Darkness, Pure Darkness

• Nicholas Carlei, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2007

Darkness, pure darkness. Wait a second let’s take it back a few hours. I’m running as fast as I can, I look back and it’s gaining on me. It looks like a massive storm cloud swallowing everything in its path when suddenly… It’s gone. The piercing scream, the infinite horror. I look forward again and then darkness, pure darkness. So I’m trapped in what looks like an endless stream of nothing. Then I remember what the wise man warned me about back in the village. He said Harua:
Look around
Find the light
Don’t look into
The Endless night
Many are trapped
In the black
But you must leave them
Or you will not come back.
As I looked for the light I heard a sound of someone, faint, but it was getting louder. I think they were saying “Help us please, help us.” The words sent shivers down my spine. But then I remembered the lines. I ignored them but they kept getting louder and louder. I covered my ears and then I saw it, a glowing dot in the distance. I moved closer and it came closer too. I cupped it in my hands and it rang out verses from another poem, it said:
You are trapped
Inside the beast
But do not fear
Don’t worry at the least
Jump for freedom
Let yourself go
Your breathing
Soon will go slow.
So I jumped and I started sinking. It felt like a million lions pulling me back then the blackness was suffocating me. I tried to get out but it sucked me in. I fell into a blinding light and I was falling, falling fast. I looked up and I saw the beast. It was spilling out black goo. I killed it so I’m falling to my death when I am picked up by what looks like spirits and taken back to the village. The villagers were waiting and when I got there they said “Harua, saviour of the village, killer of the beast.” So I was crowned ruler and saviour of the village. When a black cloud was starting to form I quickly turned to the wise old man and asked why it came back and he just looked at my blankly. I quickly grabbed a sword and then darkness, pure darkness.