Light the Way

68%

August 8

Ryan and I spent today at Mia's place, getting in some study for our exams in a couple weeks' time. To be honest, I'm pretty sure we were just using it as an excuse to get away from our families. Ryan's never been one to study, and even I don't tend to start this early. With everything that's happening, not-so-subtly in the background, things that were once so familiar and comforting have grown to become alien and unsettling.

And I suppose this is how we're dealing with it: crawling into a pool of boredom and mundanity, drowning ourselves in algebra and language analysis and the pre-world war era.

We were camped out in the backyard, enjoying the warmth of the sun. Today was warm, inching up into the mid-twenties as the clock ticked over to 3pm. It was a rarity for this time of year, when our average is seventeen degrees Celsius, and we did our best to make the most of it.

"Can you imagine a world without electricity?" Ryan said. We were in the middle of a conversation about the industrial revolution

I shrug. "It existed, I suppose. People still lived. It can't have been too bad."

"What about a world without light?" Mia asked, and suddenly we fell into silence, none of us wanting to continue on that train of thought.

That's the way it seems to be these days: every topic leads back to the same thing - the Black Wave.

While we sat in silence, each one of us caught up in our own world of fear, I looked up at the sky. By this point, the sun was dipping towards the horizon, and every second was one closer to darkness.

"I think I better go," I said, "It's gonna be night soon and mum doesn't want me walking home in the dark." It was a lie. Mum doesn't care - she's fine pretending that we're all going to be okay, that the darkness will just come and go like the seasons.

Ryan nodded. "That's a good idea."

"You'll be cool walking home, right?" Mia asked, evidently concerned as I packed up my books, shoving them into my backpack.

I laughed and got to my feet. "Of course. It's three blocks. I'm not exactly going to die."

She simply looked at me. "Well I'll see you on Monday, then."

I nodded. "I'll see you then. Bye, Ryan."

"Later, Kiran," he replied.

I left, walking down the side of her house and exiting through the front gate. The last of sun's rays had just escaped below the houses, and a sudden chill swept over the street. It was abnormally quiet for that time of the afternoon, and I felt strangely exposed.

Clutching my phone in hand, I began the walk home. A car passed on the road every now and then, and I saw a couple people walking down the street ahead of me, but everything else was deserted. It wasn't yet dark enough for people to start turning on their house lights, but it was still dark enough that the lack of artificial light made everything look abandoned.

I was halfway to home when a man appeared on the pathway ahead of me, headed in my direction. He was dressed in dark colours, and had an air that suggested gang-member or criminal. I didn't want to be obvious and cross to the other side of the street to avoid him, so I edged over to my right, allowing a wide berth for him to pass me by.

But as he drew closer, he slowed down. I found myself starting to panic, but I kept my eyes focused forward and my breathing steady, clutching my phone just that little bit tighter should I have to call the police.

Our paths met, but as he passed, instead of robbing me or something worse, he simply leaned close and whispered, "Fight for the light." I felt him slide something into my pocket, and then he was off. I turned, stunned, to watch him go. He didn't look back once, and soon he disappeared around a corner.

I found I could breathe again, and with shaky fingers, I pulled a folded piece of paper out of my pocket. It was blank except for an address and a time: 23 Corroway St, Upper Division, 9pm.

Still feeling shaken, I slid the paper back in my pocket and continued on my walk home, picking up my pace so as not to have any more strange encounters. His words bounced around my mind as I walked, and I couldn't help but feel that I knew what he was talking about.

So yeah. That was the strangest thing that happened today. Somehow, an opportunity to do something, to put an end to the Black Wave, has fallen into my lap, just as I said yesterday it wouldn't. I haven't told anyone about it yet, and I'm not sure I'm going to. I mean, who would understand? Mum certainly wouldn't - she'd probably ground me - and Avia still doesn't believe the Black Wave even exists.

But I don't need them. The man's message ignites something within me, something I can't put my finger on, and it's spurring me onwards, pushing me forward. Hope? Determination? Purpose? I'm not sure which it is - maybe it's a mix of all three - but it's there, and it refuses to let this opportunity pass.

It's decided - I'm going to the address. It's very possibly going to be the stupidest thing I've ever done, but I'm going to do it anyway. Besides, chances are, I won't be alive come October, so what's the harm in following a dark stranger's message?

I'll be fine.