Unfamiliar Feeling

1

"We'll be here, we simply wouldn't miss it!"

Blink.

"You're going to be fine. If you behave."

Blink.

"They're going to take care of you. Maybe."

Blink. Blink.

——————

Often in the night children will wake and wish for the sun, for the darkness that surrounds them worries them and throws an unsettling, deep, rotting feeling into the pits of their stomachs. It deceives all thoughts and beliefs of monsters that lurk in the shadows and watch on as they dream, staring at their peaceful body. And then they'll scream from fear of a monster under the bed or a shadow in the corner of their room, crying until their parents come running into their bedroom and turn on the light in one swift action. The children's eyes become dazzled and confused for a moment by the sudden brightness of the reading lamp or fairy lights. The parents will then mock the children with soothing calls of how faux their minds are, as surely nothing more than a moth lingers in the darkness of the night. And then the parents will bid their children a "sleep well", turn off the light and close the door. Then the darkness returns with twice its eeriness. But this darkness stirs ever so silently, lightly waking the imagination of the children once more as they try to disappear under their covers. The moon then joins them in their rooms behind smoky, misty clouds that dance with the small light of the stars, creating charcoal sketches that drift along the walls. This is darkness within life.

A darkness known to every man, animal and thing that has walked the Earth, for there can't possibly be anything other than it, there can't possibly be a darkness so black that it envelopes all sight, all sound, all life...can there?

If there is such a thing, then that could be what is right here. This is a darkness so total that one would question if they have eyes. It surrounds everything. It eats everything in its path. It is everything. It robs of every sense and leaves its victims with paralysed fear and blind eyes. And it is in this darkness that Summer drowns, body suffocating in the utter vastness with broken vision.

When Summer opened her eyes, she wondered if she had; for it was just as dark as with them shut. Slowly stirring awake, she rubbed her tired eyes and stretched slightly. As Summer slowly sat up, she began to realise how strange this gloomy place was. It was just darkness. Like a never ending pit of nothingness.

Anyhow, sitting still on the floor, alert, Summer struggled to move in any direction with her vision leaving her by the minute. She did not do so much as move a foot, in fear something lurked in the dark, for usually in movies and books something does. 'It isn't the darkness you should be afraid of, but what's in it.' She remembered an elderly lady telling her once, when the weather was cold and the sun had dipped away upon the approaching moon. She had been volunteering to work in an antiquated but bright library for a little over seven months, and an old lady known as Molly Martin with a wonderful smile and Canadian accent would often come through the large wooden doors with warm fingertips from her knitted mittens and an evening whisp of wind following at her tail. She was a keen reader, perhaps why they both got along, and rather intelligent as they would learn from one another as they began to trade small talk every so often. They'd quickly became friends, and Summer adored her as much as Molly adored books, so, it is within these terrifying and torturous minutes which Summer sits alone in confusion of what to do when Molly and her wise words storm in to her mind. So there she sat, alert in her strange surroundings.

Lifting her fragile, torn arm to push her somewhat messy hair away from her face, she was suddenly pulled back. A large, clanking noise followed suit as she pulled on her arm again, determined to get it to her head. Using her other arm, she reached out to be felt with something cold. Metal. She'd been imprisoned into this dark void. She couldn't deny how strained she felt to be where she was. Fear set itself into Summer's brain as she realised what this was. Some confinement that could be considered a brutal torture. Left to turn crazy. Left to turn...into something.

She began to realise how cold it was. The touch from the metal left her fingertips with a deadly bone chilling feel. The vast darkness, obviously having taken her vision, did not allow her to see what clothes she even wore. Nothing could be acted upon here, as nothing could be seen. The vivid feeling of this nothingness seemed to fill Summer's mind all too quickly. Like a disease. A plague. It had worked its way up to her brain, filling every inch of itself into her veins, wrapping itself in a deadly bundle around every single bone in her body. The night seeped itself deep into her tortured vision, until she felt what she saw about her: nothing. Her brain seemed to stop functioning as a whole: no ideas, words of advice, some form of courage - nothing - entered Summer's mind. It all went. Then she followed. She had gone too.

Falling backwards all too quickly, Summer hit the darkness, eyes full of exhaustion whilst she tried frantically to take back control of herself in her mind. Like an alarm, screams echo around Summer's mind, her inner self fighting for freedom, as she began to rapidly move. Her brain tried to piece together what was happening. Thump. Thump. She'd hit the floor so often that she felt as though some kind of seizure had occurred. Seizure. A seizure. The darkness descended deeper. It began to take over. And it was there that Summer landed into unconsciousness, her body continuing to drown further into the darkness.

The phrase to lose one's mind, often relates to going crazy. Losing your marbles. Unsociable. But, quite literally, one can lose their mind. One can loose control and feel defeated, even inside their own body. Often by madness, even possessions by a demonic force, if you will. But they can also lose their mind through loneliness. Alone for so long all you can do is hope for a utopian future. They always said loneliness loves company.

However, with Summer in her weakened, panicking state, she felt like she was being controlled by the darkness. And that's why she didn't look behind her. For behind her was a long, thin line. A line that would've made all the difference had she been in a better mind set. A line of light, a line of hope, from beneath a rusty, locked door.