zg_shadows | One last time

I ran for such a long time to get here: running with the howling mob at my heels until I slammed the door in their faces and hid in this last safe corner. I've been here before - when the dark shapes started to haunt the day as well as the night this was a place to come where they couldn't follow.

The mob is still out there in the dark, trying to find a way in. I think I can hear other voices too - ones that I should recognise - but they get lost in the cacophany of screaming until I'm not sure whether they are tricks of my own mind. The walls keep getting closer when I'm not looking; if I stay here I'll be crushed but if I go out there I'll be torn to pieces.

It's so dark - I only know the walls are there by the sound of the mob beating against them. They are definitely closer. This is it. I've used up all my tricks this time. The downside of running to this place is that my usual protectors couldn't follow - this is a place just for me and it is fast being smothered out of existence. Soon there will only be impenetrable darkness and howling.

....

Then there was light and somewhere in that the ghost of a friendly face. I could hear my father's voice calling. The darkness burned away and I came home.