Encountering Darkness: The Great Pursuit (Book One)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Pete awoke speaking. "Hey! What was that Amy? Did you notice what happened. Something hit me in the head."

Pete heard a rustle and noticed that someone moved towards him.

"Pete, you okay, man? Your head must really be messed up. Who's Amy?"

It took Pete a few minutes to realize who spoke to him. "Is this Zach?"

"Yep. Hey, listen Pete, I have been trying to find Tom for a few hours now, and a way out of this house. The house is locked and everything is dark now. I can't see anything outside. There is this fog or mist around the house. Creepy I tell ya; this must be the point before we are killed or something. But, anyways, you need to get up. I can't find Tom anywhere and we need to get out of this house."

Pete connected the dots to what was happening. He got up from the couch and started toward where Zach's voice came from.

"There's one thing you should know. I cannot see anything."

"Same with me. There seems to be no light coming into this house anymore. That's why I need your help. Do you have candles, a lighter, or matches?"

"Yeah, they're in the kitchen, but Zach, my kitchen is cursed or something. I've had strange smells come from that room. Smells like death and I have seen some floating thing covered in black."

"Well, we can't worry about that right now. Show me where they are."

Pete found Zach by walking into him and grabbed his arm. He pulled the arm to his face, but he couldn't see anything.

"I can't even see your arm when it is right in front of me!"

"Yeah, let's find those candles, and Pete, good news is, if a floating thing covered in black is in the kitchen at least we cannot notice it," Zach laughed.

"Hey, that's pretty funny." Pete stated dryly. "Here take my hand."

"Yes sir! I have been looking forward to the day we could hold hands." Zach said in a joking manner.

Pete laughed at that, but stated, "Shut up boy. In every movie the people always get separated and die one by one."

"True."

Pete led Zach through the pitch-black living room, to the kitchen that should be down the hallway on the left. After they bumped into everything along the way, they reached the hallway. Pete put his hand along the left side of the wall, and keeping hold of Zach in his right, he began to move along the wall.

"Okay, we are getting close to the kitchen, it will be up here on our left."

He continued along the wall until he reached an opening.

"Here's the kitchen. The candles and matches will be on the far side of the kitchen, to the left of the fridge, in the middle drawer. I will move along the wall with my right hand, so let's switch hands."

"This must be getting serious. I get to hold both your hands in one night," Zach continued bantering.

By this point Pete had enough and switched hands, found the right side of the wall, and moved along it. He then proceeded to the right corner of the kitchen.

"Now we just have to go down to the left, along this wall, past the fridge, and we will be set."

He moved his right hand along the cupboards and reached the end of the corner to the left.

"Alright Zach, I will let go of your hand so I can look through the drawer."

"Fine by me. I'll just put my hand on your shoulder, so you know I'm still here."

"Now you're thinking."

Pete went through the clutter of the drawer to search for the candle and matches. He shuffled through a bunch of papers and cards to get to the candles in the back. He pulled them out and put them on top of the table. After a few more moments he pulled out the matches too. He lit one candle, and the corner of the kitchen glowed.

"There you go Pete! Let me put my arms around your waist and give you a thank you kiss on the cheek," said Zach while suppressing a laugh.

Pete had enough; after Zach put his hands on his waist, he grabbed the candle and turned around to give him a solid kick to the stomach.

Zach began to laugh as Pete turned around. At first Pete could see anything in front of him.

"Hey Zach, where did you go?"

"I'm right here, boy. Right in front of you." Zach laughed, but for the first time Pete was not sure the laugh came from Zach.

Pete realized, to his horror, there was a blackness in front of him. Pete gasped and backed up into the cabinet, and bumped into it with his back. He looks down at where the feet of the blackness should be, but nothing was there.

The black floating figure laughed in a horrible voice. Pete wanted to run out the kitchen to the left, but he cannot move. The figure moved closer to Pete and continued to laugh.

"I have you Pete. I have you. There's no point in trying anymore. You cannot get away. It's time to give up. It's time to pay back what I gave you. It's time to give me what is mine." The black figure went for Pete and gave a tug deep inside his chest.

Pete felt faint and collapsed to the ground.

As Pete passed out he hears: "Give it to me! Give it to me! It will soon be mine! You cannot fight for him forever! He is not yours!"