Forgotten taste of midnight
Night used to be a time for fear, the time to light a fire and huddle together hoping the beasts will leave them alone. Some were lucky and found or made homes, but others simply died and have been forgotten.
But the time of fear has faded away, ever since the discovery of fire it has been losing its power. People gained confidence, they formed communities and developed technology.
Now we are in the modern age, you can have light whenever you want it. Night has no fear to it, other than children's fantasies. But what happens when you lose that power, that fear taking light? What happens when you lose you're sense of direction in the unfaltering darkness?
A simple office worker is walking home from a late night full of work. He checks his watch, it was a quarter past eleven, he had missed dinner and was feeling hungry. There was a small fast food place next to the road, it's neon "open" sign was lit up as if welcoming him.
He enters the shop hoping they didn't simply forget to turn the sign off. The person at the register greeted him with eyes darkened from exhaustion. There was no one else in the building, only him and the worker.
The office worker tried to start small talk with the young man, saying "Pretty quiet here, not many customers this late I'm assuming." "Who would get some greasy burger this late? Could almost be counted as breakfast if you waited an hour" The employee responded.
He buys some food and leaves, eating on his way home. The sound of his feet hitting the pavement below was the only sound, and the street lights lighting up the road ahead the only thing guiding him. Could be considered peaceful if you were into that kind of thing,
Peaceful, until the sounds of a bell in the distance is heard. It was the kind of sound you'd hear from an old grandfather clock. The sound took his attention, wondering where it was coming from. It sounded like it was to the left, in the bushes, but it followed him as he walked.
The sound had all his attention, he didn't notice the light dimming. Now it want just the clock, the lights above started sounding like they could pop at any moment. He was getting spooked, so he started going faster. No one would want to be outside in the darkness, it's a built in fear everyone has.
The lights finally went out, putting the streets in darkness with only the moon giving off light. The bell stopped, there was only darkness. There was the sound or running behind him, as if someone gave chase after the light was gone. The fear drove him to run, he wanted to get home as soon as possible.
It caught up with him, the feeling of it's breath was felt. Turning around to see what it was, he fell into a hole. The hole led no where, just into darkness. He thrashed around, trying to find something to grab onto. All he had was his phone and the food he had just bought.
He grabbed his phone, and turned on the flashlight. It illuminated a large face in front of him. It looked starved, like it had not eaten for weeks. It was moving slowly to him, opening its mouth with the obvious attention to eat the worker.
In a desperate attempt to save his life, the food was thrown into it's mouth. It had stopped for a second, closing its large mouth to swallow, it had looked satisfied and sent him upwards out of the hole. He woke up laying down on the bright street lit by the lights.
His mind was racing, confusion and fear had finally set in and pushed him to run home. He had never ran as fast as he did in his life, the adrenaline pushed him further along with the fear. He reached the door to his home, fumbling his keys to unlock the door.
He got inside, adrenaline wearing off and leaving him drowsy. His mind was tired and couldn't think straight, caused him to just walk over to bed and lay down. Falling asleep, he felt like he was falling again. Felt like he fell through his bed into the darkness he thought was sleep.