Darkness

• Brodie Dowsett, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2015

The world is eternally dark. The sun went out, eons ago, but somehow we survived. No one knows how. Now, the world is lit by lights. Electricity. But we are running out. Sometimes, the power goes off. It just did then. 1...2...3...4...5 It's back on. It's always like that. The power goes off. Five seconds of darkness. Then the powers back on. But we all know that one day it might not go back on. There isn't enough power left to go around. Other sections have already run out. The Dark Sectors. More and more are appearing. Another power outage. 1...2...3...4...5 It's back on. That's two today already. They are getting more frequent. Everybody's scared, frightened. No one says anything, but nobody stops to talk on the streets anymore. Everyone walks quickly, hunched. No one wants to get caught outside during a power outage. It gets so dark that you can't see your hand in front of your face. You can get lost and never be found. I walk upstairs, to the roof, and look up. There are no stars now. Past the light of the street lamps, darkness reigns eternal. I am about to walk back inside, when I notice a sector go dark. Another. One-by-one, all of the sectors go dark, until ours is an island of light surround by a never-ending ocean of darkness. I run inside, and stop as the lights go out. 1...2...3...4...5…