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Literature Text
The Darkness
“What time is it?” Noah asks his sister as he awakens from his sleep.
Haley looks at her watch and responds, “10 in the morning,” as she is heating of can of beans over a small, modest fire in a coffee can. They would never know what time it was if it weren’t for the watch she just got from their parents for her 16th birthday.
“You shouldn’t have let me sleep so long!”
“It’s fine. We’re safe here...for now. You are always letting me sleep longer than you anyways. And let’s face it, you needed it.”
Noah inhales sharply and takes in the savory smell of the beans. His stomach grumbles loudly. He glances around the dimly fire-lit basement of the empty house and his eyes stop at their rapidly diminishing supply of food and a knot forms in his stomach.
Looking back at his sister cooking, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“Noah, we haven’t eaten in almost two days. Besides, we need the energy to find a new spot today.”
Haley pours half of the beans in an empty can and hands it to her brother. The two weak siblings sit in silence as they eat slowly. One bean at a time, they both try to make it last and hope for something to somewhat resemble the feeling of fullness.
When they have licked their cans clean, they linger by the fire for a moment to warm up their bones. Those moments never last as long as they would like, as they must rush to pack up and start heading for another temporary place to stay. Neither of them wants to leave. They are comfortable in the basement of the empty home. Instincts tell them that it’s not safe to stay in one spot. And so they travel further into the darkness.
* * * *
It has been 4 weeks since the darkness took over. No one knew what happened or why it happened at first. It was one o’clock on a rainy Thursday in spring when it became noticeably darker outside. Noah and Haley were in class when it happened. Everyone just thought it was a bad storm when the sirens started going off. The teachers filed everyone into the hallway, just like they had always practiced. There was a lot of commotion and excitement from all of the teenagers. Some were nervous, like Haley. She scanned the long main hallway of the high school for her big brother; trying to remember what class he was in. Then suddenly, the principal’s voice was broadcasted over the PA system. He sounded urgent and anxious as he announced that everyone needed to go home to his or her families.
* * * *
Noah and Haley have been walking for hours, in the middle of nowhere. Everything seems like the middle of nowhere in the darkness. Occasionally, they use their lighters to illuminate their surroundings. They don’t very often, as they don’t want to be discovered in case there were any more survivors out there.
They came up to a gas station. Both of them are chilled to the bone and eager to find a place to rest for a moment to break the freezing wind. They listen for signs of activity. Noah flicks his lighter for a brief moment to reveal broken windows and an emptied room.
“I don’t think anyone is here,” says Noah. “Let’s go inside and rest for a little while.”
The siblings enter the gas station easily since the door was unlocked. Both of them search the shelves for any bit of food, using the light from their lighters. The only things they find are a few packs of stale cigarettes, and empty boxes.
Noah notices how much his little sister is shivering. As each day passes, it gets colder and colder. He quickly searches through his backpack for a coffee can to start a little fire. Using the empty boxes laying around the gas station, he quickly starts a fire in the can. He motions for Haley to come to him and wraps his arms around her while they try and warm up.
“You know we can’t stay long,” says Noah.
“I know.”
* * * *
Haley fought through the crowded hallway of their high school, frantically searching for her brother. The two of them have always gotten along pretty well, despite their two-year age difference. Noah had especially been very protective of her.
“Noah!” she yelled repeatedly as she squeezed in between backpacks, trying to project her voice over the commotion of the school.
An arm from the side grabbed her backpack and pulled her into a locker.
“Haley! Relax I’m right here. You are so dramatic sometimes,” says her brother.
“What’s happening, Noah?”
“I don’t know, but c’mon Sis, it’s a half-day! Let’s go home,” he says with a smile.
The two of them left the school and started walking home. They only lived a few blocks away, so they usually walked together.
The rain had stopped, but it was still unusually dark outside. Haley checked her brand new watch and it was only 1:45 in the afternoon. She looked up in the sky and the clouds were starting to clear, but the sun was still hiding. The normally blue sky was turning orange and purple, like a sunset.
“Something very strange is happening,” she said to her brother.
Noah was looking at the sky also. “Yeah, I guess so.”
He put his arm around his little sister and gave her a little squeeze as they finished their walk home.
