Encountering Darkness Page 3

  Sniffing the air in each room he noticed there was no odor, even a musty or stuffy smell. He then walked into the kitchen and turned on the light. Yes, that’s right! The light, which had been going out, had been working for a few weeks now.

  Pete walked around the kitchen, and satisfied with what he finds in this room, left the kitchen, and sat down on his chair, turning on the TV. The time was three in the afternoon.

  Some sitcom was on, and soon Pete drifted off to sleep, but before he can completely fall asleep, he was awoken. Ever since that milkman incident, he had been having trouble sleeping, even though nothing has gone awry since then. Even with the lingering fear, Pete fell asleep.

  Chapter Nine

  Pete woke to hear the doorbell go off. Panicking, he froze and hoped they would go away, but he heard the doorbell ring once again.

  This time around, he took longer to get out of his chair and drifted to the door. He looked through the peephole and saw no one.

  Afraid, he backed from the door, and was about ready to walk back to his chair, when the doorbell rang a third time.

  “What do you want?” Pete asked.

  There was no response for a few seconds. “For you to buy cookies.” said a soft high-pitched voice.

  Pete laughed at his own jumpiness and opened the door. Seeing no one, Pete looked around, and yelled out again.

  “What do you want?”

  After hearing no response, Pete took a step outside his door and asked again.

  “What do you want?”

  The door slammed behind him and Pete turned around and tried to open the door, but he could not. The door was either locked or stuck! Pete cursed and turned back around to face the lawn. The sun was not out, and Pete looked at his watch to which it read four in the afternoon.

  “The sun should still be out.” Pete said to himself.

  He then walked off of his deck and landed on the grass, but no, it’s not grass, although, it should be. Pete stuck his hand down on the ground and felt it. Pete assumed that it was dust or dirt, but it was hard to tell. He thus turned around and was about to go up to his house, but realized he cannot see his house either. In fact, it was impossible to see anything in this light, because there seemed to be no light anywhere. Just pitch black.

  Pete was troubled but knew he needed to find out what happened, and so he got up and walked. He held his hands in front of him, hoping that he would not stumble. He walked in a slow motion, and tried to move forward, hoping that his eyes would adjust to the darkness. His eyes adjusted to nothing, and Pete continued on in pitch black.

  After a bit of walking, he tripped and fell down, hitting his head on a nicely placed rock.

  Chapter Ten

  Pete’s head spun and he struggled to open his eyes, but when he did, he found himself awake in the chair. He was so happy it was just a dream! Or was this part a dream? Pete was not so sure.

  Pete got up from his chair and walked around trying to figure out what was real and what was not. He made his way around the whole house including the kitchen and found nothing wrong. Also, the sun was out! He later decided he will go to the bar because it was clear that he was in need of a drink and someone to tell this crazy dream to.

  He went to the door to open it, but it would not budge. Pete tried with all of his might, but the door would not move. Frustrated, he went to one of his windows and looked out. Everything looked all right, so he took a chair and swung it at the window. The window would not break. He put his hand on the glass to feel it. It seemed real, he thought. Pete tried to open the window, but it wouldn’t budge either. He walked to every window, door, even the attic, but nothing would open.

  “Why would this be happening? I don’t get it. Is this a crazy trick the town’s playing on me, perhaps because I got rid of that stupid building?” Pethaford reasoned out loud.

  Pete was not sure what to do. Does he go to sleep? Maybe he was in the other place, the place where everything is dark? Is he stuck in some time thing? Is this punishment for something?

  Pethaford knew what might be wrong, but…of course…he thought…the cell phone! He found his phone and tried to call, but the phone wouldn’t even turn on. Pete then ran to his land line and tried that, but it has no tone. Frustrated, he walked over to his chair, sat down, and saw his remote in front of him. He looked at the remote and tried to turn on the TV. Of course it’s not going to work, considered Pete, but he tried anyway.

  Chapter Eleven

  The TV turned on, but the moment of excitement faded. Pete saw on the screen nothing but static. He tried to change the channel, but nothing seemed to work. Disappointed, he turned off the TV, but it would not turn off. He continued to press the buttons, but nothing happened. After a while, he gave up and closed his eyes. Right as he is just about to fall asleep he heard a whispering voice in his right ear.

  “Hey…”

  Startled, he stood up and looked over his right shoulder, and continued to look all around him. He saw nothing; everything was normal. He was only freaking out, even if it was for good reason.

  Wait a minute, Pethaford thought. He looked at the TV and it was black now, no static. Pethaford wondered what that meant and tried to change the channel, the sound, anything on the TV, but it did nothing. Giving up, he moved back to his chair and tried to sleep again. Pete was just about to fall asleep, when again he heard a voice in his left ear.

  “Hey…”

  This time Pethaford jumped to his feet and yelled out, “What do you want? What the heck do you want? Leave me alone. I have done everything. I have given you everything. What more do you need?”

  Pethaford was not expecting an answer as he was only frustrated, but he received one.

  “You. Your soul. Your everything.”

  “What? Why would I give you myself?”

