Dark Radiance
It’s dark.
When you don’t know where you are or how you’ve come to be there, even the simplest things can be supremely frightening.
So it was that when Walter awoke, his consciousness confused and hazy, the thing that he fixated on was the darkness. A darkness so thick and oppressive that it could’ve been a blanket – perhaps it was, for all that the disoriented boy knew. A quick rustle around his immediate area made it clear that no, he was not bound or covered by anything in particular – it was just… dark.
He’d been awake for a few minutes, and his eyes hadn’t yet adjusted, as they normally would. In the back of his mind, Walter rationalized that this must mean that wherever he was had a true and complete absence of light – there was nothing for his eyes to adjust to, so waiting around in the hopes that he’d suddenly be able to see where he was going was a rather pointless endeavour.
He rose to his feet unsteadily, and reached out to grasp at – what? A wall? Anything, anything that might’ve been there to help him launch off of the ground. Nothing met his fingertips, and after an embarassing moment of swaying, Walter tentatively took a few steps forward. He didn’t run into anything, so he continued walking, slowly, and with one hand out to his front, and one to his side – just in case.
Hours passed as he walked. Or at least, he assumed that they did – total darkness, with no exposure to the grounding reference of the sun or moon, made it a bit difficult to figure out exactly how long he’d been in this… place. But Walter knew that logically, if he only kept walking, he would eventually end up… somewhere. Even if it was a dead end, at least it would be reassuring to have found something concrete in this strange place.
Eventually, he is tired. He must have been walking all day – or night? Well, whichever; either way it’s been a long time. He plops down on the ground, falling a bit too quickly, and yelps a bit at the impact. It’s then that he realizes that he hadn’t tried to speak or call out at all until now – this was the first noise he’d made. How silly of him – what if there was someone else around, someone else lost in the darkness that could help him? Cautiously, Walter tests out his voice, calls out and asks, “Hello?” He is surprised by two things – first, that his voice was already so rusty and throaty from just one day of solitude, and secondly, and more importantly, that the sound of his voice does not carry at all. It’s instantly swallowed up by the same damned darkness that’s been surrounding him since he first woke. This realization sends a chill down his spine, and he tries to distract himself by talking himself into an attempt at sleep. After some hours spent laying there, in the too-quiet darkness, he finally succumbs to a deep, dreamless sleep.
Waking up in the black is just as disorienting the second time; and that’s not all the stays the same on Walter’s second day in the… well, wherever he is. He walks just as long as he did the day before, only stopping when his body can go no further. He shouts a few times, but eventually gives it up as his voice is instantly absorbed and he decides that his energy should be saved for his journey, rather than needless yelling.
This goes on for awhile.
Days cycle into months; months into years. Or so Walter thinks. He doesn’t really know, after all. In fact, he’s made the decision to delude himself into believing that his perception of time is so messed up that it’s really only been a few days – he tells himself this to quiet the sick feeling deep in his stomach that grows stronger with every step.
Finally, he gives up. He stops walking and sits, then collapses backward onto the floor, staring up at what should be a sky or ceiling but in reality is just more darkness.
Eventually, his breathing stops, and the quiet, dark world he found himself in is truly silent once again, without even the sound of Walter’s heartbeat for the blackness to absorb.
And that is the end of Walter’s story.
Dark Radiance,
WHO WAS BLACKNESS!?
BUT WHO WAS DARKNESS?
It had a real good build-up but lack of a good ending sucked IMO.
THEN WHO WAS DARK NOTHINGNESS?
Seriously,though. Well-written,I suppose. But nothing fucking happens.
A little confusing, but decent.
Very lonely, and a bit sad, when you think about it, but that’s prob the point…
nothing happened. That’s dissapointing, considering how big the build up was. I got kind of confused though, if there is nothing there, then how does the third person know what he said or did? This would have worked better in first person.
Who cares what happened? The creepyness is never knowing. Not only do you wake up alone, you wake up in utter darkness. So he’s pretty much NOWHERE. I love the dark and even being alone, but for eternity. Just put yourselves in Walter’s shoes…scary… 5 stars.
Though better written than most, still crappypasta. Nothing happened. It failed to creep me out. And the writer changed the tense from past to present in the middle.
@Bricks: Well, maybe there IS something there.
Not bad, but boy, what a shitty ending.
Horrid ending. I like it though, well written and tragic.
Hello.
This is art. I am surprised one among you captured the essence of the Dark so magnificently.
I am impressed.
Rest assured, there are things in the Dark, but the great many of them are content to watch the slow descent into oblivion that awaits most who dare tread the lightless unknown.
Random tense change was annoying.
other than that it was all right.
@ Bricks – Perhaps the darkness itself is the narrator?
o_o So…that’s it? He just dies? Nothing out in the darkness to get him? Wow. It’s decently written… but the ending…sucked.
Aw man i was hoping for something too happen!
Maybe he was in a coma and so he was trapped in his own mind searching for something someway to wake up
@ UNDEAD – that’s what I thought too.
I.. like it, I love it actually.
It’s intriguing. There’s absolutely no plot, no point, no beginning.. no end. It’s wonderful.
5/5
I agree with Reptillian Liar. Think about it, put yourself in Walter’s shoes. Waking up, no one/nothing around, complete darkness, practically no sound. That would scare me shitless. You all can think what you want, but I liked it. True, it could have had a better ending, but, seriously, if you woke and were in that position, would it freak you out?
I thought it was creepy. I have fears of abandonment so I would hate to have this happen to me. I also have a flashlight on my keychain though.
aw that was sad. It was a good story but I just wish it had a twisted ending
i’d so fap everyday if i was that darkness
Beautifully written, though the tense change was hard to stomach.
Very different. Very nice.