Through A Glass Darkly Shakespeare Novels & Stories

I yelled as I entered the final bypass code and watched the gate latch turn green on my screen. The heavy steel bars swung open with a screech of rusted metal just as we hit the contact point, and we went flying through the entrance and onto the gravel lot where the tall, dark silhouettes of the shipping containers looked like a maze of giant, dead ghosts in the moonlight.

She had handed me a key, and I had no idea what lock it would open. I flipped to the twentieth page of Hamlet. My eyes scanned the text, the familiar words of tragedy taking on a new, sinister meaning. And there it was. A pinprick. A tiny, almost imperceptible hole punched through a single word, so small it could easily be mistaken for a flaw in the paper. Betrayal.

‎ ‎The screen went black. ‎ ‎I gasped. ‎ ‎Then ‎A soft tap against the glass. ‎ ‎Once. ‎Twice. ‎ ‎Precise. ‎ ‎Like a signal. ‎ ‎The shadows didn’t move away. ‎ ‎They stayed. ‎ ‎Waiting. ‎ ‎Watching. ‎ ‎Hunting. ‎ ‎And I finally understood: ‎ ‎I wasn’t locked in for safety. ‎ ‎I was locked in because danger was already here. ‎ ‎Right outside my window. ‎

The figure slowly stepped closer to the glass. Not the Lighthouse. The window. And Luke realized with horror— The window wasn't showing the Lighthouse. The window was part of it. Something inside was looking through. Looking directly at him. Then the figure behind the glass smiled. And whispered four words. Words only Luke could hear. "Come find the truth." The window shattered. And the darkness screamed.

"Oh God, stop you sound like a bad actor! 'Eternal devotion'? Who talks like that?" He pinned my wrists gently above my head, leaning down close, breath hot on my neck. "But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and you are the sun forgive this fool for his jealousy, my queen." "Queen? Okay, Shakespeare now? You're killing me, stop, I can't breathe!" I gasped between laughs, but tears were pricking too, happy ones, because he was trying so hard, being all sweet and gentle, not his usual gruff self.

For a brief moment, he thought he saw movement near the vault’s gate, but he couldn’t be sure. He heard nothing from the garden shed though. As quietly as possible, he slunk towards the hole he had punched through the roof where the ceiling fan had once been. He gently, slowly stretched his neck over the side of the hole to peer down. The moon had progressed far enough through the night sky that the shed was now dark and gloomy. After a few moments of adjusting his eyes to the darkness blanketing the garden shed, one thing became clear: Chelsea was gone.

"Just keep looking through the glass and tell me when it looks like I'm standing next to it." I left the lens I was standing at and walked to the other end towards the wall. I hesitated each step as I passed the concave lens, waiting for his reply. "There. It looks like you are standing right next to it." I stuck my hand in the path of where the line of sight should be. Even though I was half expecting it, I was still surprised when my hand grasped something solid in the darkness. I wrapped my hand around the hilt and pulled. As I pulled it from the line of sight, the Sword of Night self-illuminated.

The man who has snatched the light from my life, it feels like he is here or maybe I am so paranoid that my mind creates an illusion. He always makes me feel that he is not present but I know he is present in the darkness of the house. He owns it, darkness is his slave and he conquers everything with it. I entered the room and quickly switched on the lights. I can hear my own heartbeats as I gulped in fear and my hands started shaking making the water in my bottle tremble with the movements. Never in my life have I thought that I'll be this terrified to enter my own room. It feels tragic.

I stepped closer to my pillar and read the words aloud: "In the heart of darkness, light must shine, But alone, its glow will fade with time. By shadow’s grace, the light is freed, Together, they are one in need." Evelina joined me, reading the rest of the inscription on her side: "Through dusk and dawn, they dance as one, For without the dark, the light is undone. When both are present, the truth is clear, Together they guide, without fear." She met my eyes, understanding lighting up in her expression. "It’s a test of balance—light and dark. Both need to work in unity to move forward."

Glass shattered and walls shook. And then everything went dark again.