RESEARCH ( barry berkman.. ) ✔

o10. stranger in the night..

Why do all bad things happen at night? Perhaps it is the false promise of secrecy the shadow holds for the people disregarding the shine of the moon and stars, watchers and de-conspirers of the world below. Or maybe it was in the human nature, programmed to wake up early and tire themselves throughout the light, leaving them vulnerable in the blanket of silence which not many could sleep through.

Nights were solitude, harsh truths and unwanted thoughts. For Barry, it was supposed to be a white night at the theater, the initiative of the students to rehearse alone, but together, for they all remained behind on so many lines. Frankly, that was supposed to mean his night was about to be good: a distracted mind in a safe environment almost always managed to fool him that he was finally at peace with himself.

Barry was not granted a big role in this exercise play they put together under Gene's guidance, but he still took his place in his tiny chair, waiting patiently for his short parts to come up, between the blank passages they had to skip due to Sally's absence from the event and the breaks of good laughs whenever someone stumbled across tough phrases.

He talked with Adelaide through texts for a while, but now he had to wait alone; she decided to finally tackle correcting with the edits from her superiors. Barry's right elbow rested on the arm of his chair and in his palm, he placed the side of his face, watching his friends there with an absent gaze, fitted for his position, slightly outside their tight circle. Even if his eyes and ears registered all they were saying and doing, his mind was playing in the background the warm feeling yesterday's date with Addie left him with.

Maybe this was it, he dared himself to consider, disregarding even the existence of their initial agreements. A lot has happened since they first met, he reminisced then. 

Diving deeper into those thoughts and dreams, Barry felt his phone, dead still before, now vibrate systematically in his pocket, to let him know he had to pick up a call. While the phone was lifted to his ear, Barry checked the script and focused on the lines the others were at, concluding that he had time to answer whoever was searching for him.

He did not check the name on screen and he most certainly did not check the time either. By the way yawns nipped the room, he could guess it was late. 

"Barry?" Hank's voice into his ear was the sledgehammer shattering his hopeful side. It has been his main reality for a record time until he picked up this call, a dangerous one to have when he was surrounded by people. Luckily, hardly anyone paid attention to him and no one really noticed the way Barry's features darkened into an unapproachable, dangerous looking preset. 

"Why the fuck are you calling me, Hank? I told you to-"

"To lose your number, yes, yes, but this is very important, Barry. Please listen to me."

Barry has already turned his face to the side, hiding his mouth behind his phone holding, though his eyes were still the mirror to his form of terrifyingly blunt darkness, the type which noticed by his colleagues, would most likely scare them into scattering away. He waited with his jaw clenched, through Hank's heavy breathing, until he decided to speak again.

"That sweet girl you were with when I came over, what was her name?" Hank swallowed hard. Barry noticed he was scared.

"You don't need to know her name. Don't ever ask me about her again," abrasively, he replied with what was closer to a threat. Unfortunately, the strength of his words was diminished by the setting he found himself into, demanding whispers in order to not let his perfect life see the madness in his eyes, mixed and provoked by instinct and fear alone.

"Fair enough, I get why you wouldn't want her dragged into this," Hank chirped along. "But I owe you, so I feel you should know that Batir wants to pacify the Burmese and well, don't tell him I told you this, because it could get me killed... He doesn't want to go after you, first of all because he thinks you'll kill our guys, but he offered the Burmese someone else. All I am allowed to insinuate is that perhaps you should keep a closer eye on-"