Darkness

Dark.

Silence pervades the room. Somewhere a knocking at what sounded like a glass window starts somewhere in the building I'm in.

Where am I? I can't remember. I'm on the floor somewhere. It's hard. Like a wood floor. Smells clean but there's dust all around me.

I open my eyes. There's no light anywhere. I strain my eyes, trying to see if there's anything I can recognize. The darkness is so thick that I begin to panic a little.

Pain.

My head hurts. Searing pain in my temple on my left side. I reach up. Wet. I'm bleeding. I've got to find some light!

I try to get up. So weak. I can barely move anything. Feels like I've been lying on this floor for months. My bones ache where the floor meets them...

Deep breath--push! Now I'm starting to raise my body off the floor. I get halfway to sitting and have to lie down again. I feel like I'm spinning and sinking at the same time. Dust chokes me as I breathe deeply in. Tears flow down my face and I force them away! No! I will not cry! I'm strong!

I lay there taking deeper breaths, building up the energy in my body until finally I can lift myself all the way up onto my arms and hips, leaning to the side. My head feels like it doesn't know up from down or right from left. It feels like the whole world is spinning around me. More deep breaths. My head clears. I start to feel strong enough to slide along the floor looking for a wall and perhaps a light switch and doorway out of wherever I am...

My left side aches as it was on the floor for I don't know how long. There's no way I can even lean on it to move along the floor. What do I do...I know. Knees.

On my hands and knees I crawl along, half crawling, half dragging myself. My legs feel pins and needles. No way I can do this! What do I do!?

More deep breaths. Rub legs. Harder! Faster! Searing pain filling both of them! I've never felt such agony!!!

Several seconds go by but feel like several minutes. So tired. So weak. Sinking feeling--I'm going to pass out! DEEPER BREATHS, SAM!!! SAM???

I'm Sam. Okay. I know my name. How old am I? 15. Good. Now, what happened? I don't know. Wait...I seem to remember loud noises....explosions....people screaming...gunshots and people running. Was that a dream or did it really happen?

Ohhh....much better. I can move now. No more pain in my legs. Dizziness is passing.

Up on my knees I look up and around me, squinting to see if I can see anything anywhere.

I pull myself to standing. I sway a bit at first. More deep breaths. I'm completely blind! Hands forward, careful steps...one...two...three...four...five---oops! Almost fell there! What the heck was that I tripped on?!!!

I reach down. Feels like broken something. Wood. It's smooth. Feels like mom's decorative wooden candle stick holders from the mantle. Okay, I must be near the fireplace. I pick it up to put it back.

I reach forward, still in total darkness, stepping slowly and carefully forward. There's the fireplace. The candle stick holder is back where it goes. The light switch is to the right of this fireplace. Sliding my hands along the wall I find it. Click! Nothing.

Great. No power.

"Mom!!! Dad!!! Troy!"

No answer. No echo. Just silence. Heavy silence. And dust. Everywhere it's dusty! Feels like I'm choking half the time!

"ANYONE!!? Is anyone there?!"

I wait a few seconds, standing as still as I can, straining for any sound in response. I'm on my own. No one can hear me or if they do, they can't respond.

I continue walking along the side of the wall, hands gliding along it, guiding my movement. The door should be here somewhere...

Suddenly I feel a giant opening in the wall where the door once was and I look out. I feel a warm breeze stroking my face as I lean into the hole. In the distance I can see a tiny bit of light far, far away. I keep looking steadily toward that light as it grows brighter, just bright enough that I can see, looking around, that the wall has been blown open, there's debris and people everywhere on the ground outside.

The light gets brighter, moves toward me, still far away.

Oh my God...oh my God! I remember!

I scream and fall backward, unconscious, and blissfully so.

Because the machine coming toward me is coming to finish me off.

They didn't know I survived. I remember what happened and it was awful! The stuff nightmares are made of!

They killed all of us and destroyed every home and building in this area.

Why you ask?

Because we dared to say no. That's it. We said we were done being treated like slaves with no freedoms, no privileges, no rights whatsoever!

They sent the machines and the machines devastated our entire neighborhood. Everyone I know is dead. Everything I've ever known is gone.

"Samantha Brie," the machine voice called out as it loomed over me, "you do not have permission to be alive. You will now be terminated properly."

I reach up, instinctively grabbing the gold heart locket around my neck. My family picture is inside the locket. I hold fast to their memories and draw one last, deep breath. Any second now I'll be with them again in the next life!

A loud, screaming noise echoes around me. My eyes tightly shut as I brace for the worst...the terrible sound of large amounts of steel crashing to the ground hits the floor a few feet away.

Then nothing.

Footsteps. They get closer, running toward me. I can hear them now pounding in my ears, vibrating through my body!

"Sam. It's okay. You're safe. I've got you."

I open my eyes and see a hand directly in front of me reaching out to pull me up.

"Dad! You're alive!"

He holds me close, our hearts pounding. "Time to go. I've got your mother and brothers nearby. We're getting out of here and never coming back."

We climb over the machine and away from the house I grew up in, the neighborhood I'd spent every minute of my life being afraid.

"Where are we going?" I ask, clutching my dad.

"Toward the light."

"Okay."

We walk away, stepping over pieces of houses, furniture, trees, machinery, and what were once people.

But for now, for the first time in my life that I can remember, I feel safe.