A Light In The Dark

Eighteen

The dangling light had to get a lot closer before I saw. The man. He was wearing black. My heartbeat jumped. Even in the cold and chilly night I started sweating. The hair on the back of my neck stood in attention. As he closed in I could make out the shape of the lantern. It was held in his hand swinging around as he walked. The fire from the lantern seemed to get more brighter as I looked at it. The feeling in the pit of my stomach worsened as he closed in. My mind ran through the possibilities.

"What are you doing here?" A raspy voice asked from behind the bright light. I couldn't see his face. The voice alone made me extremely uneasy.

"I... I'm ju...st lost," I made out. My legs were giving away. I was shivering from the fear and I knew that he could see the fear in me.

I was waiting for a reply, or was that it? The man said nothing. "Could you point me in the right way?" I asked a bit of hope in my voice.

The man lowered the lantern. The light from the lantern suddenly seemed to dim down. It was suddenly much darker. There was only a small amount of light coming from the lantern.

"Why, one shouldn't be alone here after sunset." The raspy voice spoke up again. "I'm going this way and I have a feeling this is where you're also going. Why not join me?"

I was done for. I knew that. Should I try my luck and just run. Again? That was something. But how long would I keep running. The man seemed to be wearing some kind of mask. Not the literal one. His face was there but I just couldn't see it. And I had a feeling that the man was smiling now.

I kept thinking of ways I could get out of here. But the man didn't give me a lot of time to think or say anything. He pushed me ahead of me. He raised the lantern again and the light got brighter the higher it got. He started walking pushing me ahead as he moved. Beneath me i could get my legs get rubbery and I almost thought that I couldn't make it another step, but I moved.

There was something else that I had failed to notice in the last few seconds of chaos. As the man lifted the lantern, the sound of the whispers grew louder. It was as if the brighter it got the stronger the whispers became.

After going about a hundred yards I started seeing the people. Standing among the trees, without moving. But as I looked closely I could see that their mouths were moving. It was their sounds. At first there were a few, then they grew in numbers. After a few minutes they were everywhere. Between every trees and places where one could stand, they stood. None of them ever came into the light of the lantern. They were always in the shadows keeping out of the light. They never stopped whispering. But it grew louder as the number of people I could see grew in number. Even then I couldn't make out what they were saying.

I didn't know how long we were moving for. All my attention was on the growing number of people. My bewilderment became all out fear when I recognised a few of the people standing among the others. And then I stopped. The man was behind me by a few feet. He also stopped. There path we have been on so far divided ahead of us. In the distance I could hear the flow of water. I remembered that from earlier the day when I was going to David's house. I was close. To the path that led to the cottage. I knew it.

One path ahead of us was going up and the other went straight, the trees growing more thicker around it. I thought of trying to make a run for it. I could go through the path that led up. That seemed to be the best idea. I didn't think the man would chase me just like that.

"Do it." The man said from behind me. It was as if he could read my mind.

"Do it," he repeated. He lowered the lantern as he spoke. I turned around to look at him and slowly started walking backwards. I moved towards the path that led to the thick past of the woods. And then I as i turned around again I ran. I turned and ran up. As I sped up, I turned to see the man just standing there. He was below me now.

I turned back around and looked straight into the darkness ahead of me. There was nothing lighting the path for me now. But that didn't bother me. I was happy that I was away from the man. As I moved I could hear the sound of the water getting closer. The path I was on went up, it's left side going down in a steep slope.

Every few minutes I turned around to see if anyone was behind me. I was moving ahead purely on my adrenaline. There was no energy left in me to move. So whatever I was doing i had to do quickly and with haste.

The sound of the water flowing grew closer and closer. I could hear it now very loud and clearly. I didn't stop. I kept on running. I didn't want to stop. I just wanted to get out of here.

One last time I turned around to make sure that there was no one around the corner behind me. There was no one. My eyes widened with surprise and fear as my head turned back to ahead me.

The man was just standing there. He didn't move. He was one of the people who were standing and whispering. He was just standing there now. I was running, at full speed straight into him. I did not want to do that. I tried to stop. I skidded. No way was i going to stop before touching him. I moved sideways. That was my mistake. The feet gave away beneath me. I slipped. The last thing I remembered as my world went dark was the emptiness beneath me and the sound of my scream piercing through the cold dark night.