Light In The Darkness

Written for my high school Creative Writing class.

In my realm, there is no sun. Our world is caught in an everlasting darkness we can never seem to shed. I’ve heard superstitions from other realms that when one sense isn’t being vitalized the other senses become stronger. It always makes me laugh how ignorant the other realms can be. No, our other senses are not enhanced due to our lack of being able to see. Instead, my people have learned how to rely on our other four senses. And before you ask, yes we have ways, manufactured ways, of getting light but by the time we’d evolved enough to create them, our eyesight was too weak to want the light as the other realms do.

“Have you ever wondered what strangers look like?” My friend, Alyssa, asked me as we lay in the meadow.

“Not really,” I admit. “I don’t see the point in wondering about people I’ll never know. Plus the superficialness of liking looks is unappealing.”

“But that’s how things work in other realms.” Alyssa points out.

“In other realms, people have the luxury of being superficial,” I argue. “If we were stuck looking at each other’s faces all the time, I could understand wanting to be picky, but since we aren’t constantly staring at one another’s face, we get to fall in love with people’s personalities.”

“Still.” Alyssa sighs. “I’d like to have the luxuries I’m missing.”

“Of course you would-” The rest of my reply is cut off as shouts erupt from the left side of the field.

“Alyssa!” The voice calls, followed by a crushing sound; someone is trampling through the grass as they run towards us.

“Cameron?” Alyssa replies. The shuffling beside me alerts me to the fact she’s standing.

Cameron’s footsteps come closer then stop beside us as the air around us adds lemongrass to its inventory of scents.

“Something happened!” He gasps out. “There was a… burst!”

“A burst?” Alyssa and I ask, our voices mingling in prime unison.

“Yeah.” He breathes. “I was near the park, trying to see if Diane wanted me to get her some food when this light went off from out of nowhere… I think it’s following me.”

There was a flash on the horizon like an entire block had turned on their lights and this was the glow surrounding them. But this flash disappeared quicker than a light switch could be turned off.

I wince in pain, despite the fact the light was from a while off, I can feel the heat leaving my eyes feeling a bit raw.

“We should go tell the council.” I say, trying to blink the sunburnt feeling from my eyes.

“Right.” Alyssa’s hair makes a swishing sound as it nods against her shoulder.

There’s a faint clasping sound. I gather Alyssa has grabbed Cameron’s hand, probably gathering the same thing I have; Cameron probably can’t see very well if he was closer to the burst when it first went off, who knows what else the burst might have been able to damage.

We make our way down the memorized path to our city, avoiding the sound of people’s footsteps and swishes of clothing as we near the town hall.

I reach out and feel cool metal underneath my palm. I twist the door handle and make my way through the dimly lit building. 

“Who are we looking for?” Alyssa asks Cameron’s hand still in her grip.

“Gloria.” I say, heading for the stairs. “She’s the only one who might take us seriously.”

Gloria isn’t in her office when we enter, but someone is.

“Thompson.” I say, nodding at the councilman.

“Evans, Hartfeld, Fairbanks.” He nods at each of us, his face cast in eerie shadow each time his head bows. “What are you three doing here?”

“I saw something,” Cameron says. “A burst.”

“A what?” Councilman Thompson frowns at us irritably, probably expecting us to be playing some sort of prank on him.

“He saw a burst of light from out of nowhere,” I say. “We saw it from a distance. It’s real.”

“Children.” He tuts at us. “We’ve had electricity bursts before, it’s nothing to waste our town’s time on.”

“It wasn’t an electricity burst!” Cameron objects. “I’ve seen one of those before, last year when our toaster overloaded our circuits. That blast was an actual fire, this one seemed more like an entity.”

“An entity?” Councilman Thompson gives us a smirk.

“Yeah!” Cameron nods. “I was in Ranton Park, on my way back to town when this clucking noise drew my attention to the left.”

“A clucking noise?” Alyssa asked.

“Yeah,” Cameron snapped his fingers, a tick he was known for having when he was excited. “Like when some calls to their dog. Then, when I went to investigate this light went off from in front of me. It was like it lured me into looking at it, then it flashed!”

“Sounds like an electricity burst to me,” Councilman Thompson sniffs. “Weird noises often occur before the incident.”

“I’m telling you it wasn’t an electricity burst!” Cameron says bitterly.

I reach forward and grab his arm before he can do something irrational.

“Is there anything else you have to bother me with?” The councilman asks. “Or will I be able to get back to work?”

Cameron and I glare at him, our silence breaking as the sound of Cameron angrily cracking his knuckles pierced the air.

“We’ll leave.” Alyssa announces before either of us can further think of doing something stupid.

