Shadows in the Dark

Daniel pulled the blankets up to his head and closed his eyes. His mother had already come in twice at his beckoning. She checked the closet and under the bed, but she didn’t find anything. Both times she told him there was nothing to be scared of and to go to sleep. But even now as he laid in bed, his blanket pulled tight over his head and his eyes closed tightly, the closet door creaked as it opened and the floor boards groaned as weight was put on them.

A light breeze began whirling around the room, a hint of carrion being carried in the air, fluttering the sheets tightly grasped in Daniel’s white clinched hands. A low hiss resonated from beneath the bed, a deep groan hidden beneath the hiss and coming from the depths within the bowels of death. The bed suddenly rattled and toys clattered as they fell from his dresser to the floor.

Daniel threw the blankets off and leapt out of bed. He bolted through the door and out into the hall. The darkness surrounded him and swallowed him whole as he stood petrified in the middle of the hall. One glance back and he saw the shadow drifting back to the closet and the breeze slowing from substantial to none. He ran through the hall to his parent’s room, wrenching the knob in his hand and pushing his way through their door.

The room was just as dark as the rest of the house except for the moonlight entering through a minute crack in the curtains. The strip of light was like a hot knife cutting through butter, dividing the room in two with its majestic beauty, but bringing with it more fear and horrors as more shadows danced around. Daniel started forward into the unknown divided darkness, inching his way to the bed where a figure could be made out. As Daniel inched his way towards the bed the shadows began to circle and swirl, hissing as they danced along the ceiling and walls. Daniel leapt to the bed and threw his arms around the dark figure, seeking security and comfort but receiving nothing but emptiness and despair.

The pillows were lying disrupted on the bed. The blankets were tossed violently about and seemed to be torn in various places. The closet door was agape allowing the darkness trapped inside to spill out into the room. The hissing grew louder and the bleak darkness thickened as Daniel sat breathing deeply on the bed. In an effort to escape, he once again fled, running from the room as the closet door erupted with fury, forcing the bedroom door to close with a force of a thousand winds.

Daniel stared at the door in disbelief. He prayed in silence that his parents were safe, only hiding below in the kitchen or living room. The idea gave him new hope so he ran to stairs and stopped at the top.

“Mom, Dad, are you guys down there?” Daniel called into the unfamiliar blackness down below. Yet no response came back; no one called out words of comfort or bid him to come down.

Daniel took the steps one at a time, listening for the frightening hiss of the whirling of the wind. Upon the last step he froze, breathing slowly and listening closely, but all the while hoping he was only trapped in a nightmare. The breeze began to blow softly, brutally fluttering the curtains about as it passed them by.

A light switch was only five steps away at head height on the opposite wall. Yet those were five steps into not nothingness, but a frightening emptiness that seemed to suck in the blackness from the night.

Daniel gathered his courage and dashed to the switch. His hands methodically raced over the smooth flat wall, feeling every crevice ripple that dimpled its surface. A sense of desperation ensured as he fruitlessly searched for the unseen switch. He searched for some time until the breeze became a fierce wind, blowing him away from his search and into the living room at his right.

“Mom!” Daniel called out, praying for an answer. “Dad! Please answer me; I’m scared.”

Daniel climbed to his feet and fought the harsh wind as it threw pictures frames, movies, and his mother’s figurines through the air. On to his feet he pushed his way through the living room and into the kitchen, hoping to see his parent’s sitting at the table. As he reached the dimly lit kitchen the pantry door viciously opened, sucking into its gaping hope anything not fastened down. The table splintered and disappeared into the blackness, followed by chairs and the toaster. Daniel baulked as the refrigerator began shuffling across the linoleum, scraping deep grooves as it slid slowly towards the cavernous puncture in space and time.

A low moan accompanied the constant hissing, reverberating the window panes and dishes as it penetrated the inner core of the house. Daniel tried to turn away from the opening, struggling to keep himself upright and from being sucked into its open mouth. Drawers around the kitchen began opening and spilling their contents; forks, spoons, and knives of all sizes began whirling about with the hiss of the wind and the groan of the house.

A blackness beyond description escaped from the treacherous darkness of the pantry. It weightlessly sailed through the air, passing effortlessly through the flying debris and soaring towards Daniel.

“No! Stay away from me!” Daniel cried, trying to escape the reaches of the blackness.

The groan grew louder and the whirling fiercer as the shadowy figure grew closer. Daniel closed his eyes and struggled to escape. The darkness engulfed him and he fell to the ground in a furious wrestle of life and death. He kicked and he screamed as he fought to escape the darkness that swallowed him alive.

“Daniel, what are you doing?”

Daniel opened his eyes and looked into his mother’s face. She rubbed his sweaty face and smiled warmly.

“You’re having a nightmare, Honey,” she said, helping him to his feet. “You got tangled in your sheets and fell out of bed.”

Daniel didn’t protest as she helped him back in bed and covered him back up. She gave him a kiss and turned out his bed side lamp. He watched her cross the room and into the shadows, stopping only when the bedroom door slammed shut and the closet door creaked open. The shadows were thick and they darkened even more as blackness spilled out into the room, engulfing his mother and swallowing her screams.

Daniel pulled the blankets up over his head and closed his eyes; his mother had already been in twice, now it was his father’s turn.