Darkened Fear

• Shannon Mitchell, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2010

The rain pounded my clothes, turning them grey. Blood swirled around my feet pooling in the puddles, staining the water red. At the moment I didn’t care. Later I would regret it, but the only thing that held interest for me was running, and running in the opposite direction from the trail of bloodstained puddles. My weeping eyes couldn’t see, but I found what I wanted, the car-park’s basement.

At 3am in the morning, any-one else would have found this part of town uncomfortable. They would have run in the other direction, straight towards the police station. But I wasn’t sure what I was running from any more, and it was easier just to run from everything. Lock myself away, in a deep, dark corner of the world where no-one could find me. Emma would come looking for me, and that was a thought that I tried to erase. I didn’t think anything could help me now.

The blood on my arm seemed to be slowing, no longer flowing along like the gutter water trickling through my shoes. I was fleeing towards the corner, a dark place where I could huddle until, if, I recovered. I started tearing along the grate, and stopped. The thin metal poles had begun shuddering underneath me. I took a hesitant step forward, and began to take another. But it was too late for that. I was falling.

I think I was screaming when the grate broke, however I can’t be sure. I do remember what it felt like to hit the bottom.

I was screaming when I hit the water. I can remember that. Because the water rushed into my mouth, drowning me in the choking darkness. I couldn’t see a thing, I didn’t know if my eyes were open or closed. My ears were filled with an endless noise, a screaming flow without words. I could feel myself being pulled further under, sinking weightlessly into deeper water. My hands were flailing desperately, trying to stop myself against the flood. My eyes were closing, my lungs burning dully through the fire. I wished it would be quenched. And then, my wish was granted.

My feet ground into a concrete surface, dragging me to a painful halt. The water had encountered a steep drop, and I was safe. The current still pulled me forwards, but my feet were on the ground, and I was just strong enough to resist. I felt against the wall, and pulled away quickly. Damp and horrible with slime, mould and sewerage had formed a slime of coating, green-brown with age.

I can remember stumbling down the tunnel, and I can remember coming out the end. Dawn was breaking, and the sky was grey against the clouds. I flopped onto the sandy embankment, and lay there, to tired to move. A car drove slowly along the headland, lights flashing, and stopped as I fell into the beam. Emma came running toward me, just as the sun broke through the clouds.