The Man in the Darkness

In a queer world,
the house would have been ordinary.
In my world though
it was quite odd.

I was skeptical.
I was an adventurer.
It was my next great journey.
I would not be conquered,
not by a house,
not by anything.

It sounded like a challenge.
I was told,
"Daylight is your only weapon,
Night will tear your mind apart.

All will be tranquil at the house on the hill
during the Light.
It sits, still as death,
with its white shutters,
with its Dark windows,
with its rotten wood exterior.

During the Dark, although,
the shutters will shake and
the windows will illuminate,
the wood boards will moan in agony."

Then finally one day,
I spent time at the house.
It was drafty.
It was dusty.
It was dreary.
It was day.

There was a fireplace.
Carved in the mantle, were serpents of all kinds.
Above it, was a portrait
of a man.

His posture was straight and strict.
His hair was Black as sin.
His lips were pale and unsmiling.
His face was as white as milk.
His eyes were cold and ice blue.
His stare was chilling and unforgiving.

Thick layers of dust sat on everything.
The tables that were once a vibrant oak,
looked a white-gray color.
Each step taken had left a footprint.

Cobwebs covered every corner.
The furniture had been draped
with sheets that had once been white.
Rats, as big as a man's shoe,
ran across the floor in freedom.
That is what could be seen in the Light.

Light, although, soon turned to Darkness,
the fire dimmed and then blazed,
the books flew from the shelves,
and the door was locked.

I did not like the house
when it was Dark.
It had brought me fear.
I shivered.
My pulse quickened,
and my breathing became short.

I could barely see my hands
at times.
When I could see
I would wish I could not.
When I could not see
I feared what lurked in the Darkness.

I knew not of what it was until
I looked behind me
and slumped to the floor.
What I saw threw me into a great stupor.

There was the man from the painting.
His clothes were old and tattered.
His hair was slicked back.
His feet were bare.
His face was pointed.
His eyes cut through me.

He glared at me with anger.
I knew what he wanted.
He pointed to the door
with a bony, ancient digit.

When I did not try to leave,
he smiled a devilish grin.
Nay, not a smile,
he bared his dagger sharp teeth
into a snarl.
Then he evaporated before me.

A shiver went down my spine.
I imagined it was my eyes playing tricks,
though I knew they were not.
I had not known to where he had gone.

Until he had made himself known.
I could not see the entity.
I could not fight him.
I could not move.
I could only feel his presence
and hear him.

He spoke to me
in unknown tongues.
He threw objects at me
like a child having a tantrum.

He made me fear for my life.
I held my head.
I covered my body.
I cowered to my thoughts.
I stowed away to a corner.
I wept in fear.

Waiting for the Light,
I tried to ignore my fear.
"Maybe he will leave."
I had kept thinking.

He would not.
I was harassed all night.
He never stopped.
He never let up.
I was going insane,
until it became Light.

The apparition calmed again,
but my feelings had not changed.
The door unlocked,
and I stumbled away.

I went back, though,
and I struck a match.
Fire consumed the house.
I smiled contently,
and I watched the flames warp the house.
The house moaned and creaked.

Smoke was thick in the air.
It burnt my eyes.
It filled my nose.
Seeing became difficult.

Soon the smoke cleared,
and there was ash,
a Black powder.
There was no longer a house,
only the fireplace still stood.
I finally felt peace.

Sweet, innocent peace,
I felt it in the fire.
I felt it in the ash.
I felt it in the emptiness that was before me.

That emptiness was then intruded, however,
and I saw him,
with his serpent teeth,
with his onyx hair,
with his unforgiving eyes,
and his over baring presence.

Then I was filled with emptiness.
He changed me.
All I could see was the Ebony abyss,
and, deaf, went my ears.

What was I to do?
I sat, not knowing my fate.
He did not speak to me.
He threw nothing at me,
but he did not leave,
for I could feel his presence.

He put fear back into my mind.
I embraced my knees
and waited for an attack,
but it did not come.

Hours
that could have been minutes
ticked by.
I did not move.
I just waited,
feeling his presence.

Then eventually there were vibrations.
People coming to look for me, I assumed.
I felt myself being hoisted.
I was being taken away.

The entity kept near,
for I could feel it.
Of my fate,
I knew nothing.
To where I was being taken,
I knew not.

I had known very little at the time.
My surroundings were
never made known to me.
How was I to communicate?

One thing I had known,
was that he would never leave.
His presence would always be felt
in my world of Darkness.
I had rid him of what he had known.
He had done the same to me.