Not Quite Alone in the Dark

Not Quite Alone in the Dark
by
Jonathan D Cox

Scritch.
A sudden flame blossoms in the darkness.
A man screams as the sudden light strikes his eyes.

         He raises his hand to block the light, unaccustomed to the brightness after his long exile from the light. Slowly he opens his eyes, trying to let them adjust slowly, cursing the turn of fate that out him here. He begins to search for the candle that he knows is nearby. Finding it he places the match he holds to the candle's wick, waiting for the flame to catch before shaking the match to snuff it. He closes his eyes, leaning back and listening to the steady drip, drip, drip that has been his constant companion as well as his sole means of survival. He reaches out and lifts the small, battered wooden bowl from the floor and takes a drink before placing it back under the slowly leaking pipe.

         'Now it begins,' he thinks, shakily he gets to his feet, then bends down to collect his candle, careful to ensure the flame remains steady. Cautiously he walks forward, reaching the nearest wall of his prison in short order. Switching the candle from his left hand to his right, he turns and places his left hand against the blank, black wall.

         Slowly he begins to circle the room, trying to find some difference in one section of the wall. Not until his third pass does he feel a change in the wall beneath his hand. At about two feet above the floor he feels a slit giving off the faintest of breezes, following the feeling he finds that it forms a square about two feet in each direction.

         Setting the candle down just outside the square he runs his long, ragged nails across the slit,, trying to find purchase so that he might lever open the panel. He tries again and again but the seem is too fine and he cant get hold of it. He slams his fists against the panel in frustration again and again, beginning to cry as he feels despair overtake him. He hangs his head and just sits, sobbing as he mutters to himself how he had found it and it wasn't fair.

         After a short while he sees the light flicker and then again, looking up to see that the candle has burned down to its last, unable to do anything but sit and stare as it gutters and dies; leaving him in the darkness once more. He resumes his assault on where he believes the panel to be, hoping that somehow he can force it to open. After several strikes he again hangs his head and then curls up on the floor, unable to find anymore tears. Then he hears a small hiss coming from behind him. He picks his head up and then turns to face the wall once more where a sliver of light has appeared. The sliver begins to grow until it fills the square on the wall where the panel was before.
         With renewed hope he begins to crawl forward into the light. After several minutes of crawling a silhouette appears, framed by the light. “Well, Well Oliver I am impressed that you managed to find this tunnel. Unfortunately your not ready to go just yet; no I'm afraid that I'm going to have to send you to sleep for a while so that I can return you to your room.” Oliver then hears a small pop and feels a small prick in his chest before the world fades to black.

         Slowly arising from his forced slumber, he thinks he hears a faint laugh but dismisses it as a fading dream. He opens his eyes only to be greeted with his long time companion, darkness. He can hear the steady sound of dripping water and knows that he has been returned to his cell. Knowing that his only hope of escape is gone, he sinks deeply into depression, no longer even trying to make his way to the water when he becomes thirsty.

         Then he hears a soft voice call out, “Oliver, come to me my sweet Oliver.” He turns, trying to find the person who was calling to him. At first he sees no-one but then he blinks and suddenly he sees a young girl in a yellow sundress, beckoning him to come to her, smiling sweetly. Oliver rises, making his way to the girl. As he reaches her she catches him up in a hug and whispers “I love you brother.” He whispers back “I love you too sis.” He wraps his arms around her and closes his eyes, a feeling of weightlessness overtakes him and he doesn't even feel the fall. Long before he hits the ground he smiles and passes on, walking home with his sister at last.


The End?