The Man in the Dark

James was afraid of the dark. However, on the night of his 18th birthday, he made contact with it.

The Man in the Dark

It was November, 1st.  Halloween had come and gone so quickly which was James’ favorite holiday.  He felt bitter about Thanksgiving being the impending holiday due to his family’s passing some ten years prior in a boating accident.  He felt unfortunate, but he still had other members of the boarding house of Elman Road that made sure an extension in keeping him company was offered.  His room was dingy and dark and not very cozy in any fashion.  He tried to make the best of it by purchasing bits of used furniture from the flea market down the street.  He used what money he had from his shallow pay checks tossing fish at the wharves.  The place came together enough to feel like a home.

Lights out was at 9 p.m. which meant he’d turn off the light and sprint to his mattress top to get under the covers up to his eyes.  This was his nightly ritual.  The reason for his fear was the man sitting in the corner of his small blank room just opposite the old oak door with a handle that clicked and clacked and often times jammed.  He hadn’t the slightest idea who the man was or what he wanted; or if the person staring at him night by night was even a man.  Some nights when he had the courage, he lashed out hesitantly with broken questionnaires to the man, “Hello?  Is there someone there?  Is there something you want?”  Much of James’ strife in making contact with the man went unfulfilled until this night.  The night of his eighteenth birthday.

James had the covers gripped with both hands tightly.  His palms were in a cold sweat.  He could only see the man out of the peripherals of his vision.  This, he knew, was due to the handicap of the human eye being able to see in the dark more effectively using the outsides of the eye rather than peering straight on.  Or, so he read in some book at the library.  The notion gave James a feeling of terror because he did not know whether the man was there for a malevolent reason or if he was simply “passing through”; putting the man’s trespassing nature into a more comforting state of mind.

“Hello there, sir.  May I ask what it is that you want and how it is you managed to enter a room with the door and window locked?”

James received no answer as he stared slightly away from the spot in which the man somehow sat levitating.  But levitation, James knew, was impossible. However, the man sat on a stool that James knew was not there in reality.  The only light that James had within the room was a dull, pale light from the moon and a small reading lamp that sat atop his night stand in which he began to reach for. 

“Please don’t do that.”  The man said in a deep almost echoing voice.

The man that had sat in the corner, in darkness, for years of James’ life finally spoke.

 

“So you ARE there?” James said in another broken inquiry.

The man’s voice sounded like a man, but if a man was a native of some creature that had lived in water.  The figure of the man began to contort in James’ peripheral vision which gave James the impression that the man had begun to move.  The dark shrouded stool the man sat upon creaked as the man stood slowly.  His figure was featureless.  The blackest black.  James heard what sounded like heavy boots clomping across the hardwood floor.  The figure rounded the post of James’ bed furthest from the door and began gliding toward James.

“STOP!  Get back!”  James shouted in a panic.

The man’s shrouded figure stopped at James’ command and stayed standing in place for a brief moment until sitting at the foot of the bed.  James pulled his legs away from the man and sat stiffly against the headboard.  The man just sat there without speaking.  James squinted in order to focus on the man but lost sight of him.  Bright circles in the dark then became visible to James.  They were eyes.  As bright as the moon.  They looked as if they were the eyes of a goat.  A dark rectangle in each eye staring directly at him.  A faint red glow appeared just below the glowing eyes and disappeared a moment later.  James smelled smoke.  Cigarette smoke. 

“James, I would like to show you something that most anyone of Earth would be honored to see.”  The man stated with his bright eyes fixed on James.  Never blinking.

“Why would you choose someone that lives in a boarding house on Elman Road?” James darted back in a whisper. 

James had become frustrated and wanted nothing more than for the man to disappear and become a dreamt-up apparition.

“James, I chose to oversee you, because you are a person with nothing.  You show no signs of corruption or intolerance to situations beyond comprehension.” the man said.  “You have no ties to this world.  Even if you walked out the front door never to come back would anyone much care to gather a search party?”

“What is it you want to give me, sir?  I may not have anything left in life, but I expect nothing out of it; everyone must work for their keep.

“I’m not talking about the spoils of labor.  I’m referring to retirement, James.”

“I’m eighteen years old, how could anyone as unfortunate as I be able to retire?”

James gave the man a direct stare this time with look of someone who was listening to pure nonsense from someone he didn’t want to believe was there in the first place.  The man, James could see from the corner of his eye, pointed toward the wall just next to James’ bed.  A rectangular shadow formed on a portion of the dirt-smudged drywall that constructed the confines of James’ room.

“You are free to join me, James.  But, I will not return after I leave.” the man said.  James’ eyes grew tired from trying to focus on something he could not look at directly as he made a move to get out of bed. 

“And by standing, I take it you are thinking of walking through with me.” the man assumed. 

“Where would we go?  What is it you have to offer that would entice someone to leave their life behind?” James asked.

“From my vantage, I have seen nothing this planet has to offer.  Everything was taken from you and in return you are left alone and work a job that you nearly pay for in order to keep.  You have no ties left to anyone or anything, which would make you a great addition to where we are going.” the man explained. 

The man stood and reached into the void that had adorned the wall.  He then pulled his hand from within to show that there was no danger, although it was hardly convincing since the darkness of the man matched the darkness of the void; they were one in the same.  The darkest dark.

“Answering your questions is impossible unless you are willing to see for yourself. Explanation alone will not do any of it justice.” the man said.

“So, are you going to take me to some sort of “afterlife”?” James asked.

“You have quite a sense of humor, James, albeit dry.” the man said laughing with a grunt.

James smelled more smoke.

  

The man looked at James with his glowing eyes as he reached out his hand to usher James in the general direction of the wall.  He walked toward the rectangular shadow, boots clomping.   But, James was concerned of his limited belongings and what it was he wanted to take with.  What would suffice for a long trip? wherever he might be going.  He possessed nothing that would suit the rigors of neither the Alps nor the Rocky’s or the interstellar solar flares of space or the hostile absence of atmosphere on Mars and surely not the confines of a trawling boat.  His mind darted through an infinite amount of scenarios until the man stopped him from bothering with materials.

“Don’t bother, James.  You won’t need a thing.  Everything will be provided.” the man said with certainty.

“Alright.  I suppose I have nothing to lose.” James replied hesitantly with a somber tone.  “But, will I ever be able to come back?”

“Of course, we intend for you to come back here often.” the man said.

“So, when people are afraid of the dark, it’s just you they’re afraid of?” James asked.

“Yes.  I’m not sure why.  All I do is sit there.  You were the only one that tried to make contact with me.  Meaningfully, anyway.”  The man explained.

James laughed and began walking toward the flitting and fluttering of the shadowed rectangle.  He lost sight of the man because of the door’s likeness to the man’s figure, which startled James until he heard the man say, “We’ll step through at the same time.”

James stepped forward and the void closed in an instant.  His room was dark and quiet with only the pale light of the moon gliding thorough the singular window.

The silence was then broken by boots clomping.  A stool sliding.  And, in the corner, a featureless figure sat silently.  A small, faint, red glow shone through the darkness.

Smoke billowed and hung in the air passing through the moonlight.

20 Years Later.

Colin’s studio apartment resided in an old boarding house.  His rent was cheap and that’s all that mattered.  He didn’t care about the dirt-smudged walls or the old door that had a handle you had to wiggle to turn.  He suffered from insomnia, but watching a movie each night helped him fall asleep; ‘Hellraiser’ was among one of his favorites.  That particular night when he turned off the TV and laid down to sleep he had noticed something peculiar out of the corner of his eye.  He smelled cigarette smoke in the air.