* * * *
Noah jerks awake at the sound of footsteps from a distance. His eyes dart around the pitch-black gas station. The fire had gone out. He shakes Haley, who was asleep on his shoulder.
“We have to go NOW,” he urgently whispers.
“What’s happening?” Haley responds, dazed from sleep.
“Shhh. They’ll hear us.”
They’ll hear us. They...THEY. The words take a second to register for Haley. They quietly but quickly pack up their things and slip out the door and head towards the woods. They know they can’t run. The frozen ground will crack under their feet. They tiptoe, hoping that they won’t make too much noise.
The footsteps get louder and louder. Whoever they are, they are clumsy with their footing. Which means they don’t care, which means they must have weapons. Noah panics at this idea, as he is only armed with a small four-inch blade, he recovered from a neighborhood supermarket raiding three-and-a-half weeks ago.
Haley and Noah don’t get more than one hundred yards away and about 60 yards into the woods, when they hear them yelling in the gas station.
“There’s no one here!” yells a man.
“C’mon. Let’s go. We just missed them,” says the voice of another man.
The two men start walking in the direction of Haley and Noah. The siblings’ breathing gets shallower and faster. Noah squeezes his sister’s hand and looks at his surroundings for a place to hide. Their eyes have just barely adjusted to the darkness. Haley hardly notices an old tree trunk laying on the ground and enough room to slide under it.
“Noah, look. There,” she points.
He leads her to the trunk and they both are able squeeze underneath it. Noah and Haley know that they can’t trust anybody anymore. With the few people that are left, there are gangs and everyone is starving and cold. Most people have turned to cannibalism just to be able to eat something. Animals are very scarce, and all of nature’s green is gone. Frozen to death.
* * * *
Noah and Haley watched the news as soon as they got home from school. Reports were saying that the sun was losing its flame. Scared, they tried calling their parents, who should have been home at this point. No one’s cell phones were working. The networks were being too overcrowded. Noah and Haley went outside and looked up at the sun, which was no longer hiding behind clouds. The color of it was a deep red, a crimson red. The sky behind it was turning a dark blue.
Then darkness happened. It seemed sudden. It felt like late night but it was only 5:30. Noah grabbed Haley and went inside.
“What does this mean?” Haley asked her brother
“I don’t know.”
“Where are mom and dad? Why aren’t they home yet?” Haley started to panic and cry.
"You have to calm down. They’ll be home soon.”
Noah takes his little sister in his arms and tries to comfort her, but the confusion and horror overcame him and he cried with her for hours.
The news was still on the TV showing riots, people panicking everywhere and massive car accidents on the highway. Haley and Noah sit and watch the news for hours waiting for their parents to come home.
Three days pass. They never do.
* * * *
The two men are so close; Noah and Haley can practically feel the warmth from their bodies. Noah is so cold; his teeth start to involuntarily chatter.
“Shh. Do you hear that?” says one of the men.
“Hear what?”
The two men are looking around and listening. One of them pulls out a flashlight and shines it around. He steps back at the sight of Noah’s boots.
“There! Get them!”
Noah and Haley crawl out from under the tree trunk and make a run for it. The two of them, hand in hand, run as fast as they can. Running into tree branches, tripping over tree roots and not even thinking about how the cold feels like knives stabbing them all over. Survival for each other is their main goal, so they keep running.
They hear the footsteps of the men getting closer and closer. Then suddenly there is a loud gunshot and Noah falls to the ground.
There is a ringing in Noah’s ear and a sharp pain in his side. He struggles to get up. Everything is spinning and getting blurry. He hears the sound of Haley’s voice screaming from a distance.
He blacks out.
* * * *
“We have to leave,” Noah tells Haley.
“We can’t, we have to wait for mom and dad.”
“It’s been a week. We can’t stay here it’s not safe. They’re not coming home. We have no electricity, the stores have all been raided and it is just not safe anymore.”
“I can’t go without mom and dad.”
“Fine then, Haley. I’ll go without you.”
Noah walked around the house and packed two backpacks full of canned food, the only bit of food that was left in the house. He set out two outfits, one for him and one for his sister. He put on four layers of clothes. The temperature dropped significantly in the past week.
“I’m coming with you,” says Haley.
“I know.”
