by Jason Davis
He heard the priest’s voice in his head. He tried to remember when Father William had told him that because he couldn’t recall hearing it.
The door swung open. Inside the shop, all he could see was darkness, a void where the light from outside faded into nothing.
CHAPTER 26
David ran into the house, following the fading echo of Ally’s scream. He didn’t know what to expect or what he would find. The scream wasn’t a call for help, but that of startled surprise. It was short, seeming to be cut off, but was just enough that he knew she needed him. He forced himself to move faster when he heard the next scream…one of fear.
He rushed in and stopped briefly in the front room. Something was off. He could feel it. The last he had seen her, Ally was going into the living room. He shook off the raised hairs on the back of his neck, paying little attention to the room, quickly turning to where he expected to find Ally. He stopped…
He shivered, not sure if it was because of what he saw or the sudden temperature change in the room. There was nothing there. No furniture, no light, nothing. There was the wide door frame, but past it was just nothing. It was black. There was no room, no light, the house didn’t open up to the outside. There was just nothing, and in the center of it was Ally, suspended in the nothingness.
David took a step back, then another, not stopping until he bumped against the corner of the dining table, hitting it hard enough that he heard the glass centerpiece wobble, something on the other end of the table crashing to the floor. He didn’t turn to look, his eyes transfixed on her.
“Ally?”
Her eyes met his. He could see her calling out to him, her mouth moving soundlessly. Her eyes were wide, the shock transparent as she dangled there. It reminded him of a marionette Ally had once given him that he hung from the blinds in his room. She was there, but as her arms swayed, it was clear she wasn’t the one moving them. He could see the terror in her eyes as she tried to look to see what had her. Her head never moved, only her eyes darting back and forth, then focusing back on him.
She struggled. He could tell by the tension on her face that she was trying to move. He didn’t know if she could breathe, but as he saw more in the dim light, he noticed something. There was a black mist moving around her face. Tendrils of the dark smoke flowed in and out of her mouth, and he saw them twirling around her elbows, holding her there. She looked so pale.
She looked terrified.
And he just stood there, doing nothing. What could he do? What the hell was that? How could he do something when he didn’t even know what the hell that was? It was smoke. How do you fight smoke? You couldn’t. You could fight the fire, but smoke was a presence that would kill quickly if you were exposed to too much.
And it just kept flowing in and out of her. Covering her mouth and nose, it gagged her, keeping her away from him.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire… If he was seeing smoke, there must be a fire nearby. Maybe it was on the other side of the room, but he just couldn’t see it.
There wasn’t anything visible. Wait… It was getting darker, the tendrils flowing around her getting wider. They grew thicker, parts of Ally completely disappearing from sight. If he didn’t know any better, he would say she was walking away from him, backing closer to the invisible fire. That didn’t make any sense. He could see she wasn’t moving, but she got farther away from him, disappearing into that dense fog growing around her.
He gulped, forcing down the lump in his throat as he stepped away from the table.
“Ally?” His voice was so quiet, he doubted she even heard it. With how the nothingness swirled around her head, he wasn’t sure she could even hear him if he had screamed at her.
She wasn’t moving, had given up trying to scream. He could see it in her face. She was pleading with her eyes…and saying goodbye. She seemed to be okay. Her chest rose and fell. All he had to do was get her away from…whatever it was.
She was fine. She was going to be fine. He just had to figure this out.
So now, Mr. Smarty-pants, graduating early, brainiac who thinks he is so much better than everyone else around town, figure this out. Come on, David. You always feel like you know everything. You should know this. What is this? How do you save your girlfriend from it?
She’s not my girlfriend.
Really? Whatever this is has your girlfriend, but you’re going to obsess over the term ‘girlfriend’?
Focus. Focus. Come on, David. Pull it together.
He took another cautious step, then another, walking to the threshold. His skin bristled with the chill. The closer he got to the room, the more he felt it. Why was the room so cold? It felt like he stood in the doorway of a walk-in freezer, the soft caress of the icy fingers running down his warm skin.
Was there really nothing there? He thought maybe, just maybe, it was that dark in the room. Maybe the room was still there, but something made it hard to see what had her. That wasn’t a comforting thought, either, but at least it didn’t break any laws of physics. What he saw either bent the rules of light and refraction…or opened the door to a para-dimensional universe. It would be easier if it just bent the rules of light and there was something there he just couldn't see. It would be the lesser of two evils. Because if there was a rip into another universe, it opened the door to a whole new set of horror stories, and he had watched too many horror movies growing up. Next thing they knew, some creature would come out of the abyss. The last thing he wanted to face was an “old one” coming out of the dark, like out of the pages of a Lovecraft novel.
What was going to come out of it? Something had to be there. There wasn’t any way it could be nothing. And what had Ally? Why did it just hold her there? Was she bait, trying to draw him in? An image flashed. He imagined a large spider hiding in wait just beyond the threshold. Ally was caught in its web as it watched him. He held his breath, trying to listen to it scurry in the dark. He had a sudden itch, feeling as if he turned around, he’d see it looming over him.
