Mix and his first all-nighter

Mix tried to find out what was in the abandoned Accents building in town. That giant building once had workers and machines and a history. Summer vacation between sophomore and junior year was boring for Mix. His parents worked so he didn’t travel anywhere. The same town he lived in during the school year was the same town he lived in during summer. 

He needed another adventure. 

There were gates around the closed building, but that didn’t stop him.         "Trepassers will be prosecuted." 

Sure they will. 

The boarded up doors were the issue. The boards were warped and the nails were popping out.  He grabbed and pulled off a board with such force that he fell back onto a concrete loading dock. 

“My back,” he yelled out from the ground. He looked at his bloody hand and saw a nail stuck in his palm. It didn’t go deep so he could pull it out. The constant blood meant the day was over. He had to get home and get this treated. 

His parents took him to the hospital. They asked him how it happened and he made up a story about falling off a curb onto junk on the street. 

It took two hours at the hospital before a doctor bandaged him up. 

Mix and his parents got home at almost midnight. The parents went to bed. Mix hurt too much to sleep. They just got cable television so he stayed awake to watch movies. HBO showed a Steve Martin movie that he saw already. Other channels had news or old shows that he didn’t care about. He shut off the tv and looked out the window. The lights of Manhattan could be seen from his bedroom window. From this distance, most of the city was just dots of lights. People that lived there walked that city from and to clubs. They stayed up late. They saw shows and concerts. 

Schuyler closed by 10 at night. 

He turned on the radio. The stations all broadcasted from Manhattan. It felt like he was part of the city. The radio played ballads and long prog rock tracks. Late night deejays didn’t like fast songs. They also had to cater to people trying to sleep. 

Mix could read, but there were no new comic books. The time passed as he went back to the television to see reruns of old shows and news. MTV showed obscure bands that he didn’t know and he loved it. Not one Madonna video all night. 

The sun started to show in the distance. Five am seemed early for the sun but there it was. One night and Mix stayed awake too sore to sleep.