The Reason You Fear Darkness

“The fear of darkness is something that lies behind the drape of black covering it up, not the drape itself. It’s not the darkness we fear—it’s the fear of what watches from within.”

The night’s cloudy sky stirs with a quiet zephyr, the moon rising with a gentle shine, illuminating the quiet neighborhood with a soft white glow that calms a troubled soul. The rain that once tumbled down now rests calmly on the ground, finding its way back into the Earth’s soil. The rain in which, shortly disturbed by a car that drives by, wafting the water into a sparkly mist that glides through the cold air. The car pulls into the driveway of an empty house, coming to a slow and complete stop.

The car’s driver-side door swings open, and a woman steps out of the vehicle before closing the door firmly, locking the door as she leaves. Her keys jingle together in her hand as she walks up to the house’s front door, unlocking it with a small key. The door swings open with a quiet creak, and nothing but a dark interior lying inside. Not a single light. It was quiet, dark—with a feeling that just wasn’t quite… right. The light is flicked on, with a warm glow that restored the feeling of safety. The sudden sound of “Riiing! Riiing!” broke the silence in an abrupt manner, soon stopping as she picked up the phone call.

“Hey, Mary! How are you?” An enthusiastic woman asked her.
“Oh hey Hannah! I’m fine. I just got back from that movie that I was talking about.” Mary replied.
“Well I was just calling to talk with you, see how things are going.” Hannah says.
“I won’t be able to call for too long though, it’s pretty la-” Mary is suddenly interrupted by a car alarm going off coming from her driveway. “Hold on, I think my car alarm is going off.” Mary informs.

Mary opens her front door and walks over to her driveway to try and stop her car alarm, only to be met with her car in complete normality. Usually her headlights would be flashing too, but her car was still, and lifeless. The alarm shortly stops for seemingly no reason, and Mary becomes perplexed. “That’s… strange.” Mary expresses.
“What? Is something wrong with your car again?” Hannah questions.
“No, It’s just that-” Mary is interrupted by Hannah.
“What?” Hannah says. There is a brief pause in conversation.
“I said-” Mary is interrupted again.
“No, I didn’t say anything.” Hannah tells Mary.
“What? but i just heard you say ’Is something wrong with your car again?’” Mary says.
“Mary… I never said that.” Hannah reassures.

Mary is speechless, she knows for certain that Hannah had just spoken directly to her, that she wasn’t just imagining it. Her heart rate increases a little, getting slightly nervous, and paranoid. “I- what?…” Mary mutters.
“Are you feeling okay Mary?” Hannah asks.
“I… Yes. I know I heard someone speaking though. It sounded just like you…” Mary insists.
“Maybe you need to stay outside a little bit longer. Get some fresh air.” Hannah suggests.
“Good idea.” Mary says.
“Mary…” Hannah mutters. “I didn’t say anything.”
Mary slowly gets frightened by Hannah’s statement. “No. No you’re playing a game with me- trying to scare me.” Mary angers.
“No, I’m not trying to scare you. I heard it too.” Hannah says shakily. “I heard my voice come out of your phone.”

The night became eerily quiet, unnaturally quiet. The crickets silenced, the wind calmed. The only sound was the breathing of Mary’s frightened figure. “So… We both just heard your voice, but we also both know that you didn’t say it…” Mary questions.
“I… That- how?” Hannah stutters. The two girls; shooken in fear, remained silent and were incredibly bewildered by the interaction that they just had. They both had no idea what just happened, and both began to question if they were really just imagining it.

“Okay, I’m really starting to get freaked out.” Mary says. “I’m going to go back inside now.”
“Wait!” Hannah shouts. “Come on, stay outside for a little longer!”
Mary looks confused, before Hannah abruptly speaks again. “Mary, listen to me.” Hannah says with a tone of panic. “Run inside and lock all of your doors. Do not hang up the phone.”
“Wha- Didn’t you just tell me to stay outside?” Mary explains.
“That’s not me!” Hannah yells. Mary freezes in fear, unable to move in a state of dread. Mary again hears Hannah’s voice,”Please stay out here. It’s not safe inside.” Except this time, the voice isn’t coming from Mary’s phone. It was whispered directly into Mary’s ear.

Without looking back, Mary sprints for her front door and locks it. She realises that she dropped her phone in her front lawn, and is now by herself. She runs to her back door, a sliding glass one, and locks it. As soon as she locks the door, she can make out the faint silhouette of a tall, skinny man in her backyard. It doesn’t move, or make a sound. It just stands there. Watching with curiosity. A tear slips down Mary’s face, and she turns off all of the lights, praying to not be seen. She runs up the stairs and into her bedroom, where she slips into a closet, covering her body with shirts and anything else that she can find.

After around ten minutes of hiding in silence, Mary hears a gentle, soft knock on her back door. It’s calm, almost as if someone was telling you that you forgot to unlock your door to let them in. It stops after about fifteen seconds, and then the silence begins again. Mary is curled up in the corner of her closet, reciting the lord’s prayer quietly. Her heart races, with her thoughts being unable to process what is happening to her. Mary cries and shivers, waiting for the thing to enter her house and open the closet… but it never does.

After another ten minutes of silence and praying, Mary hears a voice—it’s Hannah. “Mary! I came here as fast as I could!” She says. The voice doesn’t sound like the monotone, off voice that was being mimicked earlier—no. This is the real Hannah. “Where are you!? I called the police!” Hannah worries.
“I’m upstairs in the closet!” Mary replies. There is a moment of silence, and Mary tries to call out to Hannah again. “I said I’m in the clo-!” The closet door swings open, and a dark grey figure stands on the other side. It looks like a human, except it’s concerningly skinny, with an impossibly long-stretched smile grinning from eye to eye. It’s way too tall to be a human, and its eyes look at her, wide and not blinking. Mary sits with tears streaming down her face; her jaw locked open as she stares at the thing staring at her. She can’t even speak, it’s like the thing won’t allow her to, or to do anything.

The thing somehow opens its mouth and starts to speak to Mary in a warm, yet extremely disconcerting voice, saying,”I’m going to tell you what will happen.” Its mouth is moving, but not correlating with the words that it speaks. Its movements are far from natural, trying to be, but failing. “When you wake up, I will be there. When you wake up, you will not be able to move to your own will. You will not be able to see me, and that is because I will be inside of you. You will be able to feel everything, see everything, and hear everything. You will feel me inside of you, for the rest of my life. You are not you anymore. I am you.”

The thing splits its jaw wide open, tearing its own skin, revealing a bright light that entrances Mary. Unable to control it, Mary falls into a deep sleep, losing all control over her body.

When Mary wakes up, she can not move. She hears the voices of thousands inside of her head, screaming, laughing. She can feel something inside of her skin, she can see it underneath her skin, writhing around, digging into her. Her body is moving against her own thoughts, she can’t do anything anymore, she can’t control her body anymore. It’s his body now, not hers.

“Why fear something that is not there? You can’t fear what doesn’t exist. And that’s why you fear it.”

Credit: Ryan Decker