  “Don’t you remember? I gave you everything, four years ago, and now is the time for payment.”

  “What payment, what happened four years…” it was at this point Pethaford remembered.

  Chapter Twelve

  Pethaford’s head hurts. He tries to wipe off something on his face, but recognizes he cannot see anything. Of course, he is back in pitch-black world.

  Remembering he fell, he tries to grasp around for what might have made him stumble. He feels something a little behind him, something like a root. He brushes his hand along the root to the tree bark and notices he is now standing alongside the tree. Pete touches the tree and tries to go around it to see if he can find a low branch with leaves. He finds nothing of the sort and sits down against the tree.

  Reasoning to himself, he wonders what he should do. Does he stay here? Does he continue on? What is he supposed to do?

  Pethaford is truly in a hopeless state and has no clue what to do.

  To help with the despair, he keeps on talking to himself and feels better. “This is something new…” says Pethaford out loud.

  He continues to sit and talk to himself. Now, if you were walking by this man and heard him talking to himself, you would think he was crazy, and maybe he is, but there is just not much to do at this point, other than move on. For Pethaford, this is not an option, and he continues on talking to himself, trying to figure out what he is doing.

  Suddenly, he is not talking to himself, as there is a small still soft whisper that comes around him. He cannot pinpoint where this sound is from, only that the voice is impossible to hear, but the voice seems to try to push through Pethaford’s own thoughts.

  He is not sure how to talk to this new voice, but there is something calm and peaceful about the voice. For some reason, Pete Pethaford even wants to trust the voice, but that’s just crazy, because it’s a voice coming from the pitch black. One thing he knows for sure, ever since he paused by this tree and began to ponder everything, and with hearing the voice, he had some sort of sanity back, or rest, or whatever it might be called.

  Pethaford sits and talks and the voice becomes louder, but it’s not only a random voice or thoug
ht. He notices that when he reflects on something, the voice will just respond to him. This voice knows his thoughts!

  At this recollection, Pete stands up afraid and, although shaking, asks out loud, “Who are you?”

  Everything is still silent, as he faces the tree, sounding like a fool. Thinking the tree must be magical, Pete reaches out and touches it, but nothing happens. He then sits against the tree like before, but still nothing happens. Pete even goes as far as talking to himself for a while, hoping that the voice will talk to him, again. He now has an uneasiness about all of this. What was the voice? What am I doing? Why am I here? Pethaford panics. All peace within him is gone, and he moves on from the tree.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Pethaford begins, like when he first began to walk in this world, by moving carefully with both hands in front of him. He still cannot see anything, but continues on. After what seems like hours of doing this, he is now about to give up from sheer exhaustion. Then he hears a voice over on his right shoulder.

  “Hey…”

  Pethaford, in pure excitement, yells out, “Yes! What is it?”

  “You seem to be lost, and I can help you. Come over here, follow my voice. I will show you the way out.”

  Pete is glad to have someone else with him. He cries out with excitement, “Thanks so much! You cannot imagine what this means to me. I have been looking for a way out of this mess for hours.”

  “Oh yeah, well I know my way, just continue to follow me. You will be just fine. I promise.”

  So, Pethaford follows the voice and the voice continues to cry out to him.

  “Yes, this way. Just a little closer. Just keep on coming. Just try to be careful. Come on now. Come. Come.”

  After a few minutes of this, Pethaford notices something. The voice talking to him is not the same voice as before. This is not the voice he heard sitting at the tree. In fact, there is something about this voice that worries him.

  He stops and yells out to the voice, “Are you sure I should be going this way? Maybe this is the wrong way?”

  Pethaford hears no response and tries to turn around. Try, because he is, in fact, unable to move his legs.

  He now hears the voice say in a whisper, “Oh no! You must have done something wrong! You didn’t go the right way! This is your fault not mine!”

  “Wait, don’t leave me! Help me out! Please!” yells Pethaford at the top of his lungs.

  There is no response. Pethaford realizes that he made the wrong decision. He went the wrong way, the voice tried to help him out, but he messed up. At this point, his knees were in something and it brought him further down into the ground. I am going to die here, determines Pethaford. This is the end.

  He tries with all his might to move, but it is useless. There is no way to move.

  Now something must be explained right here. Pethaford never cries, but Pethaford cries here, and does so as a little baby.

  “Oh please, someone help me! I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry! Please just help me out of this.”

  He ponders and his life flashes before his eyes. After a few moments of thinking, Pete Pethaford realizes that the whisperer is once again talking back to him. Whether he speaks out loud, or thinks in his head, the whisperer knows exactly what to say.

  “Please help me! I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you and got angry. Please…”

  The whisperer gives him a suggestion to lean over to the left and reach out as far as he can. He does so and low and behold, there is something to grab onto. Pethaford works with all of his arm muscle strength and gets close enough to the thing to grab onto it with his arms and legs. Working his way up the thing, he can get out of whatever he walked into.

  “Now what?” asks Pethaford.