So the two of them entered the darkness and started walking. They walked for days, stopping in empty houses to sleep. Sometimes they walked along the highways in search of their parents’ car. Sometimes they looked up at the sky, amazed to see the brilliant amount of stars. Usually they kept walking. They were unsure of where they were going, but they had a feeling there was something else out there.
* * * *
“Noah, can you hear me? ...Noah?”
Noah tries to open his eyes, but has a hard time adjusting to the brightness of the room.
‘Wait a minute,’ he thinks. ‘Why is it so bright in here?’
Immediately startled, he opens his eyes, only to see his sister by his side. Safe.
“Haley, what is going on?”
“We made it to the place we were heading.”
“I don’t understand”
“Remember, when we first started walking, and you told me that there had to be something out there. Well, we’re here. We’re finally safe.”
A man in a white lab coat enters the room. “Noah, glad to see you’re awake.”
“Who are you?” Noah asks.
“My name is Dr. Lee. I’m the doctor that helped patch up your wound. You were shot, but the bullet just grazed your side. You lost a good amount of blood, but you’re lucky to be alive. I’m sorry that we had to shoot you. We’ve been chasing you two for a few days. I can’t believe that the two of you lasted all that time up there.”
“Wait. You shot me? And up there?”
“Yes Noah. We just couldn’t catch you two and we didn’t want to lose you. We have seen so many lost in such a short amount of time. We predict only about 200 people are still alive in the world.”
Noah grabs his sister’s hand and continues to listen.
“Your new home is this underground camp. We are about 50 yards underground. A group of scientists predicted the event of the sun burning all of its gasses. The government wouldn’t hear them out so they started building this camp. Most of the heat and electricity come from geothermal energy. We even grow our own food down here. Enough about that, you’ll learn more about it when you get the tour. I’ll let you rest.” Dr. Lee leaves the room.
“See Noah? We’re finally safe.” She leans down and gives her brother a hug.
Even though the pain makes him wince, Noah feels safe for the first time since the darkness has happened. He thinks to him self that he and his sister are both safe and this is exactly what they were searching for when they entered the darkness.
“What time is it?” Noah asks his sister as he awakens from his sleep.
Haley looks at her watch and responds, “10 in the morning,” as she is heating of can of beans over a small, modest fire in a coffee can. They would never know what time it was if it weren’t for the watch she just got from their parents for her 16th birthday.
“You shouldn’t have let me sleep so long!”
“It’s fine. We’re safe here...for now. You are always letting me sleep longer than you anyways. And let’s face it, you needed it.”
Noah inhales sharply and takes in the savory smell of the beans. His stomach grumbles loudly. He glances around the dimly fire-lit basement of the empty house and his eyes stop at their rapidly diminishing supply of food and a knot forms in his stomach.
Looking back at his sister cooking, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“Noah, we haven’t eaten in almost two days. Besides, we need the energy to find a new spot today.”
Haley pours half of the beans in an empty can and hands it to her brother. The two weak siblings sit in silence as they eat slowly. One bean at a time, they both try to make it last and hope for something to somewhat resemble the feeling of fullness.
When they have licked their cans clean, they linger by the fire for a moment to warm up their bones. Those moments never last as long as they would like, as they must rush to pack up and start heading for another temporary place to stay. Neither of them wants to leave. They are comfortable in the basement of the empty home. Instincts tell them that it’s not safe to stay in one spot. And so they travel further into the darkness.
* * * *
It has been 4 weeks since the darkness took over. No one knew what happened or why it happened at first. It was one o’clock on a rainy Thursday in spring when it became noticeably darker outside. Noah and Haley were in class when it happened. Everyone just thought it was a bad storm when the sirens started going off. The teachers filed everyone into the hallway, just like they had always practiced. There was a lot of commotion and excitement from all of the teenagers. Some were nervous, like Haley. She scanned the long main hallway of the high school for her big brother; trying to remember what class he was in. Then suddenly, the principal’s voice was broadcasted over the PA system. He sounded urgent and anxious as he announced that everyone needed to go home to his or her families.
* * * *
Noah and Haley have been walking for hours, in the middle of nowhere. Everything seems like the middle of nowhere in the darkness. Occasionally, they use their lighters to illuminate their surroundings. They don’t very often, as they don’t want to be discovered in case there were any more survivors out there.
