𝐷𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑡𝑜𝑛. ʙʀɪᴛɪsʜ ʀᴏʏᴀʟ ғᴀᴍɪʟʏ

42 ♔♕ 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀

𝗔/𝗡: 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆, 𝘀𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆, 𝗶 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿!

𝟷𝚜𝚝 𝙾𝚌𝚝𝚘𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟸

It was dark.

Exceptionally dark.

The sort of deep black that poets talk about.

It was encompassing. All around her. Inescapable. Like the bottom of the sea, where no one can get too. Or space. A black hole. She was in a black hole. A black hole of darkness. Of black. And occasional flickers. So so dark.

A sound made her flinch. She pulled away from it, startled like a bird. As she moved her eyes flickered with the movement and that was when she realised that her eyes were actually still closed.

No wonder it was dark.

Slowly, she peeled them open. A little bit of sleep that had gathered in them forcing it to be an excruciatingly slow task. Or was it the fact that she felt so tired. Unbelievably tired really. A part of her wanted to just go back to sleep now.

The eyes prevailed. But only because the sleep in them was annoying her. A small part of her wanted to just reach up and rub them. That would sort it out.

She couldn't though. Not because she had tried and couldn't. A bigger part of her was arguing against it. Telling her not to. Maybe it was because she was so tired. Maybe her arms were just too tired to do it.

She was quite disappointed once they were open. It hadn't made much difference to the amount of light. The room she was in was still dark. Not quite as black though. More of an inky, midnight blue. It seemed to be moving around her like a swamp. The darkness still thick.

There was some light though. They were different colours. White. Red. Green. Blue. Orange. Tiny lights casting an even smaller glow out into the darkness.

Her eyes adjusted slowly. Shapes starting to form as her pupils grew. Damn the curious and nosy side of her. She just wanted to go to sleep.

But the shapes were forms she knew. The way that shape rested against the chair. She knew that. She recognised that.

There was another shape as well. Or was it a noise. Maybe it was both.

Actually now she thought of it, there were three noises. One was a beeping. Incessant beeping. It was already starting to get on her nerves. Two were similar, but still different enough to allow her to distinguish between them.

A sighing sound. No. Not sighing. What was the name for it. The word.

Not grunting. No. That wasn't right. Not sniggering. Sighing it was closet to but it was a regular sigh. Breathing. Yes, breathing. But more than breathing. It was an annoying breathing.