Blackout

Blackout

I am lost in my own thoughts again. I blink my eyes rapidly as my focus returns. 

Was I daydreaming?

Yellow road lines travel down the center of the dark red convertible I’m driving. I guide the car back into the right lane. Luckily, there is no oncoming traffic on this two lane road. As far as I can see, there is nothing at all out here. No other cars, no foliage, just a whole bunch of yellow desert and blue sky. The only thing breaking up the unending flatness is a brownish landmass in the far distance…

Is that a butte or a mesa…maybe a plateau or a bluff?

I don’t know what it’s called but it is the only thing of note out here. Moving from the horizon back towards the car, random slick spots dot the road. 

Must be a mirage. 

Confirming my suspicions, the air above the road has a heat induced wavy look to it. In spite of the implied hot temperature, I’m not sweating. Then again I am driving in a convertible with the top down. A steady breeze blows past me as I cruise down the road.

The speedometer says I am going 59 miles per hour. I don’t recall seeing any speed limit signs since I awoke from my daydream. I let off the accelerator a little until the speedometer drops to 45…just to be safe. 

Now traveling at a safer speed, I turn my thoughts back to internal matters. I have no idea who I am or where I’m going. I can’t even recall what I was doing 5 minutes ago. My mind is one big mental void. I feel like there’s something important that I should know but I’m drawing a blank. Besides how to drive a car and fancy words for desert landmasses, I can’t remember anything.

Maybe there’s something in this car that can jog my memory.

The passenger seat, center console and rear seats are all empty. I slow down and pull off the road. Little plumes of dust kick up as the tires crackle on the sand. As the car stops, the brakes give out a tiny mechanical whine. I open the glove compartment and a folded road map falls out. I open the map to find a dark red line connected to an “X”. The “X” is next to a blocky landmass at the end of a fairly straight road. Scribbled next to the “X” is the word “REMEMBER” in black ink. 

Well, I guess I’m going the right way. I should still check the trunk just in case.

As I step out of the car, I grab the keys out of the ignition. I am wearing a black button-down shirt, blue jeans and black cowboy boots. I search my pockets but they’re empty. As I make my way to the rear of the car, the crunching of my boots on the sand is the only sound I hear. Using my hand to shield my eyes, I look up. There are no clouds or birds in the sky, just the sun beaming down. Opening the trunk reveals a spare tire, a car jack and nothing else. I close the trunk and return to the driver’s seat. 

I have no idea who I am, where I’m going or what I’m doing. The only clue I have to my identity is this map. Guess my only option is to keep going.

I start the car but before pulling back on the road, I refold the map and put it back in the glove compartment. This is the only lead I have and I don’t want to lose it. Besides, my route is a straight line. If I stay on this road, eventually I should reach whatever that is in the distance and find out what it is I’m supposed to remember. I check the side mirror before 

pulling back on the road and accelerating back up to 45 miles per hour. I’m not sure how much farther I have to go or how much longer it will take. The landmass ahead looks no closer than the first time I noticed it.

This is going to take forever.

Looking to pass the time, I turn on the radio. Loud static blares out of the speakers. I turn the volume down and then slowly rotate the dial. Every station is just more static. 

I guess I was crazy to expect a radio signal in the middle of nowhere.

I'm reach to turn the radio off when I notice a tape deck. I push the eject button and a black cassette tape pops out. There are no markings on the tape. I insert the cassette back into the slot. A song begins playing: 

“Hello darkness, my old friend…hello darkness, my old…hello darkness…hello dark… hello dark…dark...dark…dark…”

The song begins skipping almost immediately before abruptly cutting off. Ribbons of black tape and wisps of smoke spew out of the cassette slot as the smell of burning plastic wafts out of the hole.

Well that was…ominous.

I continue driving with only the sound of the engine and the tires to listen to. Twenty minutes later, I hear static again. I look at the radio but it is still off. 

Maybe eating that tape messed the radio up.

Actually, the static doesn’t appear to be coming from the front of the car at all. The sound seems to be coming from behind... I look in the rearview mirror and my mouth drops open. I look over my shoulder to make sure I am indeed seeing what I think I am seeing. I stop in the middle of the road, get out and look again. In the far distance is a curtain of complete darkness.

Is the sun setting?

I look up to see the sun still beating down from above. Whatever that darkness is, it has nothing to do with sunset. Before I can figure out what to do, I notice that the darkness is closer than it was when I first stopped.

I do not want to find out what that is.

I jump back in the car and speed off. My heart is racing as my eyes continuously flick to the rearview mirror. Whatever is behind me is approaching fast. I push the accelerator down as far as it can go. Soon, I’m going ninety miles per hour but not only is the darkness getting no farther away, it’s catching up to me. The static sound is getting louder and I instinctively glance down at the radio. Wisps of tape flap wildly in the wind but the radio is still off. As I try to outrun the darkness, I find myself spending more time focused on the rearview mirror and less time focusing on the road in front of me.