  He is getting the sense that straight is the best option and does that. Once again, he moves at a slow pace along the ground, and tries to go as far as he can.

  He continues on this path and when everything seems in despair, and he is so exhausted, he sees something new in this place.

  “Yes! Of course! A light!” sings Pete.

  He laughs at himself because he hasn’t sung in forever.

  Pete drifts, but with hope now. He continues along the way, towards this light, and the light becomes nearer and nearer. When he is a few feet from the light, he notices it is but one candle in front of him. Pete, shakes and drops his head, looks at the candle for a while, and then picks it up. He uses the candle to look at the ground and everything around him. Then, he recognizes that the ground is a gray ashy color, and not at all pleasing to look at. He moves to the spot where the candle was placed and notices writing on it.

  One candle by itself is useless. The same can be said of two or even three candles, but when you have a bunch of candles all together, it can light up anything, even a world as cruel as this.

  Wow, that is totally lame, and not at all helpful, thinks Pete.

  And he was right, It’s great, and sure it might be true, but how does that help? Pete wonders.

  Just as Pete has this same thing on his mind, he stands there wondering what the inscription might mean. As he tries to figure this out, he hears the whisperer speak and he, once again, listens. At one point the whisper almost puts out the light from the candle.

  Moving around to the other side of the lampstand, Pethaford is told from the same whisperer he should look over there too. When he looks at the new inscription it reads: Lame is right, and lame is true, sit on me and you won’t be a fool.

  Pete laughs, “It’s like it knew exactly what I was thinking.”

  He sits on the stand, with the candle in his left hand, and waits. He thought for sure that the stand would go down or activate something, but nothing seems to happen.

  For what seems like forever, Pete sits and sits, and tries not to fall asleep.

  Bored out of his mind, he turns his whole body to the left, and soon after back to the right, and the stand spins from the momentum his body creates from the shifting of his weight. The spinning does not stop or slow down, and it surprises Pete it takes no effort to hold onto the stand.

  As Pete spins on the stand, he notices something odd. He takes his candle in his right hand and puts it close to his face. The light from the candle is spreading. The glow moves beyond the candle and staying in the air floating around the area. It begins to make a clear picture of what he is walking through. Every second the whole area around him becomes clearer, but what is Pete suppose to do?

  He keeps on looking around the world and tries to see what the stand is attempting to show him. He even gets up on the stand, so he can get a better view. At that point, it hits him. There is nothing in this world: no grass, no animals, no leaves, no trees, (except if you count the tree that Pete already found, but he couldn't see the tree at this point.) There was nothing! Pethaford thought this is the most awful trick ever!

  “What am I going to do?”

  In desperation, he hangs his head down, and notices that right in front of him, on the ground, there is a reflection.

  “What is that?”Pete jumps off of the stand, and everything around him goes dark; he lands on whatever the reflecting thing was, twisting his ankle. He cries out in pain. His right foot kills him, but there is no way to check what condition his foot is in or what he lands on. Instead, he drifts off to sleep.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Pete awoke to the sound of the voice still continuing to talk.

  “Oh, you remember what happened. You stood there yourself. I am the reason for your success and I am the reason you are the way you are. I am also the reason you will be destroyed! You will die because of me. You cannot try to escape it now. And no, you will not die the way you expect you would, you will be dead in this world and the next world. Oh...I see it in your eyes. You have already been there. Well, tell me, how has it been.”

  “Well, um, what are you talking about?”

  “You know exactly what I am talking about, there is no need to deny it now. This is you fault and you f
ailed. You cannot succeed. You cannot beat me.”

  “What? This cannot be real, this has to be a joke.”

  “This is no joke. This is life, and your life at that.”

  Pete walked around the room and could not believe what he heard. This voice told him a bunch of insane things. There was no way that all of this was true. This was too much, but maybe this explained all the crazy things that had been happening the past months.

  Pete walked back to his chair and froze. He now could see an image on the screen of the TV. It was the scene of him four years ago talking to himself, and saying crazy things about wanting to be the best mayor ever, and he would do anything to get there.

  The voice continued to talk to Pete, “I cannot be too mad though, because of you I can fully take this town. You really did a great job. Well, I gave you the gift, but still, you did your service quite nicely.”

  This was too much for Pethaford to bear, and he fell to the floor. What has he done? Where was the spirit he had before? Where was the fight and the drive that was in him? Where was the attitude of power? Where was it now? He felt nothing. He felt empty and he didn't know what to do about it.

  Pete turned around and began to talk to the TV, but the front door right next to him swung open. Pethaford approached the door and noticed that the sun was out. He heard birds. He had never been so excited hearing the birds before, but it was nice to have sun and sound. He took a step down the stairs and put both feet on the ground. He dropped to both knees and smelled the grass.

  How wonderful the grass smelled, thought Pethaford! This was something I had taken for granted for oh so long.

  Pete stood on his feet and began walking around the town. He passed Main Street and people were out and about. He passed by the local beauty parlor, the salon, the library and he saw people were everywhere. Many people were laughing and everyone seemed to be having a good time. A few people noticed him and waved.