They came up to a gas station. Both of them are chilled to the bone and eager to find a place to rest for a moment to break the freezing wind. They listen for signs of activity. Noah flicks his lighter for a brief moment to reveal broken windows and an emptied room.
“I don’t think anyone is here,” says Noah. “Let’s go inside and rest for a little while.”
The siblings enter the gas station easily since the door was unlocked. Both of them search the shelves for any bit of food, using the light from their lighters. The only things they find are a few packs of stale cigarettes, and empty boxes.
Noah notices how much his little sister is shivering. As each day passes, it gets colder and colder. He quickly searches through his backpack for a coffee can to start a little fire. Using the empty boxes laying around the gas station, he quickly starts a fire in the can. He motions for Haley to come to him and wraps his arms around her while they try and warm up.
“You know we can’t stay long,” says Noah.
“I know.”
* * * *
Haley fought through the crowded hallway of their high school, frantically searching for her brother. The two of them have always gotten along pretty well, despite their two-year age difference. Noah had especially been very protective of her.
“Noah!” she yelled repeatedly as she squeezed in between backpacks, trying to project her voice over the commotion of the school.
An arm from the side grabbed her backpack and pulled her into a locker.
“Haley! Relax I’m right here. You are so dramatic sometimes,” says her brother.
“What’s happening, Noah?”
“I don’t know, but c’mon Sis, it’s a half-day! Let’s go home,” he says with a smile.
The two of them left the school and started walking home. They only lived a few blocks away, so they usually walked together.
The rain had stopped, but it was still unusually dark outside. Haley checked her brand new watch and it was only 1:45 in the afternoon. She looked up in the sky and the clouds were starting to clear, but the sun was still hiding. The normally blue sky was turning orange and purple, like a sunset.
“Something very strange is happening,” she said to her brother.
Noah was looking at the sky also. “Yeah, I guess so.”
He put his arm around his little sister and gave her a little squeeze as they finished their walk home.
* * * *
Noah jerks awake at the sound of footsteps from a distance. His eyes dart around the pitch-black gas station. The fire had gone out. He shakes Haley, who was asleep on his shoulder.
“We have to go NOW,” he urgently whispers.
“What’s happening?” Haley responds, dazed from sleep.
“Shhh. They’ll hear us.”
They’ll hear us. They...THEY. The words take a second to register for Haley. They quietly but quickly pack up their things and slip out the door and head towards the woods. They know they can’t run. The frozen ground will crack under their feet. They tiptoe, hoping that they won’t make too much noise.
The footsteps get louder and louder. Whoever they are, they are clumsy with their footing. Which means they don’t care, which means they must have weapons. Noah panics at this idea, as he is only armed with a small four-inch blade, he recovered from a neighborhood supermarket raiding three-and-a-half weeks ago.
Haley and Noah don’t get more than one hundred yards away and about 60 yards into the woods, when they hear them yelling in the gas station.
“There’s no one here!” yells a man.
“C’mon. Let’s go. We just missed them,” says the voice of another man.
The two men start walking in the direction of Haley and Noah. The siblings’ breathing gets shallower and faster. Noah squeezes his sister’s hand and looks at his surroundings for a place to hide. Their eyes have just barely adjusted to the darkness. Haley hardly notices an old tree trunk laying on the ground and enough room to slide under it.
“Noah, look. There,” she points.
He leads her to the trunk and they both are able squeeze underneath it. Noah and Haley know that they can’t trust anybody anymore. With the few people that are left, there are gangs and everyone is starving and cold. Most people have turned to cannibalism just to be able to eat something. Animals are very scarce, and all of nature’s green is gone. Frozen to death.
* * * *
Noah and Haley watched the news as soon as they got home from school. Reports were saying that the sun was losing its flame. Scared, they tried calling their parents, who should have been home at this point. No one’s cell phones were working. The networks were being too overcrowded. Noah and Haley went outside and looked up at the sun, which was no longer hiding behind clouds. The color of it was a deep red, a crimson red. The sky behind it was turning a dark blue.
Then darkness happened. It seemed sudden. It felt like late night but it was only 5:30. Noah grabbed Haley and went inside.
