Trigger Warnings: None
Read this story on Archive of our Own!
Read more works by C. C. Ward here!
This is the first installation of People After Dark, more of which you can find here!
Winter was becoming darker than it had been. Like there was somehow less light left in the world. Julia knew this was ridiculous, of course. That was impossible. Julia didn’t like to think about these things. There was plenty of talk about such negativity on TV and Julia much preferred to look straight ahead. Especially with her hands to the side of her head, so she couldn’t see what was going on elsewhere. People chastised her for living like that, but Julia’s life was just fine the way it was. So why should she care? If there really was less light, she would just get at a brighter lamp. Darkness never bothered her before, and she had the money.
“Ow! Shit!” Julia stubbed her toe against the table leg in her kitchen. The overhead light was barely penetrating the darkness at this time of day. “Damn it!” Julia cursed as she bent over to rub the sore spot on her right pinky toe. She really had to get a stronger bulb for the fixture. She continued around her kitchen preparing her dinner. Resoundingly ignoring the deepening darkness. Banging various body parts into various pieces of furniture all the while. Julia started to think. Maybe something really was going on with this lack of light? Maybe it wasn’t just normal, that it seemed to creep ever closer to any light source around. Like it was consuming its very essence. Maybe she ought to look into this more.
In the living room, after scraping her elbow against multiple walls in an effort to get there, Julia turned on her TV. Against her own better judgment. You could never really trust what they said on TV her mother always said. She still said it sometimes. From the basement. The TV turned on to the last channel Julia had last been watching. Almost a decade ago. It was some kind of news. Just what she needed. However, Julia could barely make out what was happening on the screen. The darkness looming ever closer. But she could hear what was going on.
“Unnatural darkness seems to have descended upon the world,” the voice of a feminine news anchor said.
“It sure seems like it Rachel, I wonder what that is all about!” came a cheery-sounding masculine voice.
The feminine voice scoffed loudly. “What do you mean Karl, what could that be about? It’s obvious isn’t it!” the voice was growing increasingly shrill as it went.
Julia started feeling uncomfortable.
“The world is ending! The sun has gone out! We’re all going to die!” The feminine voice reached a crescendo on the TV.
“Hahaha, that’s right Rachel, that’s right. Now the weather.” the masculine voice didn’t seem fazed by their coworker’s obvious distress.
A jingle played from the speakers and a nervous-sounding voice started talking about the weather. Something about black holes and living darkness, Julia had stopped listening and soon turned off the TV. She was getting hungry.
Back in the kitchen, Julia couldn’t stop thinking about the alarming things the voice of Rachel had said. Was the world really coming to an end? But the voice of Karl had sounded so relaxed, surely nothing was truly wrong with this oppressive darkness? Otherwise, Karl would also have been anxious? Julia decided that was the far easier thought to follow and so went back to cooking.
After Julia had finished eating her meal, the basement door started rattling violently. That was somehow more disconcerting in this darkness than it usually was.
“Yeah, yeah I’m coming” Julia sighed as she picked up the leftovers from her dinner and brought it to the basement door. She opened it just a crack and violently threw her leftovers down the stairs. A loud crashing was heard as she slammed the door shut behind the plate. Rustling followed along with the sound of furious eating. “You’re welcome, mom!” Julia yelled at the door “ungrateful bitch” she muttered under her breath.
Julia decided to go to bed. Surely this unnatural darkness would be gone by the morning. There was no way this was gonna be forever. Right? Karl had sounded so calm on the TV. Julia scrambled up the stairs, nearly stumbling down in the darkness several times. This was really getting ridiculously! But she made it to her room and into her bed. There was no way she was gonna brush her teeth in this light! Or change her clothes for that matter. Downstairs her mother clattered loudly around in the basement, seemingly throwing the plate Julia had given her earlier. “Damn it, mom. Stop being so loud!” She yelled at the top of her lungs. The darkness swallowed her words, but it didn’t take long for the sound to stop. Julia went to sleep.
Julia awoke sometime later to the sound of screaming coming from the outside. Which was weird, because no one lived around here. It was also weird because when Julia looked out the window the screaming seemed to be coming from the sky rather than the forest. The sky had no mouth and so should not be able to scream, Julia thought. She opened the window
“Shut up!” she yelled into the darkness. The screaming didn’t stop. In fact, it was like it got louder. Sticking her head out of the window Julia glared up at the black sky, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from.
Suddenly in the middle of Julia’s field of vision, an even darker patch of darkness appeared. It was like a concentrated mass of black, in the already dark sky, Julia thought. This all seemed so weird. Julia just wished she could have ignored all of this and gone on with her life as usual. But no, the world had to go and be swallowed by some sort of supernatural black hole. Because that was what was happening, wasn’t it? The concentrated mass of black seemed to be growing bigger and bigger, the longer Julia stared at it. The longer she considered this massive injustice that was being done to her existence, the more Julia wished she just hadn’t gotten up this morning.
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