Walking With Darkness

Chapter 8

It was dark. Really dark. But I didn't mind. 

I had a feeling I was used to it. 

I tried to move, but I couldn't. My body just wouldn't follow orders. I had no feeling whatsoever. I couldn't even force myself to blink (and believe me, I tried). I counted to ten in my head. Slowly, calmly, assessing the situation.

One Mississippi, two Mississippi....

Okay, I was in a dark room. Or a bright room with my eyes closed. I couldn't move. No matter how much I tried. 

Five Mississippi, six Mississippi......

I couldn't feel anything, I couldn't even feel my body on the surface of whatever I was on.

Seven Mississippi, eight Mississippi.....

What was the last thing I remembered?  Nothing. Nothing. I couldn't even remember what gender I was. I started freaking out but I forced myself to control the train-wreck of thoughts that was closing in. 

Who was I?

Nine Mississippi, ten Mississippi...

My mind was a hurricane of thoughts as I tried to understand what was happening. As I tried to answer that fatal question, I could feel my consciousness slipping away. My thoughts becoming less coherent with every split second. But then I saw something in my mind.

Not saw, more of a feeling. An area of my thinking darker than the rest (metaphorically of course), like it was being shrouded in shadow. I reached out to it and held that all important answer as I faded from consciousness.

My name was Fr-.

________________

My eyes cracked open and I immediately saw Tattoo sitting at a desk on the outside of the cell I was in. I'd been in here for hours, it was probably night but there were no windows so I couldn't tell. The cell was empty, no bed, no chair, no toilet. It surprised me that I was able to fall asleep on this cold hard floor.

I sat up and saw that Tattoo wasn't alone at the desk. There were two chairs. He sat on one, the other one held a....... Darkness. It wasn't solid, but it looked like I could touch it. I could feel it's presence, and it upset my mind. It didn't feel right. 

It gave me chills. 

I started to wonder why they just left me here. For all they knew, I could shadow-hop away right now. It didn't make sense. But then I looked at Tattoo. He was now staring at me. in his brown eyes I didn't see boredom, or even anger. He shifted in his seat under the weight of my gaze. He wiped sweat from his forehead. 

Why was he was looking at me like I was about to explode? 

Then it hit me, I was the sister of the most progressive Shadower of this generation. They didn't know what abilities I would discover if I was under strain. He didn't want to be near me if I had a latent instant death touch in me. He didn't want to die. He was scared of me. 

It was then that I noticed the lighting of the area. the cell I was in had no lights. In fact there was only one lit light and it only reached halfway across the table. Tattoo sat on the dark side, the darkness,"sat", on the light side. I wondered why that was. But, I could use this to my advantage. I stood up and walked over to the bars of the cell. 

"I need the bathroom" I demanded. 

And it wasn't lie either, I genuinely need to pee. But as I was walking I started gathering that feeling in my body. The feeling I'd only felt a few times but felt natural. I started building it, first in my chest, spreading it outwards. 

Meanwhile Tattoo sat there, unmoved by my statement. The darkness shimmered like a frequency fluctuating. It unnerved me a little but I couldn't stop concentrating, I would lose the feeling. Tattoo looked at the darkness then at me. He picked up his keys and came to unlock the cell. With a loud squeak the door opened, but instead of moving to let me through, he walked up to me faster than I thought he could. He looked down at me. 

I was almost there, just a minute or two more. I looked at his face and smiled.

Then I heard a loud crack and I was on the floor. The left side of my face was in pain, it burned worse than anything I'd felt before. It hurt my jaw to open my mouth to breathe. 

He punched me. 

I cried. And the tears wouldn't stop for hours to come. I realised I had wet myself from shock. I looked up from the floor at him as he locked the cell door again. He had a smile on his face.

"Don't try those tricks" he said.