A Light In The Void

Chapter 1

*CLINK* 
The sound my keys make as I enter my small studio apartment, tossing them into the old ceramic dish my  friend Levi had gotten me. I distinctly remember him giving me some nonsense about how I needed a place to put them so I wouldn't lose them.

“Leave it to Levi”, I mumble stepping out of my old, worn work boots, the soles almost falling out as my feet are released from their grasp. I run my hands through my light brown hair pulling the ends, it was getting long, almost to my eyebrows. 

I should get it cut one of these days.

I make myself a mental reminder to get it done. 

I look around my small studio. I didn't have a whole lot, but then again I wasn't someone that liked a lot of things cluttering up what space I did have. Some would say it was not as an extravagant life as most, but I was content. I might even go as far to say that I was happy. I enjoyed having a space of my own, even if it would seem small and less lavish to some.

I glance at the clock sitting on the table across the room; 2:00pm, it reads, before I walk over to my futon which doubled as a couch and bed for my small studio apartment. Plopping myself down onto the stiff cushions with a *creak*. 

Work had been long and boring per usual, I couldn't expect more from working at an old manufacturing mill though. The money I made there was decent, so I couldn't complain about that at least. 

Letting my body unwind, I close my eyes for a moment; thinking I will only rest my eyes for a bit. Work had felt long today and I just wanted to relax for a moment and clear my mind from the work day's events. 

My eyes drift shut and I finally begin to relax. Suddenly my vision fades out and to my surprise I am left standing in some sort of black void.

Darkness all around, emptiness and quiet. Stilling blackness as I reach my arms out, I can see nothing here.The air around me shifts and I am left standing in the hallway at my parents old house. A dream, I tell myself.

A chilling breeze runs up my spine as the scene in front of me shifts once again becoming more obscured, almost painting-like. 

It plays like some sort of poorly painted home recorded movie. I look down the hallway in the direction of the front door, and I can see my father sitting at the table in the dining room. The table, littered with empty beer cans; the usual. 

What sort of sick dream was this? Why was I back here?

My head snaps up in the direction of a voice approaching, “Hurry, we need to go,” my mother says with urgency. She grabs my arm and pulls me out of my old bedroom doorway I had been standing in and begins tugging me towards the front door. 

I looked down at my body. This was definitely my body, only I was about 10 years younger than I had just been. 

What was going on? The question plays in my head.

I stare at my dad. He seemed blurry, almost out of focus. He had been sitting a moment ago but now he was standing looking as though he was swaying on his feet. 

He mummers something inaudible under his breath before walking in our direction as we make our way towards the door. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, still fuzzy and out of focus.

 My vision cuts out again. The blackness fades back out until I am left standing in my doorway, making my way into my bedroom. I look around the room.

It's just an empty and dark room. I can barely make out anything here, but I know there is an old dresser with a few outfits for school and a mattress thrown on the floor lying in the corner of the room.