“What does this mean?” Haley asked her brother
“I don’t know.”
“Where are mom and dad? Why aren’t they home yet?” Haley started to panic and cry.
"You have to calm down. They’ll be home soon.”
Noah takes his little sister in his arms and tries to comfort her, but the confusion and horror overcame him and he cried with her for hours.
The news was still on the TV showing riots, people panicking everywhere and massive car accidents on the highway. Haley and Noah sit and watch the news for hours waiting for their parents to come home.
Three days pass. They never do.
* * * *
The two men are so close; Noah and Haley can practically feel the warmth from their bodies. Noah is so cold; his teeth start to involuntarily chatter.
“Shh. Do you hear that?” says one of the men.
“Hear what?”
The two men are looking around and listening. One of them pulls out a flashlight and shines it around. He steps back at the sight of Noah’s boots.
“There! Get them!”
Noah and Haley crawl out from under the tree trunk and make a run for it. The two of them, hand in hand, run as fast as they can. Running into tree branches, tripping over tree roots and not even thinking about how the cold feels like knives stabbing them all over. Survival for each other is their main goal, so they keep running.
They hear the footsteps of the men getting closer and closer. Then suddenly there is a loud gunshot and Noah falls to the ground.
There is a ringing in Noah’s ear and a sharp pain in his side. He struggles to get up. Everything is spinning and getting blurry. He hears the sound of Haley’s voice screaming from a distance.
He blacks out.
* * * *
“We have to leave,” Noah tells Haley.
“We can’t, we have to wait for mom and dad.”
“It’s been a week. We can’t stay here it’s not safe. They’re not coming home. We have no electricity, the stores have all been raided and it is just not safe anymore.”
“I can’t go without mom and dad.”
“Fine then, Haley. I’ll go without you.”
Noah walked around the house and packed two backpacks full of canned food, the only bit of food that was left in the house. He set out two outfits, one for him and one for his sister. He put on four layers of clothes. The temperature dropped significantly in the past week.
“I’m coming with you,” says Haley.
“I know.”
So the two of them entered the darkness and started walking. They walked for days, stopping in empty houses to sleep. Sometimes they walked along the highways in search of their parents’ car. Sometimes they looked up at the sky, amazed to see the brilliant amount of stars. Usually they kept walking. They were unsure of where they were going, but they had a feeling there was something else out there.
* * * *
“Noah, can you hear me? ...Noah?”
Noah tries to open his eyes, but has a hard time adjusting to the brightness of the room.
‘Wait a minute,’ he thinks. ‘Why is it so bright in here?’
Immediately startled, he opens his eyes, only to see his sister by his side. Safe.
“Haley, what is going on?”
“We made it to the place we were heading.”
“I don’t understand”
“Remember, when we first started walking, and you told me that there had to be something out there. Well, we’re here. We’re finally safe.”
A man in a white lab coat enters the room. “Noah, glad to see you’re awake.”
“Who are you?” Noah asks.
“My name is Dr. Lee. I’m the doctor that helped patch up your wound. You were shot, but the bullet just grazed your side. You lost a good amount of blood, but you’re lucky to be alive. I’m sorry that we had to shoot you. We’ve been chasing you two for a few days. I can’t believe that the two of you lasted all that time up there.”
“Wait. You shot me? And up there?”
“Yes Noah. We just couldn’t catch you two and we didn’t want to lose you. We have seen so many lost in such a short amount of time. We predict only about 200 people are still alive in the world.”
Noah grabs his sister’s hand and continues to listen.
“Your new home is this underground camp. We are about 50 yards underground. A group of scientists predicted the event of the sun burning all of its gasses. The government wouldn’t hear them out so they started building this camp. Most of the heat and electricity come from geothermal energy. We even grow our own food down here. Enough about that, you’ll learn more about it when you get the tour. I’ll let you rest.” Dr. Lee leaves the room.
“See Noah? We’re finally safe.” She leans down and gives her brother a hug.
Even though the pain makes him wince, Noah feels safe for the first time since the darkness has happened. He thinks to him self that he and his sister are both safe and this is exactly what they were searching for when they entered the darkness.
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A story about a brother a sister trying to survive the harsh conditions of the earth when the sun burns all of its gasses.
© 2014 - 2024 jordyn
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