DARKER THAN DARK

This is my Friday Fright for DarkMedia City this week. The prompt was city blackout. It doesn't get much darker than this.

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Darker Than Dark



     Darkness spreads across the city. What was an isolated pocket of power outage has attacked the entire grid, and now there is no light to be seen. An already dark night has intensified to the point where even the memory of a tiny spark is non existent.

     Hairs tingle on the back of my neck from some kind of presence within my living room. Moving carefully along the walls, my hands acting as feelers, I try to make sense of the enveloping darkness overpowering what is already present. But this . . .this darkness has form and substance. And, it is advancing towards me. I know it is.

     Almost smothering me within a heaviness shoving the oxygen away, it twists and cavorts around me, teasing me with a give and take of movement, drawing me in to its spell then shoving me out.

     This heavy darkness not only has substance, it has the ability to think. What is it? Am I going crazy?     

     Drawing in whatever breath it leaves me, I attempt to recharge my system enough so I can escape the confines of my room, a room which has now become a prison, the evil lurking within bonding to the darkness and not content to let me leave. For some inexplicable reason, I have become a toy. Damn!  A mere plaything for the new master of my apartment.

     The air becomes darker as the black entity absorbs more and more of the surrounding air, becoming some kind of energy sponge, not allowing anything resembling light to exist, even though the light is merely a lighter shade of black. Laughter, not laughter actually but a perceptual vibration in the air mimicking it, permeates everything surrounding me. It knows. Damn it! It knows what I have planned!     

     But it's not blocking me. Not yet anyway. The Power seemingly is allowing me to leave. Can this be?

     Not trusting what appears to be an acceding to my wishes, I gingerly hug the walls, trying to remember the layout of my room so I can jockey position around what my senses tell me is the end to life as I know it. Yes, this is nothing like I have ever encountered before; nothing like anything I have ever dreamed about before. This is the real deal. I either overcome the obstacles I'm facing, or I'm finished.

     My vision being completely gone, I have to rely on my other senses to get me out of this hell-hole. But where am I going to go? The darkness is everywhere! There is no escape. This goes far beyond a power outage. Are there . . .are there more of these creatures, these denizens of the dark, other than the one taking up residence in my apartment?

     Shit! Is it, or them, responsible for the outages?

     As fast as I can, I find my way to the door to my apartment and fling myself out into the hallway, slamming it behind me, merely wanting out of there. I'm not home free, though: the Dark oozes beneath the door and follows me, taunting me to to outrun it. Damn bastard! It is relentless, and so confident in its power that it sees no need in a rapid chase of my blind carcass. Something, I don't know what, is connecting the two of us, my thoughts being snatched out of my head and relayed to the resident evil.  

     Five flights of stairs await me before I reach the safety of the street. Yeah, right! How do I know the streets are safe? I don't. I might be tricked into falling prey to more of these dark demons,

     Halfway down the first flight of stairs the suffocating presence overwhelms me once more. Grabbing on to the banister too late to stop myself from losing vertigo and careening down to the landing below, I flop around like a deformed slinky run amok, hitting the edges of the stairs, whacking into the walls, and almost getting my limbs caught between my body and the risers. How I manage not to break anything is a wonder.  

    Rising to my feet when I reach the turn around, I make certain to get a firm grip on the banister this time, knowing full well that I have four and a half flights of being toyed with coming up. Every inch, every step, comes at a price: a constant sucking me in then expunging me again. The near excursions into the center of the maelstrom reveal hideous glimpses of pain and torture. Of what, I'm not certain, but the agony is intense.

     Moment after moment reaches inside my soul, assuaging my senses with guilt and shame, and exposing the sufferings of the innocent. No one is left out: evil or righteous, everyone is part and parcel of the same end, one of extreme denial of human attributes. Whatever this evil is cares not about justice. Not for us anyway.  

     The closer I get to the street, the stronger the forces of darkness. Damn! I was right! There are more than just the one. From every direction the auras of evil intensity bombard me.

     These things . . .these things are responsible for the power outage. They caused it. Why? Do they feed on the energy? If so, why are they playing with me and perhaps others as well?

     People run everywhere in the streets, tripping and falling over each other because of the extreme darkness, knowing it's not safe to flee in such a manner, but also aware they will perish if they don't. My own private demon hovers nearby, waiting to grab me when the time is right. My anxiety level soars, but there's nothing I can do. The same as everyone else, my end is close. The mystery will be solved then. Too late for survival perhaps, but hopefully in time for me to make sense of this and gain some measure of closure through the knowledge of what is happening.

     Even though the doom and gloom is inevitable, I intend to fight with all my strength to avoid my demise. Just as the Darkness moved in, perhaps the Light will come in and fight it off. Maybe. . .
     Maybe not.

     The army of the Dark surrounds us all, covering all avenues of escape. We are herded like cattle towards the center of the town square. Wails of anguish fill the night air as one by one my neighbors are swallowed up by the evil menace.

     Laughter fills the air, once more not the laughter borne on sound waves but that which simply fills my mind through my inner feelings and perceptions: soundless laughter; but real none-the-less. The smothering entity hovers over me, and I realize it for what it is.

     It absorbs me into its center, my body wracked in pain as every bone present within me is broken and compressed into the vortex of its existence. No longer am I able to scream. My entire body joins my musculature, my internal organs and blood, torn apart with a force so terrifying as to cause a crescendo of total annihilation.

     I am dead. But why am I cognizant of all that is happening? I'm not in Heaven or Hell. I'm still on earth, but not for long.

     A power so strong as to shake everything around me erupts within. It is happening. Not only am I aware of what is transpiring, but now that my pain and suffering is over, I welcome it.

     Dark matter, that which comprises seventy percent of the universe, has taken over the town. But what the scientists didn't know is that some Dark matter is alive. I am part of that Dark matter now.

     The air is shattered by explosion after explosion, one big bang after another pushing all of us out towards the ends of the universe. I laugh a laugh that is not a laugh. When I find my little piece of paradise I will start life anew. Parts of me will populate a planet. I will become the Supreme Being, the Maker of all things.

      I hope to do a good job. Yes, I certainly know what not to do.

     Good credentials for the job . . .



Blaze McRob