A Supernaturally Dark Experience

I have heard tell of the days of darkness, but never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would experience them for myself. I was out in my garden one day pulling weeds and tending to it. I had pulled all of the dead leaves out of my plants. The tomatoes seemed to be doing well this year. The cucumber vines were growing like weeds, but I needed to cut back on the amount of sun they were getting as they were looking a little too yellow right now. I could easily fix that by applying a tarp over the top of the garden to give them a little more shade. The squash was coming along nicely too. The strawberries were ripening just right. The green beans were beginning to take their form. The marigolds around the edge made it pop with color.


I looked up and saw a dark cloud in the distance. I thought that maybe it was getting ready to storm. I rushed to the garage to get the tarp and a couple of boards to place the tarp over my garden for extra shade. When I came back, the dark cloud was closer, and it seemed to be consuming everything in its path. I thought that was a bit odd. I decided to take a short break and see if I could catch the weather forecast on the tv.


As I made my way to the living room with my glass of lemonade that I had retrieved from the kitchen, the dark cloud seemed to get even closer, and it began getting gloomy outside. I sat down on my couch and turned on the tv with the remote. The tv came on for just a moment and then turned itself off. I looked down at my remote and pressed the power button, but nothing happened. That's when I began to feel the darkness coming in. It was a strange phenomenon. I sat there in disbelief and mesmerized by it all.


I wasn't sure what to do. I had never experienced anything like this before. It was as though all of the lights slowly just went out as the darkness washed over me and my home. It was a thick and creepy darkness as though it was alive and death all at the same time. There was a coldness in the air that came with it. I didn't know what it was or how long it was going to last.


All I could do was just sit there and wait for it to pass. I hoped it would pass. The darkness was so thick, I found it hard to breath. All of my hairs stood up on the back of my neck and my body went into fight or flight mode. Only, I wasn't sure what to do. How do you fight the dark when you have no light? Oh, that was an idea. I had a lighter in my pocket. I took it out and tried to light it, but it was useless. Maybe it had ran out of fluid.


I slid to the end of the couch and felt for the drawer in my end table. I found the drawer and slid it open. I felt around for the flashlight. It took a minute, but I felt it. I pulled it out and tried to turn it on. This is ridiculous! I thought. Why is nothing lighting up when I need it to? I remember the candles and matches I had in the kitchen drawer. Now all I had to do was feel my way in there.


I carefully got up from the couch. Ouch! I stubbed my toe on the coffee table. I continued to feel my way to the kitchen door. There the door was and now I just needed to follow the counter around to the drawer where the matches and candles were. I felt along the counter for what felt like an eternity and finally found the drawer. I opened it and felt around until I found the candles and matches. I felt the match to make sure I was lighting the right end, but the match wouldn't light either. What was this darkness? It made no sense that the matches wouldn't light. I tried to light several of them, but none would light. It was like the darkness had taken over everything.


I hadn't noticed it before, but it was eerily quiet too. My heart was racing. There was no light anywhere. I couldn't see anything. I have never heard of a storm cloud doing anything like this. I decided to see if I could open the back door. I wasn't very far from it. I fumbled my way clumsily over to it. I opened it up. Everything was still darkness. The darkness seemed to get even thicker through the open door, and I shut it quickly. It was like the darkness was coming in to devour my very soul. I began to hear screams outside. I began to feel panicked.


I made my way back to my couch. I sat down and decided to just wait this thing out. What else could I do? That's when I noticed it. Something was breathing on the back of my neck. I didn't have any pets unless something had come into the door when I opened it. Who could know at this point? I tried to feel what it was, but its breath is all I felt. I must have let some kind of spirit in my house when I had opened the door. I tried to speak but couldn't find my voice. I could barely breathe. This thing was smothering me. What was it?


I passed out. . .


NOTES ▼

Word count: 958

Written for:

SURVEY

Tales Shown, Not Told Contest  (E) A short story contest from the Crosstimbers Author Association. #2300358 by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