The Darkness

Competition entry: The Ultimate Contest

Requirements: Write a first person story or poem without using the word "I".





We weren’t afraid of the dark until the creatures came with it. My wife was though. She had always left a candle burning in the house before going to sleep.  Perhaps the darkness had fed on her fear, because she was the first it claimed in our small village.

The night it had happened, we were walking home from a harvest dinner, husband, wife and son. The crops had been particularly good that season which was always a good excuse for a big celebration. My son, seven at the time, walked ahead of us, still high on life after a night of singing, dancing and sugar. My wife had consumed nearly as much ale as me, and we held each other close as we slowly made our way home.

“Race me Father!” Jack looked back and called to me, before taking off in a sprint.

Laughing, Julie said “Go husband. Show the boy his father’s not an old man yet.” Slyly she added, “Although in your state it's doubtful you’re up for much physical activity tonight.”

“Let’s just call this race a warm-up to the main event,” was my reply, parting from her embrace and patting her lightly on the behind.

Jack had taken a clear lead and was already half way home. Although drunk, years of harvest work had kept my lean body healthy and before long I’d caught up with him, grabbed him from behind and spun him around while he squirmed and giggled. I’ve not heard him laugh since that night.

Dropping to the ground breathless, we both looked back to see if Julie was close to catching up. She was no more than fifty yards away, still keeping to her steady pace. Her grin showed she was obviously amused by our antics.

Something had confused me at that moment, staring down the street towards her. Something was out of place, but in my inebriated state it was too difficult for me to grasp what it was.

“Some of the stars are gone,” Jack observed.

He was right. It was a clear and moonless night and the stars filled the sky as expected, save for an area directly behind Julie. What’s more the area of darkness was growing, pulling a blanket over the bed of stars behind it. It was when the darkness had blocked out the street lanterns behind my wife that a feeling of dread entered me.

“Mum!” Jack yelled. Something was approaching my wife and we both knew it. Jack stood up and went to run towards his mother, but something inside me knew it was too late, causing me to grab him by his shirt and pull him back towards me.

The last look my wife gave me was one of puzzlement. Puzzlement at her sons’ urgent cry, and at her husband’s strange behaviour. Puzzlement as a dark presence started to engulf her from behind, wrapping around her like a cool mist. It was only once she had disappeared right before our eyes that she had started to scream.

The moments right after are like a blur to me. Jack had been the first to react, pulling me from the ground and urging me towards our house, as the darkness glided towards us. We’d locked ourselves inside and waited for the dawn, constantly looking out the window for signs of the darkness camouflaged in the night.

The next day brought the news that two others had been taken later in the night. Over the next few nights, more were taken. No bodies, clothing or blood were left behind. Pretty soon no one ventured outside after dusk. No-one dared go outside in the dark unless they had to.

A rumor spread that the last person taken had fended the darkness off with his lantern, the light scaring it off. It wasn’t until he’d accidently dropped and extinguished the light that he had been attacked. It gave some hope, and additional lanterns filled the streets to ward it away from the town.

One night, Jack woke me from one of the few deep sleeps I’d managed to have since my wife had disappeared. The frantic look in his eyes as he covered my mouth to keep me quiet told me something was wrong. Once he was satisfied I’d keep quiet, he removed his hand and pointed towards my closed door.

“It’s in the house,” Jack whispered.

A whoosh and a BANG against the door told us that my son had been heard. He watched me scramble to my feet, looking around deciding what to do. Bang! A second attack at the door brought the sound of wood cracking with it.

“What do we do?” he asked in fear.

“Grab the lantern and the spare one behind the door. Also grab the tin of oil.”

“OK!” Jack replied, seemingly glad his father was in control of the situation, even though the father had no idea if what he had in mind was going to work.

Jack returned before me, two lanterns in one hand, one alight, one extinguished. He carried a large tin of lamp oil in the other along with a box of matches. After quickly reminding him of the man who had scared the darkness away with fire, we rushed to a corner of the room and poured the lamp oil in a semicircle around us, our backs against the wall.

One of the doors hinges broke free and hit the wall opposite as the door was hit for a third time.

