Book of Random Ideas

The Dark Room

Everyone has a dark moment. A dark day. Even a dark year. 

Some have just terrible lives. Some hide it, smiling through the pain of it all. Others show it, yet no one helps them. 

Though there is one girl who is neither of those people. She does smile through the pain, but she doesn't use that smile to hide. She didn't cry nor did she complain about anything. Not in front of people anyway. 

"Morning, mom!" She called cheerfully as always. Her eyes wandered over to her father's empty chair. A chair that hasn't been used in years. "Is he-"

"Yes... He's still out..." The voice of her mother's was strained and in pain. 

The woman that had been with her through thick and thin, was having a cold. A bad one at that too. The young woman feared that her mother would not make it. It was a fear that kept her home, that kept her away from others. 

"You better get going, love... I hope you have a good day at school, sweetheart." Her mother's soft, scratchy voice brought her out of her mind.

"Yes, mama... I love you, please get better." The child whispered, before kissing her mother's cheek. 

With this, Thea walked towards school. If she had stayed...

"Mama!" She screamed at the lifeless body of the woman that cared for her. Her skin an ashen gray. Whipping out her phone she dialed 9-1-1. They answered immediately. "Please help! My mama is sick, and she's not moving, please help her!" She cried, tears falling down her face.

 Hours passed... Then a doctor came out and shook his head. This caused the young woman to collapse on the cold white tiles, crying out to the heavens at the unfairness of the world. 

Months passed... She has yet to leave the dark room. It is her safe heaven... A place where she can weep without thought of stopping.

'It all was for nothing... I shouldn't have gone to school... I shouldn't have left... Maybe then she would have been here...' The dark voices whisper as Thea lays her back on the floor, her legs on the bed.

Tears had permeantly stained her cheeks, no matter how much she washed it off.  Nor did she truly care about it. The only times she ever goes out is for food or the bathroom. Her dad now has to have work near home so he can keep an eye on her, for if food runs out, she won't leave the house to get any food. 

A quiet knock came at the door. She has yet to move for it. 

"Thea... I'm going to the store... Do you need anything?" He asked her. His once rough and loud voice, turned into a soft and soothing voice. She loves it. It is so nice to hear it as he spoke. It made almost the entire world a place to see.

"Yea... Can you please get me some more honey and tea, please... And some more flour, I want to make some fresh spaghetti tonight," The woman says to her father. She has taken up home cooking since she would never leave the house, only to go in the back yard to keep it nice looking. 

"Okay... You can come if you want..." He waited for an answer he never gets. She always says no, she told him no once more, though it is getting harder for her to say no.

With this he leaves to go to the store. Even though it was only a mere ten minutes, it felt as an enterenty. 

She was getting scared that he had died. Anxiety kept her from sitting still. She hated it. 

"I'm back, darling..." His soft, and gentle voice says through the door. 

A sweet smile appears on her chapped lips, more tears falling down her face. Opening the door, she faced her father for the first time in months. He looked different as well. From the dark skin intimidating man she knew, he looked liked the kind of father that she wished she had when she was younger.

"D-daddy!" She jumped into his arms, crying into his shoulders as he cried into hers. They wept together, holding each other as though the other will disappear. 

Years passed... Thea never moved out of the house. She stayed with her dad, the only family she knew. Yes she fell in love and had started a family, but they didn't want to quickly jump into the house thing just yet. 

She was happy... She never needed her dark room again... It was never used again.