In
The Absence Of Light He Finds You
The flashlight’s light
looks like a lost pin prick in the vastness of the thick, inky darkness. It
surrounds Sarah like a black velvet shroud and threatens to swallow her whole.
She remembers how, when she was younger, she believed something in the dark was out to get her. She remembers, when she
got older, thinking how silly that was. She doesn’t think that it is silly anymore…
***
It all started a few weeks ago when, as a
psychology student at Tukkies, she sat in a session with a teenager named Gary that who suffered from night terrors. She recalled listening to his stories
and experiences and felt a cold shiver down her spine. The story stuck with her
like a bad song that runs continuously through your head, repeating itself over
and over again. The boy believed he was being stalked and hunted by a presence that
only comes out when there is no light. He spoke of the malevolent presence that
wants to take him, devour him. She was reminded of the stories that her Gogo
used to tell her and how many similarities there were. The only real difference
was that the Tokolosh is traditionally a Zulu mythical figure where Gary is a
white English boy, but besides that the stories were uncannily similar.
The last session was cancelled due to the
fact that Gary had seemingly escaped from his locked cell the previous night.
Nothing more could be done so Sarah decided that relaxing in the tub filled
with hot water and bubbles and a glass of red wine in her hand, and Katie singing softly in her ears was just what the doctor
ordered. Suddenly the lights in the flat went out and it gave her a start. It
was slightly unnerving how first there was light and now there was only complete darkness. Damn
load-shedding. Sarah carefully climbed out of the warm bath and draped her bath
robe over her lithe, wet body. She quietly and carefully opened the bathroom
door and stepped out into her bedroom. The deep shadows created an otherworldly scene in her
otherwise familiar bedroom. What was that? She started. She could have sworn something moved. Of course that
wasn’t possible. There was nobody there but her. The darkness and the memories of Gary’s story stirred at
the melting pot of her vivid imagination. Fear of
the dark, what nonsense she tried to reassure
herself. She slowly headed for the wardrobe and took out her flashlight. She
flicked on the flashlight.
There it was again. She could have sworn
she saw movement. As if something scurried away from the light. She shone the flashlight
over to where she imagined she saw the movement and saw…nothing. That story must really have gotten to me, she thought. She
moved towards the kitchen to get some candles when she stopped suddenly and
began breathing heavily. She definitely saw movement out of the corner of her
eye. Sarah was almost too scared to shine the light in that direction, she may
not like what she sees but she needed to know. Sarah slowly slid the shaft of
yellow light towards the movement but saw nothing. What is
going on?
she thought to herself. Could this be somebody’s idea of a sick joke? She moved the flashlight’s beam of
white light around the small living
room in an attempt to find the intruder but it was as if it melted away before
the light. There! Towards the kitchen. No! There by the
window. Sarah frantically
swung the flashlight back and forth making it look like one of those swords
from that sci-fi movie, and try as she may she could just not get a fix on the
intruder.
Sarah backed up against the wall and looked
towards her flat door. Only a few strides away but it may as well be miles away
for all that it mattered. Sarah could feel the terror well up inside of her.
What was she afraid of? She wasn’t a child. She wasn’t afraid of the dark. She
was a logical, educated, young lady. She sank to the floor as the panic took
over completely. She could feel the thing move towards her. Hungering for her.
Wanting to devour her. She held the flashlight up close to her face. The
warm yellow light offered little solace as she sensed the thing in the dark
creeping closer and closer.
***
She remembers when she was younger she was
scared of the dark and now that she is older how silly it was. But now, as the light begins to flicker,
she doesn’t think it is that silly any more…
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