She grabs our hands and tugs us out of the room before we can protest.

“You guys, what if something bad is happening and the council is too late to stop it from getting worse?” Cameron asks.

“We won’t let that happen,” I reassure him. “We’ll head back to where we last saw the burst and investigate.”

“Right, but we have to stay far enough away to not get burned,” Cameron said. “I think I got away unscathed but I don’t know how much more I would have taken to completely destroy me.”

He tried to hide a shudder, but I could still hear it by the way his clothes moved against his body as his shoulders tensed.

I open my mouth to ask him what exactly happened when the burst went off, but close it, deciding it’s better to not make him more anxious than he already is.

“Let’s go then before the burst can get any closer to town or farther away.” I begin making my way out of the building, following the trail we took to get there.

Once we arrive back at the field, we stop. Our footsteps fall dead and our breathing evens out as we wait. Nothing appears on the horizon, in fact, we can’t even see the horizon.

“Cameron, what did you say you were doing when you saw the first burst?” Alyssa asks, breaking our investigative silence.

“I was going to ask… Diane!” Cameron’s voice goes up an octave as he remembers. “She was working in the ranger station, we should ask her if she’s seen a burst!”

“Okay so we go to the ranger station,” Alyssa nods as she begins leading the way towards the station. “While also making sure we don’t fall for any strange noises and stay away from a burst in the distance.”

“Right.” Cameron’s footsteps follow Alyssa’s as they make their way through the tall grass, I rush to follow them.

Navigating trees would be hard if you weren’t from our realm. However, we’re used to holding out our non-dominant hand to guide ourselves (and block anything that may hit our face) and our town was surrounded by pines, so all three of us have been used to making our way through the woods.

“Is it a left to the station?” Alyssa asks, her stomping taking a pause. “Or a right?”

“It’s a right.” Cameron replies, his breathing ragged.

“We’re almost there.” I whisper to him.

His hand grabs mine and gives it a squeeze as we finish the trek towards the station.

The smell of charcoal taints the air as we reach the building. We stop our advancement, my heart pounding as a tangy layer of smoke coats my lungs.

“Something’s wrong.” I say unneededly. I know that my friends can tell something’s off by the scent of something burning alone, but something inside me felt the urge to break the eerie silence.

“Diane?” Cameron calls, running into the building.

“Cameron, be careful!” Alyssa cries as we chase after him.

The pungent smell is stronger inside the station.

“I think she passed out!” Cameron says from in front of us. “I can feel her on the floor.”

“Don’t touch her!” I exclaim, feeling the walls for the dimmer.

I grasp the switch and carefully it, casting the room in dim light as Alyssa begins to scream.

Diane’s body is strewn across the floor of the lodge. Or at least, I assume it’s Diane’s. The corpse on the floor has been destroyed beyond identification. The body looks as if it’d been in contact with a bomb, then continued to survive being lit on fire. I can’t tear my eyes away. Her front is spilled open, leaving what’s left of her intestines to pour out of her body and onto the floor, and the rest of her body is charred black and covered in bloody boils that fill the air with a slight sizzling sound.

“What happened?” Cameron asks, voice quivering as he stumbles backward away from the body.

“The burst.” I guess, trying to shake myself out of my disgust. “It must be more deadly than we thought.”

I scan the room around us, ignoring the flies circling the area. The ceiling and floor are both a charcoal gray color, and the walls aren’t that much lighter in shade.

“The burst must have been some sort of explosion,” I observe. “It killed Diane and damaged the building in the process.”

“If it’s powerful enough to do that, it could destroy the whole town.” Alyssa adds.

“Who says there’s just one of them?” Cameron says, his voice heightened in his anxious state. “What if there’s multiple? We’re doomed!”
“Breathe, Cam.” I order him, trying to gather my own wits. “We’ll just…” Words escape me momentarily. “Head back to town, find someone who will listen to us, and the council will find a way to preserve the town from any kind of attack.”

Cameron nods shakily.

“Okay, so we need to go.” Alyssa says, grabbing Cameron’s hand and leading him out of the building.

I let go a sigh of relief. Despite the fact I’d always been able to calculate things in order to get myself out of trouble, Alyssa was the cool and collected one. When we were younger, she was the first one out of the building for emergency drills, and even now she’s the first one people turn to when they’re going through a crisis.

I follow my friends through the forest, wondering how much more walking we’d have to do today. My feet are already sore from the walking we’d done so far and I had a hunch we weren’t done with our walking yet.

“Do you smell that?” Cameron asked as we neared the edge of the woods. “It smells like something’s burning!”
“That’s the smell of the station stuck in your nose.” I chastise.

