Lights

1.

Darkness

dark·ness [dahrk-nis]

—noun

the state or quality of being dark.

absence or deficiency of light.

Darkness. That's all I ever knew. Darkness is where I grew up. Not metaphorically, literally. There's always light at the end of the tunnel, they said. They were wrong. My tunnel never ended. I was used to darkness. Even your shadow leaves you in darkness, they said. But what about those who don't even know about the whole concept of shadows? Like me. I never saw my shadow. I always wanted to see lights but to my dismay, I never saw. I'm not blind, not actually. But I've never seen anything but darkness. So am I blind? Tomorrow will be the day when I'll finally figure out. I'll figure out if there's a something other than darkness. Tomorrow I'll turn 18. After 18 years of hostage I'll be released. After 18 years I'll see if there's light at the end of the tunnel. Am I excited or anxious or scared? None. I'm numb. "Look, you need to know that you can't tell anybody about us. If you do there will be consequences." The voice boomed from speaker placed in my poor excuse of a room. They never waited for my reply. Yes, these people, my captors, gave me food and clothes. Stale food and rags I might add. I never expected anything more. Though in the beginning I did, but who in their right mind won't? Soon I realized my expectations were in vain, futile. As the day, wait. I didn't ever know if it was day or night. Editing my thoughts, as time passed by, I ate my regular meal. My last thought was tomorrow will bring light and slowly I drifted off into darkness. It seemed like darkness will never leave me, ever.