The Darkness of the Unknown

All the darkness, all the despair, all the feelings to describe such a situation aren't strong enough. All the answers that never had a problem but yet have an unknown cause. There are no words to describe what happened that October week in Harlem. I'm sure it will leave some speechless or worse.

I walked the cracked road just outside of Harlem. My own dim shadow reigned upon the street as the sun stabbed the horizon behind it. Lower and lower it went until the final ray peeked the surface of the horizon and disappeared. Light fled the street and the night had begun. At that moment, I had made it back to my apartment building in Harlem. The dusty building was once known as the most popular apartment complex in Harlem. It housed famous musicians and actors known for their unique downtown styles. The place had since eroded, cracks were in the walls inside and outside. They were all embedded with overgrown tree roots from the greenhouse next door.

I hit the buzzer. It read Noah Sells above. The buzzer for my apartment hadn't been used in a while, not after my road trip which had ended in a nearly fatal car crash. I had since then lost the key, so I was hoping that someone was inside to open the door. I hit the buzzer again, getting anxious from the silence. Nobody answered, once again silence. I had lost my patience, I kicked the door open, something I learned from growing up on a farm in upper New York. There was nobody inside the lobby. It looked abandoned and wrecked, somehow worse from its previously disgusting state. A vigorous smell wafted through the air. It was unrecognizable. It could almost be described as the smell of something rotting.

I searched for the source, the rotting smell getting stronger. I slowly walked behind the front desk. A cracked mirror was there, revealing a distorted young boy, in all black, brown scruffy hair, and cracked sunglasses. Behind the desk was a backroom door, the source of the smell. I carefully inched the door open, and the smell became stronger and stronger! At last I opened the door to reveal darkness. I pulled the cord to the lightbulb in the corner. The light flickered on and off, on and off. It sped up, repeating its cycle, on-off-on-off until it stopped flickering. Now the light started to get brighter and brighter. It was a blinding sight. A loud pop, and it suddenly burst. It was dead.

A slow breathing sound echoed throughout the lobby. The light then turned on, a blood red color. I walked in, a curious mistake, the light was only providing vision at the doorway. The rest of the room was pitch black. I heard the sound of something splashing almost as if I were walking in a puddle. I looked down to the horrifying sight. How terrible it was! I was standing in the blood of the lobby registrar. I was absolutely disgusted. The body was piled up in the dark corner of the room. It was mutilated from the head down and the registrar's last face was one of complete terror yet somehow still peaceful.

I looked over to the back of the room, terrified of what might have happened here. This was the moment I realized who's breathing that was. Two white dots, floating in the darkest part of the room opened slowly. Like eyes, but a blank white color. Not round, but distorted. The creature breathed steadily staring at me. The eyes closed and the creature was gone. I looked around panicking and hastily scanning the room. I felt a dust flow steadily against my right shoulder. I slowly and carefully turned around and there it was. A creature of unimaginable creation standing in front of me with two white eyes. I felt the door slam behind me and the light exploded. Shards of glass flew through the room.

Darkness surrounded me and so did the creature. The creature is darkness, the personification of the dark. The white dot appeared again but this time against the right wall. It started to dash towards me. I jumped out of the way. The darkness slammed against the wall knocking a brick out. I took notice of this and attempted to kick more of the bricks out. On the other side of the wall was an old staircase probably for use if the elevator broke. I finally broke through and ran out onto the steps. The darkness darted after me, exploding the lights above as it followed me up the stairs.

Shattered glass was picked up by the breeze and thrown at me. I felt the glass scrape my arm and tear through my clothing. I had finally made it to floor 12. Running down the hallway, I watched the door numbers rise until I got to room 1408. I scrambled for the key that had been under the mat, but dropped it. It had slid part way beneath the door. The creature was nowhere to be seen, but I could hear it breathing. I finally unlocked the door after the task of trying to get my hand underneath the door to retrieve the key.

My hand was covered in splinters from the old oak wood that the door was made out of. I was in complete and utter pain. My legs and arms were covered in shards of glass and my hands now had splinters. I turned the light switch on but it flickered back off immediately. The darkness was in the room. I had no time to waste! I ran to the end of the room, and opened the window. Without looking back, I jumped. The green house had a glass roof along with soil to lighten my fall, or so I thought. I burst through the top of the glass roof, shards flying everywhere. Despite the soil being soft, the shards were a hazard as I landed forcefully on them.

I was bleeding and in an unbearable amount of pain. My clothes were now stained to a blood red and to my dismay, I had lost my shoes in the fall. Barefooted, I walked through the field of glass. The darkness was nowhere to be seen. Then the terrifying realization. The night sky was jet black, darkness was everywhere. I looked around and there it was standing on the only part left of the greenhouse roof. A black shape with two white eyes. I also noticed that the black dust was not dust, but razor sharp black crystals. Each one represented a soul. The creature was like a jumbled timeline of it’s victims. An index of sorrow and despair. The darkness closed its eyes and disappeared.

I looked around again and for the final time. I heard a breathing sound but this time it wasn't breathing, it was my own lurching scream. My vision went to a pitch-black darkness. Darkness had overtaken me and now for my final realization, I am dead, I am now darkness...