But why would it have to stand behind or above him? He stood at the point of nothing. What would stop something from coming out of that vast emptiness to pull him into it? What would it take? How nasty a thing could he imagine?
Why even imagine it?
Part of him wanted to close his eyes to focus on pushing away the images of new and various creatures that could be lurking out there, watching him. However, he knew if he closed his eyes, he would see them clearer. The things that would tear him apart or pull him in.
The worst he could imagine would be a creature grabbing him, taking him into that darkness to cocoon him, leaving him there for their queen to come feed on. Then he would have to suffer as he waited in torment.
He couldn’t help but have the image of a spider again. There were so many types out there, some where the male cocooned their victims for the female. What a hideous fate. To be that offering, waiting, watching as other victims were brought, never knowing when it would be your turn to be eaten. You would be helpless, listening to their screams as their flesh was ripped away.
He thought he felt a breeze tickle the back of his neck. Maybe it was his sixth sense that there was some kind of danger behind him. If he turned, would it eat him? If he didn’t turn, would it just ignore him?
He didn't turn because he couldn't take his eyes off Ally. Their gazes locked. She watched him, pleading. Those large round orbs he could lose himself in begged him to do something, called out for his help.
He wasn't worried about himself anymore. Looking into her eyes took away all concern for his own well-being. He figured if there were something behind him, he’d see it in her eyes. He would have seen the terror, perhaps even motioning for him to turn around.
He raised his foot to take a step. If the room were just extremely dark, his foot would come down on the carpet. If there were nothing, the room gone, it would just continue downward, David barely having any time to shift his weight back to keep from falling forward. If there wer
e a creature there, waiting, his foot was now outstretched, making it easy to pull him in. His breath caught in his throat as he slowly lowered his foot…
As it crossed into the darkness, the cold became an unbearable stinging sensation. It was colder than anything David had ever felt before. Even an ice pack on bare skin had nothing on the icy touch. He started to pull his foot back, keeping his weight shifted just right so he didn’t fall into the frozen depths. Suddenly, a black tendril shot out, wrapping itself around his ankle. Its cold touch burned against his skin as the darkness grabbed him.
“Fu-” he heard himself scream, his foot being pulled. His weight thrown off, he fell back. The world around him spun as he tried to turn himself, reaching out for anything to grab. Everything was in motion…or was it just him falling?
The air rushed out of him as he landed with a grunt, but he didn’t have time to lay there. He felt the cold touch strengthening its grip around his ankle, pulling him toward it. Whatever was in the dark, it was ready to take him. He reached out, feeling for the only thing his searching hands could find. He touched a chair leg, grabbing onto it. It was too light. He tried to hold on, but the darkness tugged him, the chair toppling over and falling out of reach. He used his knee to push himself up, again trying to find something heavy to grasp. He reached for the leg of the heavy table, falling short when he felt another tug pull him away.
Don’t turn around. Oh god. Don’t turn around.
He didn’t want to see it. Whatever had him had to be something from nightmares. He knew if he turned to look, what was left of his sanity would be gone. If he wanted to get away and save Allison, he couldn’t look.
Instead, David lashed out with his other leg, trying to kick back at whatever it was. He kicked and kicked, not sure if he were making contact with the thing, but he was certainly making contact with himself. It was definitely going to leave bruises.
He felt the cold rising up his leg and knew he was still being pulled back.
He lifted himself up, using his hands for leverage, and brought his foot under him to push off the floor. His leg was pulled behind him as he tried to pull it away. He jerked at it wildly, but nothing helped. It felt as if his leg were caught in a vice of ice, its grip unyielding.
"Please, God, whatever you need me to do, I'll do it. Just, please, help me," he prayed, probably for the first time in his life. Having not gone to church in years, the concept of calling out to the Lord felt alien to him. Why did he feel like he should now?
Why not now? If not now, when?
It suddenly let him go. He was in such a fight to get away, he hadn’t expected the release and stumbled forward into the table. He hit his shoulder hard, feeling the sting. Wincing, he turned to look behind him. He didn’t want to see what climbed out of the darkness after him, but he had to know. He had to know to stay sane.
He didn’t see any monsters chasing him, which almost made it worse. Where it had him just moments before, he saw a small streak of sunlight filtering in from the open front door. He looked at it, then the door. It was the first time he realized just how dark it was outside, but through that darkness in the sky, he saw a single sliver of sun. It came through the front door and fell on the nothingness in the room. The darkness seemed to part for it, allowing him to see some of the living room floor. The dark smoldered around it, recoiling…
Then the light was gone, the darkness in the sky once again blocking out the direct sun.
He blinked at how sudden it disappeared, fighting the instinct to move closer to the darkness in the other room. Instead, he pulled himself up into a sitting position and brought his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs, fighting to get his breathing under control. Stars hovered at the corner of his vision. He hadn’t realized just how out of breath he was or how hard he had fought to get away from the thing. Now he had to fight off the dizziness on the fringe of his awareness.
He looked up at Ally, still held there in the other room. She looked at him, concerned. She had just watched all that he had been through and hadn’t even been able to warn him. He couldn’t imagine how hard that had been for her. She probably felt like a prisoner in her own mind, watching, unable to even call out to warn him.
