Facing The Dark

Facing The Dark



When Danny awoke it was completely dark. He couldn’t see anything, and at first he was sure whether his eyes were open or closed. He blinked a couple of times, and decided they were open. That was the first thing decided. The next thing to decide was....how the hell had he ended up here. And where the hell was here?

“Jesus,” he muttered. He groaned loudly. He made sure nothing was broken, starting by moving his toes, and working upwards. His head didn’t feel too good, but there didn’t seem to be anything to serious.

“Apart from being stuck in a goddamn.....whatever this is, I’m pretty good,” he said, bitterly.
He sat up, carefully and slowly, trying not to aggravate any more pain. He slowly looked around in all directions. He couldn’t see a thing though. Not even a tiny bit of light, in any of the directions.

“Shit shit shit,” he muttered. “Just my goddamn luck,” he whispered. It didn’t feel right speaking out loud, so he was as quiet as possible.
How the hell had he gotten here?

Slowly, he began to stand up. He felt slightly dizzy when he finally stood up straight. He reached out for something to rest on until the dizziness left him, but there was nothing. Not even any walls. Not yet, anyway. It was still completely dark, and his eyes didn’t appear to be going to adjust to this complete and absolute darkness.

Why was it so Goddamn cold?
He walked about ten paces straight ahead of him. He took cautious, scared steps, keeping his arms stretched out in front of him. It was more of a shuffle along the floor than a walk. The ground felt very rocky beneath his feet, so he went even slower, to make sure he didn’t trip over.

A grunt of suprise escaped him when his hands touched something. He began to explore the thing which he had walked into. His hands roamed around the smooth, large surface. It was a wall. And it was damn cold, just like the rest of the room. If this even was a room.

Had he been buried alive?
No, that wasn’t possible. If he was even underground, it was far too large a space for him to have been buried. Besides, he would’ve been inside a coffin or something. He knew it was a stupid idea, but it was one he couldn’t shake. When these sorts of ideas arrived in his mind, he found them very hard to shake. In fact, virtually impossible.

He continued to explore this...area that he was in. He walked for a period of time, feeling his way along the wall. He walked for a good period of time, before he stopped.
Why wasn't there a door? Or an opening? Something....anything.
If Danny had been nervous before, he was beginning to get terrified. If there was no opening, then there was no way out. He had no food or water with him, he had no backpack, no supplies.
How was he supposed to survive?

He didn’t even have any light.....
That set his mind off running. Matches. He had always had a book of matches with him. Or at least normally. He reached into his pocket, and his fingers closed around a small box.
“Yes,” he said, triumphantly.

For the first time since waking up, he felt hope.
He pulled the book of matches out of his pocket. He slid it open, and lit one of the matches off the side of the box.
“Damn,” he grunted, blinking desperately, trying to adjust his eyes to the sudden light. By the time he could see normally, without squinting and blinking, the match was almost burning his fingers. He let that match slip from his fingers, and reached in the box for a new match.

How many were left?
He felt around the box, in the darkness. He felt five matches. That wasn’t enough. He would have to be incredibly careful with the way he used them. They may have to last him a long area of exploration. He had already decided there was no door or opening along this section. But there might be one in a distance,which he wouldn’t be able to see if he lit up a match now. Maybe he should walk a while, to a new area, before using up another match? Then again, what if there was an opening along here, and he had simply missed it? Maybe using the match would allow him to see the opening.

He decided to risk using another match. He pulled one out of the box and lit it up. He looked around, slowly. Next to him, was the wall he had used to steer himself along to this position. He looked closely at the wall. It was dark, and looked kind of like stone or something. He turned around, holding the light well out in front of him. He saw....space. A vast, open space. The ground was rocky, and as far as he could see, the was just space...
Where the hell was this?

Danny’s heart began to beat faster. He had no idea where he was, what he was going to do or where to even walk.
He dropped the match to the floor, as he felt the heat on his fingers again.
“Goddamn,” he muttered, his voice shaking slightly.
He was desperately trying to decide on what action to take, when he saw something. Well he felt it, rather than saw it, considering it was pitch black. He may not have seen it, but he felt...movement. Somewhere to his left, about twenty feet away.
He spun to his left, and squinted in to the darkness.

His heart raced.
He felt sick, and sweat began to trickle down his forehead.
He stared intently, straight into a wall of darkness. Fear began to build up inside of him.
Was there something there?
Then he knew it. He had confirmation of something being close to him. In the darkness with him.

He heard a noise. He wasn’t quite sure what it was, but it could easily have been a footstep, or something like it. He ran. He ran as fast as he could, while making sure he didn’t trip over.
He kept running, until he ran into a wall. Luckily, his hands were held out in front of him, to prevent a full tilt collision with the wall. He spun around, once more, only to face a wall of darkness.
Was it still following him?

He listened as carefully as he could. Standing stone still, rooted to the spot by terror.
He heard it again. A noise, to his right.
A whimper escaped his throat.
He turned in the opposite direction, and ran. As hard and fast as he could. Again, he held his arms out in front of him, and was careful not to trip.

He stopped, suddenly. He stopped, because he had bumped into something.
Something that wasn’t a wall.
Something that moved.
Something that breathed.
As quickly as his shaking hands could manage, Danny pulled the matches out of his pocket, and lit one.
He blinked at the sudden light.
He raised the match...
And he didn’t like what he saw...
It was a face...but no normal face....it was the worst, and last face that Daniel Forman would ever see.



It was weeks before the search party finally uncovered the cave where Daniel Forman had died. It was even longer before they discovered the blood stains on the wall, in the place where Danny had died.
They never did find any trace of his body, apart from the blood on the walls, and the scratches his fingernails had made as he was dragged around the cave.
It never came out officially in the news or reports, but it was rumoured that the opening of the cave had been completely blocked up....from the outside. Almost like a trap. As if someone had locked Danny in. Danny had been locked in...and so had something else....