Good thing this road is straight, flat and empty. 

Suddenly, the view ahead changes. The landmass in the distance has vanished and a curtain of blackness is in its place. I immediately release the accelerator and apply the brakes. After a long skid, the car screeches to a halt sideways across both lanes. 

What is going on? 

The darkness to my left is still approaching and now there is blackness to my right. The vanishing yellow road lines tell me that the blackness to my right is also moving towards me. My head oscillates back and forth while I try to figure out what to do. 

The only directions not being gobbled up by the two voids are forward and backward. My breath is coming out in short shallow bursts and my heart is beating a mile a minute. 

Having a heart attack is not going to help me get out of this.

I force myself to close my eyes and take a deep breath. I slowly release the breath, open my eyes and floor on the gas pedal. The car fishtails as it lurches off the road onto the sand. I grip the steering wheel so hard that my knuckles begin to ache as I try to keep the car under control. The car manages to stay straight and begins speeding off into the desert. 

Maybe…just maybe…I can outrun this. 

The darkness extends forward on both sides as far as I can see. The sound of rocks and dust pinging off the undercarriage is slowly drowned out by the surround sound of static emanating from the encroaching walls. Soon the left wall is so close that I could reach out and touch it. When the walls reach the side mirrors, the mirrors begin to disintegrate. I continue trying to drive out of danger as the walls continue closing in. 

Suddenly, all four tires simultaneously explode. The darkness has eaten through the outside wall of the tires. The car grinds to a halt as the blackness continues inward. As the walls advance, I move to the center of the car. The car chassis drops to the ground due to the rims holding it up being completely gone.

I don’t think I’m getting out of this.

Abruptly, a bright light appears in front of the car. I squint my eyes. There is indeed a radiant shaft of light about a quarter mile in front of me. 

This may be my only hope.

I climb over the front windshield and slide down the hood. Landing on my feet, I begin running towards the light. The advancing darkness has slowed but both walls are still creeping inward. When the blackness touches one of my shirt sleeves, I begin shuffling at an angle. Before long, I am sidestepping towards the light with the darkness right in my face. I hold my breath to make my body as narrow as possible. The void is just beginning to eat away at the tips of my boots when I reach the light.

I collapse into the ring of light as the dark hallway slowly closes behind me. The breath I had been holding bursts out of my mouth. All I can hear is my rapid breathing. In spite of the lurking darkness completely surrounding the circle of light, I can no longer hear the static.

Now what?

Before I can figure out my next move, the edge of the circle catches my attention. The wall of light is slowly eroding inward. 

There’s no escape. 

I stand in the center of the circle with my brows furrowed. The futility of my situation is obvious. Surprisingly, my heart rate and breathing slows. 

There’s nothing I can do. This is it.

I shove my hands into my pockets and sigh as the darkness edges closer.

I didn’t even get to figure out what I forgot.

When the void touches my body I feel no pain. It doesn’t feel like anything at all. As the darkness slowly engulfs me, I stare up into the light above. In an instant, I am fully immersed in black. The brightness reduces down to a singular point in the void around me. As I stare at the speck of light, a single thought ironically crosses my mind.

Hello darkness, my old friend.

The last sound I hear as the tiny mote of light winks out of existence is a brief electric ‘pshew’ sound.

______________________________________________________

“Jonah, how many times do I have to tell you to go to bed?” comes a rapidly approaching voice.

A woman in a floral nightgown steps into the doorway and turns the light on. Jonah is sitting in his bed with his hands behind his back. 

“I am in bed,” Jonah says with wide eyes.

“Ok,” she says, looking around the room. 

Jonah’s eyes dart over to the television but he focuses them back on his mother before she looks back at him. 

“It’s past your bedtime.” she says, giving him her serious look. “If I have to come back in here, you're gonna get it.

“Ok,” Jonah replies as he lays down. “Night, mom.”

“Good night,” she says as she turns off the light. 

The remote in his hand is digging into his back but that pain is nothing compared to the pain he’d feel if his mother found out he was up late watching television again. Even worse, she might take the television out of his room altogether. 

He pulls his blanket up to his chin as his mother leaves his room. As her footsteps travel down the hall, Jonah pulls the remote from under his back and places it on the nightstand. 

“I’ll have to ask Calvin how this episode of 'The Lost Traveler' ended tomorrow at school,” Jonah says.

As Jonah stares at the ceiling waiting for sleep to come, he begins quietly humming. Jonah’s eyes flutter shut and soon he is snoring. As he begins to dream, the song he was humming plays in his mind.

Hello darkness, my old friend.