He needed to find a way to get her out of there. There had to be something he could do, some way to channel the light. That was its weakness, right? It had pulled away from him because of the sun, kind of like it hurt.
He didn’t have any other options. He had to do something. Maybe if he could find a mirror or something and shine the sunlight from outside, it would back away and let her go. It would be like an ant in a magnifying glass, right? He just needed a large enough mirror, maybe two, finding a way to mount them.
He tried to stand, leaning against the table behind him. His legs felt like rubber and he wasn’t sure if they’d give out. He wobbled, eventually able to step away and move closer to the darkness. He stopped when he looked into it, seeing Ally wasn’t alone anymore.
At first, he didn’t recognize the boy standing just behind her. It wasn’t natural how he was so much shorter than she, yet still eye level. His feet were bare, his skin an ash gray, his clothes faded and ripped into tatters hanging loosely from him. He was a ghostly apparition.
Looking closer, David gasped. It was impossible. Michael had been missing for a year. Ally’s younger brother, the one Ally and he played with while they hung out. The sweetest, most innocent child David had ever met was always clean and proper, quick to obey Wendy and Ally when they told him to do something.
He barely looked anything like the kid they would both laugh with as he ran around, playing some comic book hero flying around the yard. They would take him to the pool, David teaching Mikey how to swim.
David couldn’t quite place everything that was different, but he didn’t have time to anyway. One minute, Mikey was there next to Ally; the next, they were both gone. Only the darkness remained.
It took a while for his eyes to adjust to no longer seeing her there. Pop, her brother, whom everybody thought had been dead for over a year, stood there, then pop, they were both gone. It was now all just black. How did one describe that absolute darkness when there was always some light?
He found the courage to take a step toward it, stopping when he saw the darkness had crept out past the edge of the door, moving steadily. It wasn't fast, but he watched it as it slithered past an old stain on the carpet, one he remembered from when Ally had pushed him on her eighth birthday, spilling his Kool-Aid.
She had always been there for him, and vice versa. Now she was gone. The nothing had taken her. If he didn't get out of there, it would take him, too.
He desperately wanted to save her, but in that moment, he made a decision, one he wasn't sure he would ever be able to live with.
He had to get out of there.
He turned and rushed to the door, but a sharp-edged tendril shot past him and into the wall, blocking the path. Three more flew past him. The door was now blocked by bars of black mist. They didn't look solid, but he wasn't going to reach out to touch them. He could already feel cold emanating from them, making him back away.
The kitchen door wasn't too far away. He only needed to back up a few more feet. He was afraid to turn and run, not knowing what the mist could sense or see. If he didn't turn, maybe it wouldn't know he worked toward an escape. He just had to make it a little bit farther. The sun wasn’t as bright as it should be outside, but he could still feel himself getting closer to the slightly brighter kitchen.
When he felt the cold behind him, he stopped. He didn’t want to turn around, but knew he had to, the sudden chill pushing in on him like an arctic blast.
He turned. The kitchen was gone. Just like the living room, it disappeared into nothingness at the threshold, only black remaining where the room had once been.
The pit of his stomach turned to stone and ached with sudden pain. This wasn’t happening. What was he supposed to do now? The front door and window were blocked,
the kitchen not there. Where was he supposed to go? There had to be a way out. He had to have missed something. People just didn’t get sucked into nothing.
But that wasn’t true. People went missing all the time. Ally’s brothers had gone missing, and now she was, too. Then there were the thousands of people who went missing every day. He knew that, also knowing he had no way out. He wasn’t in his quiet life anymore. This wasn’t a movie. There wasn’t going to be some hero rescuing him. He was going to die here.
Was it death, though? This thing… Was it killing them? Was everyone really dead? It was so cold… Maybe they were frozen, waiting for something to devour them.
He didn’t know if the shiver running down his spine was from the cold inching closer or from thinking about everyone cocooned in some kind of dark cave.
Cave...
Why did he think they were in a cave? It would make sense, but there weren’t any caves around there. There were the mineshafts up on the coal dump, but most of those were old wives’ tales grandparents told kids to keep them from playing up there. “Don’t play up there, you’ll fall down into a mineshaft” and all that.
But isn’t that exactly where Bobby had liked to hang out? By the entrance to one shaft? As far as they knew, it was the only one up there. It was also covered by that heavy grate and fastened into place. It was so heavy, no one had ever been able to lift it.
How in the hell is thinking about any of that now going to do you any good?
He knew why, though. If they were still alive, Ally was alive. He could go up there and save her.
But, David, that is a job for a hero.
Maybe it was. Maybe he would have to be a hero, and heroes lived. They found ways out of things like this.
There was a way out, and he knew exactly what it was. He was either going to run straight into the nothing, or he was going to get out of there. Somehow, he knew he was going to get out. There had to be a way. He just had to find out what it was.
Wendy’s bedroom was the third door off the dining room. It was always closed because no one was ever allowed to go in there. When her ex lived there, he had been very private. There were things he never wanted anyone to know about.
