The Void

Something so dark and inviting should be feared.

James woke up in the middle of the night.  He thought he heard a faight voice or a rattling sound.  His eyes open as he rolls over in bed to look around his room.  He's been asleep long enough that his eyes have adjusted to the darkness, and most of his room is visible.  Looking at his clock, there weren't any illuminated numbers.  Reaching out for his phone, he slid the top up, but the screen was blank.  His phone wouldn't turn on to check what time it was.  He sets the phone back down and closes his eyes again. 
    The same voice as before wakes James again.  It sounds like a distant whisper from the other side of his room.  He opens his eyes and sits up in bed, turning to let his feet rest on the floor.  He tilts his head to the left and right, cracking his neck loose.  James stands and walks across his room to the closet.  It sounds like the faint whisper is coming from inside.  He turns the knob and opens the door.  Inside of the closet is nothing.  The closet is completely dark, and nothing can be seen.  Looking of his shoulder, James looks at his room.  He can see the frames on his walls, the pottery and books on the shelves, and everything on his desk, but inside the closet is nothing.  It's completely dark.
    The void inside of the closet covers every inch of it.  No shirts, jeans, or sweaters on their hangers can be seen nor any of the boxes of random junk that cover the top of the closet's shelf.  The void reaches out and grabs James around his waist.  It feels like a warm wetness.  The warmth radiates into him like the feeling of letting water pelt his back during a hot shower.  The void begins pulling him into itself.  James grabs the door and the door frame, clinging to prevent him entering whatever is inside.  He looks out into his room as his lower body is pulled inside the void.  The warm wetness covers his lower half.  He notices a shadow effect within his room as though a source of light is radiating from the void, but that is not the case.  Instead, the void is so dark it casts its own shadow.  James's grip slips from the door, and he grabs the inner doorknob.  He is pulled inside the void as the door slams shut.

 

This is the beginning to an idea I had last night.  I wrote a few sentences of an idea that popped in my head.  After tweaking the idea, this is what I've got as the beginning.  I know I want him to wake up in the closer and not remember anything.  He'll start to imagine things through out the day.  Parts of his body covered by the void, him doing horribly vicious attacks to people for no reason, and a variety of other things that make his skin crawl with disgust at imagining these things.  I'd write it just as a flow through what is normally happening and right into the hallucination, and then back to what happened just before the hallucination began.  Then he'll start to see things again, except it's really happening.  There would be various time when he thinks it's another hallucination, but it's real.  So, he can't tell what he's imagining any more. 

I imagine the void pouring or slipping its way out of his veins to cover the parts of his body.  Like a black, silvery, shiny liquid pouring out of his wrist in a stream and flowing into his palm.  It pools in his palm but won't run off the sides.  Even if he turned his hand over with the palm down, it stays attached to his hand. 

No idea what the void is or what's going to do or where it comes from, etc.  I think it's better if there really isn't any explanation about it.  It's just there and has its effects on a person.  More mysterious and unexpected that way.  No telling if it's controlled by the person or if the void itself is controlling the person.  I do like the idea of making something so dark and evil could be inviting.  I always like the feeling of hot water in the shower.  I want to make the void something that feels welcomed and pleasant. 

 

The bad point in the idea is that there have been plenty of "weird, black stuff that covers a person and can be deadly."  The black symbiote from Spiderman, the Dark Sector video game, and who knows where else.  I'm hoping to make my idea a little different by adding in the hallucinations that can't be differed from reality.