:: The Void :: looking for your characters ::

[MY NAME IS TIMBRA]
001 -- Introduction Chapter


I didn’t mean to leave.

The Darkness came to my door, and it told me to start packing. You’ve probably never heard of the Darkness. Why would you? No one has till it comes. When it looms over your future. Sinks into your heart. Beckons you to come.

You’re probably wondering why I obeyed The Darkness. I tried to argue. But it has no ears to hear. It wouldn’t listen. It just kept commanding I start packing. I ran out of arguments against deaf ears.

So I started packing.

I knew that someone would come for me. I knew exactly who would come for me. They would hold my hand, look me in the eyes, and tell me never to leave. And not even the Darkness could argue with that.

So I kept packing. I might have been afraid, but I knew the Darkness would never have me.

And the days slipped by.

Those days were strange. Nothing is so terrifying as knowing your world is falling apart, but I was filled with oppositional hope. I was certain, but everything stood on shaky ground. I would not be had, my friend was coming for me, and I would march out of my house triumphant. My day would come, and The Darkness would not be in it.

I did not know then that something was wrong. My friend had gotten lost, mixed up in time and dates, and had disappeared with a blink. He would return, but not in time for my day. My day would come, and I would be alone.

And still I waited.

As the hours crept by from morning to dusk, I became more and more aware that I would not be rescued. That I was alone in this, and I was not going to be enough.

The Darkness was coming.

It was already here! It had packed away everything I owned, by my own hands, and I could feel it worming into my life and soul, ready to begin its takeover.

I cannot remember which hour fear shattered my delusion, but I do remember it was dark outside my window. It was then I realized that I was going to disappear. I couldn’t be sure what was going to happen when the sun came up. I’d never disappeared before, or been claimed by The Darkness, or been deleted. I wondered if someone would come and snatch me away, or if a great black wave would drown me out, or if I would just… disappear.

As my fear fed me a thousand thoughts, and I worried and wondered, with no answers and not even sure of the questions, I became aware of one thing. I decided on this one truth:

The Darkness would not have me.

I might disappear, or be carried away by a black hawk, or arrive on a train that never went anywhere.

But never could The Darkness have me. I would stand in the midst of any destruction it threw at me, and swear to it that I would always, always, be me, from my little home next to the orchard, and I would never forget that.

It was such a feeble thought. But when you look up at your house and realize that the shadows are darker than usual, it might seem a better comfort than you ever realized. There was nothing else I could do but tell the Darkness it could not win.

If someone heard my thoughts in that little, dark house, they never said it. I felt so alone.

And the hours crept by. You never realize how long the night is, till you stay awake and watch the minutes creep. But it’s hours and hours of just darkness and waiting for the sun to come up. Two oppositional thoughts.

And at last dawn came.

The terror that filled my soul when I realized I could see light in the sky, and I knew my hour was nearly upon me. My day was nearly done.

And my day would not be victorious.

I wish I could tell you some poignant truth I realized in those moments, or that I stood upright and watched the enemy come and bravely faced it, or that I just went out kicking and screaming in rebellious glory.

But instead, I closed my eyes and hid among my boxes and cried.

I could hear the minutes creeping by.

5:52.

5:53.

5:54.

It was a mockery of how helpless I was. I could do nothing. I could do nothing but wait as my life burned.

5:55.

The worst imaginable catastrophe was upon me. All the fear and terror that had been my watchguardians throughout my life were now ringing with panic. They were so loud I was deaf. Second after second burned away in mockery of the little sheep with her eyes closed.

5:56.

I held my clock tighter and shoved my eyes closed even more.

5:57.

The Darkness would not have me. No matter what happened, I was me, and I was from my little house next to the orchard, and I was the sheep crying with her eyes closed. It would not take that from me.

5:58.

Wasn’t there supposed to be a moment, when you’re freezing to death, when suddenly you feel warm and glad again?

5:59.

I waited.

But I did not hear 6:00.



And so ended my great day. The day I told the Darkness it would not win, even as it stole everything from me. This was the quietest catastrophe I’ve ever known, and those hours are agony I cannot ever wash from my memory.

And yet it was only an introduction.

That was the day I entered The Void.

This is the story of how I escaped…