We don't lie

Pitch Black

"Dad! Mom! You're back!" Luke exclaimed as he jumped into his fathers arms and reached out an arm to hug his mother.

"Of course we are, we missed you so much honey." His mom said with a soft smile while hugging him back.

"We got you something too, you wanna see it?" Luke's dad said leaning his head back to look at Luke in the eyes.

Immediately Luke's eyes lit up and he grinned, "Really? What is it? Where is it? Is it a puppy?" His father chuckled and brushed Luke's hair away from his eyes. "One question at a time, and you know your mother is allergic to dogs so that might cause a problem."

Luke looked quizzically down at his mother, "Why? Don't worry mom, if it's a puppy I'll keep him in my room, that way you can't come in and I never have to clean it!"
He watched as his mother laughed, the sound like a chorus of beautiful bells, and he smiled. He loved making her laugh, but he didn't get what was so funny.

"Come on Joshua, let Luke down so we can give him the gift, before he bursts." His father obeyed and Luke hopped out of his dad's arms and tugged at his jacket sleeve.
" Well what is it? Where'd you put it?" Luke was now bouncing up and down which caused his dad's sleeve to slowly come off his shoulder.

His mother sighed and took off her coat and Luke let go of his dad's sleeve, so he could do the same.

"Luke honey, if you'll give us time to show you, you might get to see it faster." She gently took Luke's hand and led him into the kitchen. He pulled out a stool from behind the counter and sat down as his dad entered the room with a small box. Luke leaned forward eagerly as his mother took it and placed the gift in front of him. Before he could open it, his mom stopped him.

"Now, once you open it, I want your promise that you won't get too carried away with what's inside." She looked at him expectingly with a twinkle in her eyes, showing she was just as excited about this as Luke was.

He nodded quickly, "Don't worry, I won't."

Out of his peripheral vision he saw his dad smile and nod in approval, and Luke ripped open the package. His parents laughed at his animal like behavior and he could see his dad put his arm around his mothers waist.

Luke pushed the wrapping paper aside, and looked at a small blue box that lay before him. Slowly, he opened the box, and his eyes gleamed with anticipation.
He cocked his head to the side, his eyes now curious. There was nothing in the box, in fact, it looked like a giant black hole. He looked up at his parents to ask what it was, but they were gone.

"Mom? Dad? Where'd you go?" He asked cautiously. He looked back down at the box, but it too was gone.

All at once the room started spinning. Luke fell off his chair and was soon lifted off the ground, fear enveloping him like a tight blanket. The room quickly turned into an off white color, and Luke felt a hand pressing against his back, pushing him forward. It pushed him with such a force that Luke jetted forward and his eyes widened when he realized he would hit the wall. He quickly covered his head with his arms and braced himself for the impact. But it never came. He peeked out from under his arms and saw nothing but black. Slowly, he let his arms drop to his sides as he tried to find some sort of light.

"Luke! Luke! Where's my baby? Luke where are you?" Luke's heart quickened and he pushed himself forward in the direction the voice came from.

"Mom! Mom I'm here! Where are you? Where's dad?"

" We're over here honey, follow my voice!"

He began to move faster when his body suddenly dropped onto the floor. Or, what he thought was the floor, it was too dark to tell.

"This way sweetie! Hurry!" He quickly got to his feet and ran toward her voice.

Luke kept running, and she kept yelling, but she was nowhere to be found. After what felt like hours of searching, tears began to form in his eyes when he realized it was hopeless. He would never be able to find them. Luke was about to give up completely when he felt a sharp tapping on his shoulder. He turned around and came face to face with his mother, his father standing behind her.

"Mom! Dad! You found me!" Luke jumped up to hug his mother and cried tears of joy.

"Of course we did, we missed you so much honey."

She hugged him tightly and Luke burrowed his head into her neck.

Soon her grip on Luke began to tighten more and more. He took in short gasps of air and started to claw at her, desperately trying to push himself off of her to get air. He looked up at her with desperation in the middle of his failed attempts to get free, but when he locked eyes, they did not belong to his mother.

He watched in fear as her face, her beautiful face, was replaced with the man he never thought he would see again.