~ Bye guys! See you tomorrow.
~ Be careful on your way home!
The door closed and he walked towards the train. A simple half hour commute later he stepped off at the last station. There were barely any people this close to the dark. A few years back this neighborhood had been sprawling with people and electricity. Now only a handfull of people dared to live this close. At first the dark had simply appeared in a park and slowly spread. There was nothing wrong with it except for that no electric equipment worked inside it. It quickly got closed off to the public and there were only a few incidents of teens jumping the fence with candles to do a dare. The entire first year it was fine, there was one missing person reported but no one credited it to the dark. Year two was when the dark really started to spook the public. Several people that had stepped into it had turned blind and claimed to have heard mysterious noises. Most media reported it to be true and to avoid the Dark at all times. Year three the world woke up to half a city being devoured by darkness. No one had heard anything or seen anything. The city officals waited roughly two hours before evacuation began on the rest of the city. The country fell into a state of chaos as people fled to nearby lands. Some brave folks stayed and waited for better days, they were never seen again. It got quiet after that. A few years passed and nothing happened. The country had been abandoned and boats patrolled the waters making sure no one stepped foot on it again. All this time airplanes and helicopters flew over daily without incident. Then came year twelve. Earth day. Mass shutdown of everything electronic to remember the lost. Airplanes stopped working and either crashed outside of the dark or got devoured inside it. As soon as night fell it spread over the water and only stopped at the nearest light source. After that there were constant lights directed towards it everywhere to halt It's spread.
whenever a lightbulb goes in those lights the Dark creeps closer. Nowadays the most important job is taking care of these lights. Ofcourse twenty years is a long time to be fed fairytales. He thought as he walked to the house he rented two kilometers away from the everlasting Dark. Opening the door he could smell a homecooked meal being prepared. His mother's humming could be heard in the kitchen. His dad wouldnt be home for another three hours since he worked for the goverment, so he had a few hours for himself.
~Hi mom! He called out before went upstairs to check on his littlebrother.
~ Dinner Will be ready in an hour! She replied before she went back to her humming.
Taking a left up the stairs he arrived at his brothers room. He could hear him on the phone so he knocked on the door waiting for the call to be over.
His brothers hanged up the phone quick and opened the door for him. Even if he was a head smaller his littlebrother looked rather mature for his age.
~ How was work? He said smiling while letting his older brother inside.
~ It was good! If i continue like This i'll be promoted next week. Then we can finally upgrade and move further away from the dark. They both instinctly looked out the window in the direction of it.
~So any plans for today or wanna continue the game?
~ I promised Tony I would meet him at the playground next to the dark after dinner. He shrank back into his chair as he said it. Not only because it was a bit taboo to go anywhere near the dark but it was also forbidden by law enforcement as well as his own family. His father never talked about his work but he was adamant on the fact that being closer than one kilometer of the dark was fraught with peril. His reasoning was always the same. "Thanks to my work I know".
~ Oh? Why that one? There's atleast three other parks around that are better.
~ He dared me too and I agreed. They stared at the floor for quite some time before Jack pushed his littlebrother's chair away with his foot so he could start up the ancient console they had gotten when he was a kid.
After playing an old adventure game for a while their mothers called them down for dinner. While doing the dishes with his mother Jack leaned in close enough to whisper and told her of his littlebrother's evening plans. She gave out long sigh before leaving the rest of the dishes for him to go have a talk. While he'd come to expect screaming and shouting from his littlebrother nothing could be heard. He could only assume the conversation was going well. His mom slowly walked down the stairs mumbling to herself after ten minutes, when she got next to him he could see the note in her hand. Her eyes were glassy and it was like she was staring into space. He turned to face her as a single tear dropped from her cheeks.
~Damn children always scaring your mother.
~ So what. Before he could continue his mother crumbled the note into his hand while staring him deep into his eyes.
~ Get your brother before your father gets home. He tricked me into thinking he was in the shower. He stood there for a second shocked. His brother had never done something like this before. He was always straightforward and honest. His cheek was burning all of a sudden and his vision had switched from looking at the front door to looking at one of the bookshelves they'd bought five years ago. His mother's hand was still in the air as tears were running down her face. Never once had his mother slapped anyone from what he knew. Before he knew it he was standing outside with his jacket in his arms.
The problem with living this close to the dark was that no transportation was avaliable within five kilometers. And those who lived here had either their own ways to get around or simply didn't leave. His chest was burning when he arrived at the entrance to Balmore park. Had it been a weekend a two kilometer run would have been a breeze, but today's hard work coupled with the slight panic that was growing ever stronger had him out of breath. He spent the next five minutes checking the few hiding places he knew about. 'Nothing here. I wonder where they would meet.' He thought to himself as his searching got him ever closer to the dark. He could see it now no matter how high he looked. The wall had not grown across the land for quite some time it had however started to grow higher into the sky these last few years. A scream came from nearby. it sounded like a young girl. Jack stopped and listened for it again while deciding whether to search the remainder of the left side or check out the sudden scream. While he knew his brother were going to be with the school bully Tony, it didn't mean that they hadn't dared more people to come to the dark.
At the foot of the dark stood Jack's littlebrother James infront of two girls his age. Infront of him on the ground was the guy namned Tony. From the looks of it James had pushed Tony away from himself and the girls. The situation seemed to be escalating for the worse. Jack was running before he had finished his thought. Tony bounced up and started beating James who desperatly tried to get him away from the girls. Jack's feelings were a mess in his heart. He was proud of his brother for protecting the girls but he was also furious about the situation. He ran at full speed despite being exhausted, he tried too scream but couldn't make a sound. The situation changed quick as he got closer. Tony had seen coming and knew he was going to get into trouble. The girls had joined the fray now. Trying to get Tony off of their protector. The unimaginable happened. The bigger boy kicked a girl in the stomache so she went sprawling further away from the dark while the sudden change in weight made the other three fall into the dark and dissapere from sight. Jack's heart fell. He kept running and dove head first into the dark. He started grabbing any and everything infront of him hoping to get a hold of a jacket or anything. He felt a tug on the back of his shirt. Someone was trying to pull him out, he started fighting the hand as he closed his eyes in frustration. He finally felt something grabbed his outstretched hand. At that moment he strained to get a better grip of whoever he was holding a screech went off above his head. The hand infront of him let go ever so slightly. He pushed with all his might and grabbed the wrist as screaming started coming from every direction. He opened one eye trying to strain it so he could see anything. An outlining or a shape or whatever. The force that had his shirt pulled him hard.
The next thing that happened was that he woke up to his Dad doing cpr on him. Next to him his brother was laying still with his eyes open breathing heavily. The girl that had gotten kicked away was crying while talking to some military officers. His father breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Jack open his eyes and look at him.
~ Thank god you boys are alright. You're in alot of trouble now. After making sure that he could see all the fingers he was holding up his Dad hugged him tight. The officers walked up and put his brother on a stretcher. He called his name. But his brother couldnt see him. He started to panic as one of the officers strapped him to the stretcher with leatherbands. All while he screamed.
~ I can't see. I can't see. His Dad hugged him tight and said thank god you kept your sight. I could'nt stomache loosing you both. Jack exploded forward trying to get to his brother and instantly got pushed down into the dirt by a nearby officer. He was panicking because his brother was being taken away but also because he could'nt see on his left eye.