Chapter 3 Nyctophobia

Amber's POVs

After the dark, comes the light. No matter how dark and how terrified I am walking in the darkest places, I believe that there's always the light at the end of the road, and hopefully, it will bring new hope to help me escape from this darkness that I've been scared of for so long.

After Noah shows up, At least I won't be alone now, even if I have to get stuck with my worst enemy in this kind of situation, I don't mind at all. My Nyctophobia makes me hate being alone in the dark and soon this place will be completely dark.

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 my case it happens to me during my childhood, it's an extreme fear of the dark. People with nyctophobia may fear being alone in the dark. I could have anxiety in dark places, and I have trouble sleeping in a darkened room. This is my biggest problem.

And spontaneously I jumped on Noah and hugged him without even thinking. I just can't help it to express my feeling of happiness for not being alone in the darkness tonight.

"Get off me!" He's yelling at me but I don't care I'm freaked out.

"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 to 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 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 tripped 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".

We shook hands for the first time and it felt so weird thinking about how badly he treated me at school and we became enemies, but here we are ended up being stuck and lost together and making a deal for helping each other, it's just doesn't feel right, isn't it?

We try to keep walking and luckily he has a lighter with a flashlight because he's a smoker. So it wasn't too scary anymore. But then we heard the sounds like an animal roaring, and howling, it scares the freak out of me. The only thing that came into my mind was that I'm going to die not because of my phobia but maybe because of a tiger, a wolf, or whatever animal is, my anxiety heated me my brain feels like boiling water that was ready to boil some crazy negativity in my brain, all I think about is how am I gonna die here and I started to create my death scene in my brain, isn't it insane, I need a doctor ugh lemme out of here.

The sky is completely dark now, there's only the moonlight and stars are shining so bright, through the darkest night sky. but it was still hard to see anything so we decided to stay for a night until the sun rises in the morning and then we continue our journey.

The night is cold, we open up our backpacks and build a tent for both of us to sleep, Luckily I brought my tent since I know that I 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 thousands of mosquitoes over here tonight"

"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 are you stupid or what, we are going to the mountain, not to the mall, and how come you brought nothing here?"

"Of Coz 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 outdoors 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 than you"

"Alright go on, do it then"

After building our tent for us to catch a snooze tonight, I still feel my legs shaking and my chest is so tight, my anxiety is still controlling my body, and the flashlight doesn't cure my phobia at all even if Noah were here beside me but still I need more light and some more I'm freezing out here in the cold, I need something to warm up my 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"

"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 important 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 here. 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 hmm"

"Hmmm 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 can't wait can you do it now?"

"Sure, let me gather some of the tree branches around here, but I need help"

"Sure, let's do it"

"Shall we"

We worked together as a teammate, building a tent and bonfire. Noah isn't that bad after all. And finally, I feel so warm and my anxiety is calming down because it was not so dark anymore, I could see his face clearly with the lights of the fire illuminating his face and surrounding us. He looks so charming, but forget it, there's nothing between us so I should have avoided any kind of feeling attracted by his charm, it's not gonna happen.

"Let's sit down, feel the warmth, and relax for a while"

"Yes, this is what I need the most right now, thanks Noah"

"It's alright, we both needed it, 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 burn it on the bonfire, so yummy right"

"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?"

"Yeah alright then, it happened when I was small, I'm an orphan before I get adopted by my Nana, from what I remember I used to have parents when I was so small, 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 and rescue me, once I go out of that place the police take me to the police station, 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 live in an orphanage and have been doing some therapy to help me live a normal life like other kids out there, but now I'm more than just fine, I'm happy to finally found someone who adopts me and loves me unconditionally like my Nana, she encourage 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 want 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 sorry"

"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 shone like a silvery claw in the middle of the jungle of the mountain we ended up sleeping together and that was our first one night stand differently. No hanky panky just sleep.

Good night everyone, I hope you enjoy every chapter of Black is the new white, see you in the next chapter.