FACT: The darkest part of night is the waiting

                Time passed slowly for Aubrey. The image of Adrianna disappearing into the darkness refused to fade from his mind. He tried his best to go back to his daily routine, which in the past, had brought him so much comfort. He returned home at the same time every day. He prepared the same meals he had always eaten (usually with a few dandelion stalks on the side). He drank the same tea. He even went to bed at the same time after reading his favorite novels. Yet, in the darkness of his room, deep underground, sleep evaded him. Despite his warm comfy bed and his feather-stuffed pillow, he always felt the very un-gnomelike urge to climb out of hole and stare out at the darkened sky. More than once he found himself unconsciously climbing the long passageway to the surface. Each time he had to force himself back to bed and will his eyes shut. And more than once he awoke in the morning with fleeting dreams of a midnight sky and heard the flutter of wings amid the night chorus.

                Slowly the days turned into weeks; the weeks into months…