Jack was fumbling at the matches, the shaking of his body making it difficult to get one out of the box. “We have to hurry!” he cried.

“No, we need to wait!”

Bang!

“Wait for what!”

“Wait for as long as possible. That oil is going to have to burn till dawn and we don’t know how far away that is.” The realization that my idea could be futile had suddenly occurred to me.

Two more hits at the door caused it to blow open. The outer room was pitch-black. I’d grabbed the matches from Jack and it was my turn to fumble with them, finally grasping one and pulling it from the box. It took to flame on the first strike against the wall behind me. The darkness had started to creep into the room, taking with it the light of the moon that shone through my bedroom window.  There were shapes around the edges of it, what looked like teeth or claws.  Something flashed in the dark that made me gasp in terror. The match fell from my hand, as my body froze at the presence before me. The visage of my wife appearing from within the darkness for that brief moment is still clear in my mind to this day. Her body had been clothed in a silky black substance that caressed and moved around her body revealing glimpses of her naked flesh. The anger and malevolence in her eyes had me wanting to believe it wasn’t really her, wishing that something had taken control of her body. It was the moment I'd realized that my wife was gone and she wouldn’t be coming back.

“Father! The matches!” Jack screamed, grabbing them from me, and bringing me out of my shocked state. That was the second time my son had been braver than me and saved my life. The match had gone out and lay on the ground before us. Jack struck another one against the wall setting it alight. With surprising care under the circumstances, he lowered the flame to the oil on the ground, setting it alight just as the darkness began to cross it. The flame spread along the line of oil, until we were surrounded, a wall of stone on one side of us and a wall of fire on the other. Upon feeling the lick of flames, the darkness flinched back, the once silent specter releasing a bellow of screams, sounding like a hundred people crying out in pain all at once. After what I’d seen, there was no doubt in my mind that’s exactly what that sound was.

The darkness held back behind the flames, edging as close as it dared, but clearly fearful of the light. We crouched, watching the darkness and hoping the flames would survive until dawn.

“Jack,” the soothing voice of Julie called out to my son.

“Mother!” Jack said excitedly coming to his feet.

“Jack get down! Jack!”

“Father she’s alive!” he replied, attempting to shrug off my grasp.

“Jack, come to me. Jack…” Julie appeared before us, still cloaked in black. The anger in her eyes had gone, replaced with softness as she looked upon her son and beckoned him to her.

Jack wriggled out of my grasp and approached the flames, which had slightly reduced but were still burning strong. He looked at the fire, trying to find a safe way to get through it. Frantically my mind raced, trying to decide what to do. My son was being lured into a trap, his desire to be with his mother outweighing my caution.

The still burning lantern Jack had brought over sat unused at my feet. My body seemed to react faster than my head, my arm swooping down to grab the lantern and flinging it towards the monster that was masquerading as my wife. The lantern struck her, the oil escaping the base and catching alight as it hit the flame. The serene look on Julies face was replaced with horror. The anger in her eyes returned and once again she looked alien to me. Then she was gone, and other faces started appearing, some from our town, others I’d never seen before. They would appear out of the darkness screaming, their faces showing a savage hatred towards us. Soon the screams became deafening, as a chorus of unseen souls added their cries of outrage.

The fire continued to burn, a wall of flame that seemed to float in the air as the darkness slowly retreated towards the bedroom door. With a final roar of anger, the darkness disappeared into the living room, leaving me and my confused son alone in the room.

Dawn came soon after, and we didn’t see the darkness again. Whether it was the fire that scared it off or the impending morning, we’ll never know.

In the days after, the remaining townsfolk slept together in the hall, barrels of oil and fire at the ready, and five people on watch at all times. Jack became very quiet; his young mind still trying to grasp what he’d seen. He said he believed me when I’d said that what he’d seen wasn’t his mother.

We didn’t see the darkness in my town after that night. Week’s later news came from the south of strange disappearances. Soon after that, reports from all over were coming in. The darkness was growing, and it seemed to be everywhere. It’s only a matter of time before it returns to us.

We weren’t afraid of the dark until the creatures came with it. We are now though. A candle continues to burn as we go to sleep.