The Demons Inside

Dark Nothing

Black.

That was all for a moment.

All around him, all around them.

All around us.

•

Blinding them, was the overwhelming presence of nothingness, that which made them become trembling mutes, even when they'd gone through things much worse.

The darkness's sharp hands and rock-hard limbs struck them as concretely as metal, and the loneliness reached their very bones, like a disease they knew had no cure.

And they stood still,

Because, for a moment, it was all they knew to do.

Then a sudden flash, one that raised their hopes instantly, but then burned down to small embers, creating small pieces of ashes that, by now, had unevenly scattered all around them. Then once again, they were left defenseless in the wide expanse of earth and weeds.

This could be a dream, or it could be reality.

They just hoped it was the former.

Far away from each other, they felt equally vulnerable to the horrors of a lonely night, but right then, oh, right then everything seemed completely possible, and that no creature was fictional enough to remain inside their minds and the movies they watched.

Claws scraped at them both, making exact markings along their torsos, making a certain red liquid ooze out of their very own stomachs.

They screamed,

They pleaded,

but the creatures in pursuit were as cruel as time itself, which - by now, everyone should know - takes everything away from the unsuspecting.

Both males held onto the thin thread that had been presented, the very same line that had been lit with embers, unable to be soaked in any kind of water.

But they held on.

They were just afraid of letting go of the only thing they knew wouldn't disappear.

And so they held on,

Grasping the idea of 'escape'.

Each one knowing the other's pain, yet not knowing them at all.

•

But maybe this was all a dream, after all.

✝

-Archelien.