Darkness Settles In

The cold chill of the night air was accompanied by falling flakes of thick, heavy snow. Like weightless diamonds in the night, they fluttered down and reflected the warm glow of a crackling fire near the deck of the dark wood cabin behind him. The lights within were out, casting the area in dark shadows broken only by the flickering firelight that played across his unshaven face.

Out beyond the light he watched as the snow fell across the glassy surface of a frozen lake. Were it not for the nearly full moon shining brightly within the clear, starry night sky and the glittering crystals of the freshly fallen snow its inky black surface would have been lost in the darkness that surrounded him. That darkness was colder still than air that turned his breath to mist as he exhaled. It was empty, like the cabin behind him now stood.

The man shifted, the wood of his chair creaking along with his weight. He lifted a glass to his lips, ice shifting slightly with the barest of clinks that, in the stillness of the night, seemed far louder than it otherwise might have been. He tasted the bourbon as it trickled past his lips, felt the heat as it moved down through his chest, and did more to warm him than the fire that burned nearby to fight off the cold.

He closed his eyes, and the darkness of night turned to a bright winter day within his mind. He heard the scrape of skates across the ice, felt the joy and laughter that welled up within his chest from somewhere deep, somewhere he hadn't known existed. Like whispers upon the wind, he heard the laughter of his daughters, the calls of his beloved wife to come and join them. Saw the gold of her honey-colored hair as it shone in the sunlight.

Another drink, another splash of delicious heat deep within his chest, and like the turning of a channel on the television the scene within his mind changed. The lake wasn't frozen but still, the cold was creeping in. His daughter's excited squeals fueled him as he pushed the boat out away from the dock and used the oars to propel them out over the dark surface of the lake. He heard laughter as the end of a pole dipped down and the first catch of the day began its fight to stay in the water.

The heat of the bourbon warmed him once more and again the scene within his mind changed. There was a dull thud as the sharpened head of an ax struck home within the block of wood, splitting it cleanly to be set aside for firewood later. The creak of his seat as he shifted became that of the door opening as his wife's voice sang out over the still country air, calling him back inside for dinner with his family.

Memories... like living things they dwelled within him and every night his mind played through them as clear as if he was sitting watching them upon a screen. Every night he heard his wife's voices, the laughter of the children he loved with all that he had. Every night that drink would run empty, the glass clinking like mournful chimes as once again the scene changed. Melodious laughter became terrible screams, the excitement became fear and that clinking of ice in a glass sounded more like a deep-rooted crack across the surface of the lake.

His eyes looked out at the darkness before him, the glassy surface of the lake. Though the details were lost within the night he knew the spot where its strength had failed. Could point out even from here where the water had swallowed his family. Like ghosts, the memories haunted him... reminding him of all that had been taken, the peace that had been shattered and lost. Darkness had claimed his family... and as the fire waned and that darkness settled in around him he wondered: How long before it claimed him too?