Darkness

I walked across the parking lot. My eyes locked on to the street corner. As my heart beat faster, the thoughts of the surrounding darkness pressed in. I held on to my anger. What did I have to lose? A crappy flip phone? Half a college education? Or even a one bedroom apartment I shared with a roommate. There wasn't much here to hold on to.Well, my roommate wasn't so bad. My anger lessened a little as I thought of the spunky little Mila. In a fucked up world, she somehow made everything a little brighter. Sometimes her bubbling over happiness was a bit annoying, but she had a heart of gold and was the only reason I managed to pay the bills. Without her, I'd never be able to afford the apartment on my own. It was nice having someone with a rich daddy.I got excited for a moment. Maybe I would catch up with her. She could be out here waiting for me and I wouldn't have to walk home in the dark. But, probably not. She should be home by now. Maybe she was even making dinner and she always

As if from a distance, I registered the scramble of Anton's footsteps. He was speaking to me, I think, but I couldn't process it. I just kept staring into the empty alleyway. Absently, I rubbed at my aching arm, the pain eventually drew me out of my state of shock. I looked around as if I had just come back to my body. The dark pressed in around the pool of lamp light. My purse's contents lay scattered about the circle. Mila was gone. There was nothing, just the empty alleyway that slowly took shape as my eyes adjusted to the light again. Behind me I heard footsteps and heavy breathing. When I turned around, Anton was booking it like his ass was on fire."Hey!" I shouted after him. "Where are you...? This isn't over!" I'm not sure what I meant by that, but I said it anyway.I sagged heavily as he turned the corner. I was left alone again surrounded by darkness. And Mila was dead. And she was gone. I reached for my fallen phone, but the fingers on my hand twitched with pain from the d

Sun streamed in through the pale pink curtains. It was an odd sensation for the morning since I was on the west side of the building. I blinked against the impeding light as I realized what the time must be. I rolled over, having forgotten about my shoulder. I cried out in pain. My body freaked, failing like I was being beaten and I promptly fell on the floor. This caused a surge of pain that rattled through my bones into the aching shoulder. My teeth rattled in my head with the concussion. After many minutes of recovering from the pain and the spinning vertigo, I pulled myself up using the edge of the bed to balance. As I stood, the sun streaked across my arm. I sucked in air with surprise that of course made me cough and sputter. When I caught my breath, I twisted my arm around to see it better.Swirling red marks wrapped around my arm from my fingertips all the way to my shoulder. I opened and closed the right hand as I flipped it back and forth. My eyes traced the spiraling mark

I waited on the hospital table for the doctor to show up. I was dressed in one of those paper gowns with my ass hanging out. I really didn't think it was necessary, but the nurse insisted. They had already patched up my scrapes on my knees, palms, and chin. I felt like a mummy wrapped in bandages. I was just waiting for the doctor to show up and put my shoulder back into place.I twiddled my thumbs together and stared at the wall as I waited. My eyes went out of focus as I stared. The shadows around the room pressed in. A red spot appeared in my peripheral vision. I slowly turned my head to see the faint outline in the shadows.I knock at the door snapped me out of it. The hospital room was bright and clean."Kira? Can I come in?""Yes, sorry. Yes, please."The doctor arrived with his professional tablet and his professional smile. "Seems you have a dislocated shoulder.""I nodded."He probed me with a few fingers. "You're going to feel some pain as it moves back into place. I'm

I started marching in the direction of my apartment. There was no need for silly imaginary dark smoking figures and people with funny eyes or funny voices that only I saw. I was the problem. My fear of the dark was a problem, too. I was so chalked full of problems I should just end it all.My thoughts echoed in my head as my footsteps echoed through the empty street. The familiar fear started strangling my guts. It slowly moved up my spine until it was choking up my throat like I had swallowed a handful of marbles. I tried to ignore it, but my heart thrummed and the silence pressed in around me. It was coming. The thing that didn't exist, but somehow it was coming for me. I felt it just like the other times. This figment of my imagination had so much control over me that it felt real. I made it real. I spun. Damn, why did I do that?Looking always made it worse. I faced a smoking black wall of darkness billowing towards me. It filled every crevice as it raced up the street, blackening