use. And i even told you to get gas yesterday...

Ankh: Yeah yeah I fucked up but 'blaming is not helping'. Let's get out of here first, I'll grab my wallet and go get some now.

Louis turned around while jokingly cursing at me and started walking towards the open door, I shone the light on his back and checked out this familiar dude in front on me. He was 175cm just like me, a completely bald head (self shaven like a pro ), straight shoulder on a slightly drooping back, overall he was stocky but not buff. He was wearing a black utility jacket, black denim jeans and pair of black security shoes.

As I reached out to pat the dust on the back of his clothes, probably from the door-slam, he stopped abruptly causing me to bump into him.

I then felt a strong forced transmit from his body and pushing the both us back into the room. The 'shove' was so strong that we were thrown all the way to back wall. I heard a little crack as I hit the wall and slid down to the ground. Biting my tongue to not pass out immediately, i tried to look at my brother's state. He took the brunt of the shock after all.

As I struggled to tilt my head, I could distinguish the noise of the door slamming shut That's when my swimming vision sank into the pool of darkness surrounding us completely and my consciousness faded to black.