The darkness wraps itself around you as the lights are switched off, the door closed and you left alone. It's like a void, a no-place, a cold expanse of... Nothing. It seems endless, devoid of life but your own wandering soul doomed to it, but it isn't endless nor is it devoid of life. Somewhere in this darkness is a monster. You can hear it move, first on your left, then your right. Where is it? You ask yourself unable to place a direction, it seems to be all around you, trapping you. Mocking you.
A grinding sound comes from your left as the creature moves, you know you should be dead. It's playing with you. The darkness seems to grow deeper and you back away putting your trust in the void that is around you. That sound again, this time in front of you as a shape begins to manifest itself in the dusk before you. Retreating, always retreating. Until you can't go any further, the wall blocks any further retreat. The shape continues to move closer, darting around, first on your left, then your right, but constantly getting closer.
Then it's gone.
Nothing there but darkness, nothing there but the unrelenting wall of black. No sound. Nothing. Silence envelops you. You hold your breath in the terror that breathing will make enough sound to alert it. Time seems to stretch on- the silence and darkness; endless. Never faltering, never failing. Never broken. Your eyes scan the void before you, searching for something. Something out there in the wilderness of darkness. The forests of silence. A dead world with a single island of life cowering in fear of it.
The void awaits, heart racing you lift a shaking foot ready to make that first step. That leap into the unknown. The darkness beckons you forward, maybe you could just keep going, lose yourself in the darkness. No fear. No monster. Nothing. Nothing but darkness. Maybe that's all it is, maybe that's all it ever was. Just darkness. A short respite of calm reaches you. Just darkness. Nothing more. Just darkness. But then the fear returns. There's something there, just out of your sight.
You gently step forward, cautious of making a sound and alerting it. As your foot makes contact with the floor you freeze. Seconds become hours. A bead of sweat trickles down your skin. Then tentatively you take a second step. Your breath is heavy. The dark seems to be suffocating you. A third step. It's getting worse like someone is throttling you. A cold feeling wraps around your neck. A fourth step. The feeling is heading towards the front of your throat. A fifth step.
You stop. Feeling sick you reach towards your throat with your hands.
There's something there.
Stone cold hands.
You gag as they squeeze your throat.
You try to pull the hands away.
You become weak as the strangulation stops your brain functioning properly. Your heart slows down. Your hands slide down to your sides.
Darkness wraps itself around you as the hands let you go and you fall to the ground.
The door finally opens; too late for you. Light pours in, expelling the darkness to the corners of the room. Your shaking hand reaches out for some salvation. But none comes. You try to say something, anything maybe they will hear you. But nothing comes, only a final breath escapes your body as you hear a voice say:
"Like I said, there's nothing there. Just darkness"
Author: Skullking55