“No, he’s right…” Alyssa stops walking to sniff the air.

I frown, scanning the horizon. 

“Oh my gosh.”

The horizon is lit.

“The town’s on fire!” I gasp.

“What?” Cameron makes to run forward, but Alyssa stops him.

“Cam! We can’t go there!” She says, arms wrapped around him to hold him in place. “If the burst is still there it could kill us!”
Cameron’s breaths turn soft as he forces himself to calm down.

“You’re right,” he says. “Thank you.”

“We should try and get to Tarnen.” I say. “If they’re still alive, we can warn them.”
Tarnen is the next town over, they’re close enough to call neighbor, but not too close to know the burst had already reached them.

“It will take an hour to get there,” Alyssa grunts. “We better get going.”

We turn and leave without a second glance back at our hometown.

The pain in my feet has intensified now that we’ve reached the halfway point.

“Not too much farther.” Alyssa pants.

“I think I need a break.” I say, leaning against a nearby tree.

“You two rest.” Cameron says, our cloud of stench dissipating a little bit as he walks off. “I’ll go scout ahead.”

“Okay.” Alyssa sighs, giving a slight oomph sound as she settles onto the ground.

I lower myself beside her.

“Any minute now we’ll wake up.” I whisper.

“And we’ll still be in the field.” Alyssa replies.

“Do you think anyone at home escaped the burst?” I ask, my voice meeker than I’ve ever heard.

“I don’t know… Probably. At least a few of them must have been smart enough to run away from the danger.”

“Yeah…” I feel a sinking feeling in my chest, like our self reassurances are pointless…

“AGHHHHHH!” Cameron’s voice pierces the air.

“CAMERON!?!” Alyssa and I shout, scrambling to stand up.

I run in the direction he went off in, but stop, arm held out to catch Alyssa, as I notice the light behind the next cluster of trees.

“Cameron?” I call as Alyssa begins to sob. 

No one replies. Alyssa’s cries grow louder as the light dims and then vanishes.

I wait a few minutes, then lead Alyssa forward.

Cameron’s body is slouched against a tree. There’s a burning smell. His body is charred black, just as Diane’s was. 

I feel tears spilling over my cheeks. Alyssa releases my arm and falls to her knees.

“Cam-” She chokes out.

“I know.” I put a hand on her shoulder. “But we’ve gotta keep going. Otherwise Tarnen is doomed.” 

And we might be next. I silently add.

“Okay.” Alyssa’s hair brushes against my hand as she nods.

I let go of her shoulder and let her stand back up.

The next half-hour is a blur. Alyssa keeps sniffling. I know, she’s trying to stop because every so often she focuses on her breathing and the sniffling resides.

Eventually, we make it to Tarnen.

“Somethings happening!” Alyssa announces to the first person we find.

“People are dying by bursts of light!” I explain. “Like electricity bursts, but not electricity.”

“You’re insane.” They begin to laugh, but are cut off as the screams erupt from across town.

The burst is so much worse from this distance.

I can feel heat scorch my face and turn away from the screams.

“Don’t look at the light!” Alyssa shouts as we run back into the forest.

The entire town is set ablaze with light and screams. Some people call names others just shout, screaming at the heavens themselves as they died.

Alyssa and I fled over the hill beside Tarnen but the shouts followed us. I’ve never felt more panicked in my life. Have you ever felt like your chest would burst? That’s how my chest felt, like my heart was so stressed it was ready to give out.

Eventually we can’t run anymore, so we fall to the ground, gulping for air. A weird click goes off from beside us. Alyssa, grabs my hand and drags me behind her.

“We have to go.” She says trailing me after her.

“No matter what, don’t stop running.” I order.

“I won’t if you won’t.” She promises.

The clicking gets louder, but it’s still from behind us, so we keep running.

We near another forest according to the sounds of wildlife. We’re trying to dodge trees as we hope to lose the burst among the trees.

My leg catches on a root. My body makes a crunch as I hit the ground. Alyssa’s already too far to hear it.

The clicking gets louder.

I close my eyes.

Don’t worry if you can’t see it it can’t hurt you. I remind myself.

I can hear my hopeless thought from earlier. Everlasting darkness. I begin to wonder if our realm was missing something. 

“I’d like to have the luxuries I’m missing.” Alyssa had said.

An image of Diane’s mutilated corpse flashes before my eyes as Cameron’s screams flood my ears.

A tear slips between my closed lids.

The clicking gets louder.

We stumble through the forest, our eyes squeezed shut against the light. A part of me longs to accept the light, but I know it’d be pointless. There are other towns out there. Maybe we can warn them in time.