"Afraid of the Dark" 1/20/2024
It is at times like these where I wish I wasn't afraid of the dark. Afraid of the things that could be lurking just beside me or behind me, or even in front of me. The pitch black, however, was too much for me to bear. I just couldn’t bring myself to take another step… No matter the amount I screamed at myself in my mind, tried to move, I couldn’t… I just couldn’t. It was as if I were paralyzed.
My mind raced, yet my feet did not follow suit; they stayed planted on the ground, so much so I was starting to assume they’d grow roots there… Or simply be frozen there forever.
I shivered and pulled my coat closer with one hand, and with the other I shone the flashlight around, shaking just as bad as my legs, if not worse. I called out the small creature…
“Brennan!” I called out once, “Brennan!” and then a second time, but there was nothing but the sound of the rainwater pelting down onto the pavement. It was as if it were mocking me, the rain. Mocking the tears that slowly formed and fell from my already swollen and blurry eyes… Mocking me by washing away the evidence of the one I was so desperately searching for.
The dark mocked me too… It seemed as though everything felt like mocking me today. It crept closer to me, inch by inch, as the light from my flashlight dimmed. The battery was growing ever weaker, and I knew that without it, I’d be helpless. I couldn’t just walk out there into the black abyss; I had to have light, or else they’d get to me… All those creatures that lurk in the night, that stalk and hunt helpless people like me.
I was dead meat if I stepped out there. But I had to, if I wanted to find him and get him back to where he belonged, in my arms.
With a cautious step, I was all the closer to the pavement and away from the light of the garage and motion camera. Even the thought of that made me want to run back inside, but I stayed, trying to get over the feeling of unease that built up inside of me.
One step…
Then two…
And a thi-
What was that?...
As I stood in the middle of the driveway, I whipped my head around, looking for the source of the noise. There was nothing moving, no small kitty running towards me or meowing for food and attention. No, there was just silence.
The rain continued to fall, and the darkness continued to taunt, but the noise was gone.
It only occurred for a moment: the rustling of a bush, or was it maybe the metal of the chairs on the side of the house? It was a sound that I couldn’t quite find in my mind; nothing I had ever heard was like it.
Quickly turning around, I searched for anything in the dim light my flashlight provided, but there was nothing. My breathing picked up, and my heart was pounding in my chest and ears. With panic filling me, I continued to whip around, feeling something touch my shoulder.
Was it a monster? Or was it just the rain?
I wasn’t sure, and I was too terrified to find out.
A moment passed, and I cried out as I felt something touch me again…
It wasn’t just the rain, it wasn’t just the rain.The words echoed in my mind.
And in a pure act of fear, I raced back to the comfort of the garage and the warm light.
Wishing that I wasn’t a coward, wasn’t so scared of the things I couldn’t see… That I wasn’t afraid of the dark.
A/N: I wrote this a WHILE ago, and I am glad to say my dear old Brenan is okay XD He got outside but came back and is still alive and safe. He gets out from time to time, but he always comes back thankfully. I am still afraid of the dark, but not so much my dear kitty from out XD