In the Black

I couldn't tell if my eyes were open.

An impenetrable black surrounded me in the tunnel, hiding every detail, giving unseen flesh to my fears. There was no smell. No sound. As if the world had stopped and I was sealed away in my own private hell. Unlike blind people in stories, my other senses didn't experience a sudden awakening.

I flicked the wheel on the cheap, plastic lighter with my thumb. It rasped impotently in the dark. Was it near my face, or was I holding it out in front of me? I wasn't sure. My hands were numb. Another flick against the wheel brought a spark and sudden light and flame.

Half expecting hidden visitors to be revealed, I waved the lighter back and forth, checking the tunnel in both directions. Did I come from the right or the left? Left, I think. Should I go back or press forward? There was a wet, dripping sound somewhere, but I couldn't tell from which direction.

The lighter was getting hot against my thumb, so I decided to press on. I didn't want to think about what was back there waiting for me. I just wanted to hide, like a kid pulling the blanket up over their head in the middle of the night. I moved my thumb back from the flame as I began to walk. My steps a little slow and careful, but also a little jittery and rushed.

How far in was I? The runoff drain was just tall enough to stand and dry but for the occasional shallow puddle. I guess I was lucky it wasn't the rainy season. What would happen if there was another quake? Did anyone live down here?

The light went out and I suddenly realized the plastic of the lighter had gotten really hot. Worried that I was out of fuel, I flicked it a few times with no luck. Sparks flared in front of me but no fire. Was that a sound coming from somewhere? I looked around, seeing only the afterimages of the flame. Panic was starting to slither over me, so I paused and took some deep breaths.

Wait. Was my breathing too loud? Had something heard me? I suddenly feared revealing myself with a light. I listened until all I could hear was my own sounds and the occasional drip. Was it sneaking up on me? I had to see. I steeled myself for secret lurkers and flicked the lighter. The flame wavered and held, but nothing was revealed in the tunnel with me.

I began to walk again.

The walls ahead drew together in my little light, like a doorway. I stepped through the threshold into a room. Another doorway led opposite me to where the tunnel continued and a narrow corridor slanted off to my right. The tunnel was dark as sin, but the corridor had a tint of it's own light. Not enough light that I would have noticed if I wasn't in the black, but enough that I decided to go right instead of continuing straight.

The narrow corridor was short and it turned at the end into another room. A room with a slanted floor and an iron ladder set into the wall. Overhead a manhole cover was visible at the top of the ladder. A narrow beam of light shone in through a storm drain high on the wall opposite the ladder. The light was brilliant after all the gloom, but I was sure it was cast from a streetlight.

It was time to leave the dark behind.

I let the lighter die out and pushed it into a leather pocket. The bars of the ladder were cold under my hands as I climbed. Freedom was within my grasp. As I neared the top, I could peek through the storm drain and see a parked car across the street. I was at the school. Had I gone that far in? Was that five blocks? At the top I put my hand on the manhole cover and pushed. It remained firmly in place, and I could see bolts holding it. Someone had sealed it up. Did the city do that? Was I trapped? I'd have to go back to the main tunnel and turn back or press on and hope for an exit.

When I looked down, I saw the pale face of the stranger smiling up at me, his face half hidden in the shadows. There was a sharp thing in his hand reflecting the streetlight.

I looked at the monster and screamed.