why do all the monsters come out at night

Loud strikes of thunder accompanied the pattering water against the window, rain washing down the sides of the brick building. The repeating sounds were melodolic to listening ears, ones that heard every breath a spider would make. Breaths were taken in slow, deep waves, crafted precariously each inhale and exhale. Careful steps on each tile brought him to where he was. He was sure he'd taken the proper provisions to avoid this outcome, and yet here was, face to face with the man he had so desperately been trying to avoid.

The stern look on his face told tales to Chongyun as he backed up. His hands curled by his sides, the remnants from the outside weather squishing together in mockery of his failure to go unseen. He wondered in vague fascination of how his father was able to conduct himself that left him disguised to even the most cautious eye. He was also in the mind of distaste, since that very ability to go unnoticed was the one that caught the boy in his actions. White light flooded the place for a mere second before settling back down to its original state of being. Not so long after, thunder made its mark with a howl.

Chongyun knew there was no way this could end well for him. He was, after all, in the wrong. He was the one out after curfew. He was the one that was standing in the rain. Spending time away from the bodyguards attached to his sides like hardened mud was bad, in which he knew. He also was aware that bribing servants to turn a blind eye to him that night was not okay to do. And yet, he enjoyed doing those deeds so it made it slightly more difficult to view them the way his father did. It was possible his sense of right and wrong was a little biased towards himself.

The grunt of the king made him internally cringe, preparing himself for the words yet to be said. They came out just as the prince expected, and he was thrown into his room like a bird into its cage. His servant was already preparing a bath for him before he knew it, the cold water contrasting that of what a normal person might lay in. He didn't mind that much; it only meant his baths would come quicker since it wasn't necessary to be heated. A pang of guilt stabbed his heart as he realized that because of him, his servant wouldn't be with him anymore. They weren't close or anything, but Chongyun didn't like thinking about what he would go through once he broke to his family that he was kicked out of the palace.

It was the prince's fault. It was a problem he identified, but there was nothing he could do about it, considering he was now under bedroom-arrest and couldn't risk angering his father even further than what's already been done. The best he could do was call over the servant and tell him to live a better life, one that isn't spent serving another person. Even if that job provided food and income for both the man and his family. Chongyun sighed, tilting his head back so it rested against the metal end of the tub. He forced himself into a state of calmness, focusing on the gentleness of his water that contrasted the pummelling sheets of droplets outside. In the ever-evolving nature, it would rain this day and in the day following, the sun would shine brightly to dry up everything that was beat down by the shower. The necessary nutrients were provided by the renewal of water and then afterwards, sunlight. The humidity would further push the agenda of the ever-important water cycle, even if it meant causing humans and animals alike to pant and sweat in the heavy air. He should've been able to watch that scenery from his windows, but curtains were currently drawn across them for he was not allowed to even look at the outside world.

Nothing changed in his room. Nothing instinctively caused an effect on the other, because nature did not happen in there. It was as stale as the bread fed to the prisoners in their mornings. There was no beauty he could see in the blue silk bed sheets that were only ruffled when he slept, nor the dressers that stood by to be used when his servant put away neatly folded clothes. There was no natural cycle in which his environment performed, and instead things only happened because humans coerced it. Bedroom-arrest until his father let him out and he got a new servant. His father knew just the right torture methods to inflict upon his soul. Chongyun supposed that was because they were related, after all. He understood every last one of his son's dispositions and used it to teach a lesson.