21.
Samuel has come to stand in utter darkness, how and why this is so he has no idea. If he truly knew of the darkness ripping this world then he could assume that the current darkness he is within is something different. There is nothing to fear in the here and now and he is not in any immediate danger. It is, however, almost as dark as dark can be. To his right and within the darkness a voice gently speaks. It is so quiet that the voice is no more than a whisper. The voice speaks one word. 'Samuel'.
With surprise, Samuel turns his head towards where that whisper came from. He cannot see anyone or anything. There may only have been a whisper and it may only have spoken once though that voice is definitely female, Delia perhaps? The whisper repeats, once again quietly calling ... Samuel.
'Delia?' calls out Samuel as he begins to make his way on into the darkness.
There is no response; there is no third whisper, not yet anyway. This does not stop Samuel from moving forwards. It gets darker and darker as he does so, and the light from where the train had been as well as the light which had previously shone on him completely fades behind him. Reaching out in front of him to get a feel for what made be ahead of him Samuel calls for Delia once again and still there is no response.
Illumination soon does come, how or why it does is unclear. What Samuel can now see only feet on front of him are bars, vertical iron bars and quite a few of them too. That whisper now does come for that third time and it comes from beyond those bars ... Samuel.
'Delia?' inquires Sam.
There is no response as Samuel grabs those bars with both hands. Once again, he calls for Delia, much louder this time and still there is no response. His grip tightens, his arms tense and his heartbeat quickens. Where is she? He has to find Delia; he has to get to her. He has never felt as helpless as he does right at this moment.
Samuel attempts to rattle the bars to see if there is any give in them and there is no give and a panic sets in. He moves to his left to see if there is a way around these bars but there is no such luck. Illumination increases to reveal that Sam is totally encaged. Iron bars now surround Samuel like some sort of prison. It is he who is caged, when at first, he had thought Delia was. How did this happen? How can this be?
Trapped with nowhere to go, just where is it that Samuel has come to? What is this this place? And what powers does it hold? For now, it indeed is Samuel who is being held, held in a prison like cell, held like a man who has done wrong. He is a prisoner who committed no crime, well if love is a crime, then he is as guilty as hell.
Left momentarily to his thoughts Samuel sits on a bench within this cell of his. For some reason he is compelled to once again view that train ticket of his. It is at this moment still in his possession. The last time he viewed this ticket it was blank; it is not blank now. The ticket simply states a destination, and this destination just so happens to be Dark Street Station.
'Dark Street Station? ...' Samuel questions himself.
There comes a squeaking sound from the bars he had stood at a moment or so ago. Samuel looks up. A cell door has opened up. Samuel stands and moves out of the cell. He still of course is at the station to which the train he had been on had come too. There is a sign right next to those train tracks. The sign simply tells Samuel that he is at 'Dark Street Station'. This station is not quite the same place as the station Sam has been to once before, not that he can completely remember, though this place has given him a moment or so to reflect.
Again, Samuel is overcome with confusion. He has no idea of what is happening to him. He has been to this place before except it hadn't been quite so dark last time round. Again, it feels as if a game is being played, to what end? He moves and continues to do so until he can see there is an opening in his cage.
Having well cleared his cage, and with enough light, Sam turns around to see three people standing in a line, each one standing one behind the other. The first standing person is the bulging eye man with the lizard tongue. He gives Samuel a nod then moves out of the way and out of view.
The second standing person is that large lady in red; her hands still within those pristine white gloves are clasped. She smiles and then offers a nod of her own before she too begins to move away and out of view. The third standing person is that businessman with the pebble dashed beard. His newspaper is folded under his arm. He tips his hat briefly, nods and then he also moves along.
There is a fourth standing person, someone standing a bit further back and away from where the other three had been. Samuel cannot believe his eyes when he sees this person. He smiles and a smile is returned to him. There is a sadness too, a darkness, a different kind of darkness to what he had already been experiencing. The smile he sees fades to a look of dejection.
This place is really putting him through a ringer ... so to speak ...
