In The Dark

There's a weight to darkness. Not all the time. Not when it's only half dark, or when there's a small light. Not under the light of the stars. But in pitch dark, when you can't see your hand in front of your face, like a room with the lights off and the curtains drawn between the hours of 12:00 am and 4:00 am. Then there is weight.

It's not the normal weight of air pressure. It's not like when humidity levels are high. It's not like the weight before it rains, or the way the air seems heavy when something important is happening. It's a feeling all its own.

The dark settles on your body like a cloak. You can feel it, like it's something just as tangible as your own skin. There's nothing there though. Just darkness. It's weight oppresses you, even though it is no more than the weight of daylight.

You know, logically, that the weight isn't real. You know it and so you ignore it as best you can. But sometimes you can't. The weight is there, you can feel it. The fact that you can't see in this heavy darkness doesn't help to settle the matter. What if something really is there, in the dark, pressing on you? The logical part of your brain tells you that you're being ridiculous. The other part, the part that's still primitive, whispers of creatures in the night.

The dark scares you. It's imaginary weight terrifies you. You know that there is nothing to be afraid of, but there's still that primitive bit of brain, saying that there is. Fear is powerful, and in the dark it outweighs logic and reason and sense. You pull the blankets up to your chin, and your mind conjures up beasts with long talons and pointy teeth, waiting for you in the dark.

There's nothing there. There never has been. You know this. In daylight you laugh at those who admit to fearing the dark, and dismiss them as silly and childish. But things are different in the black of night. The weight of the darkness surrounds you, presses on you. It is everywhere, and it swallows everything.

You are afraid. You don't like to admit it, but you are. Don't worry, everyone's afraid of the dark.