Nothing Stares Back

• Nothing Stares Back

Ever since the Great Cascade the sky has never been more dark. I tilt my head up to the sky and send out pings, hoping for anything, but it’s all for not. I keep thinking to myself that I'm doing something wrong, that everyone else can do it. But of course just like my friends and family all they see is nothing. Just like me.

I bring my head back down as I feel the movement of an object. I hear it approaching faster and faster as the seconds go by, waiting for its arrival. I feel a round object to the side of me, I pick it up out of instinct. The information from my pings tells me that this is a rock, better weapon than none I think.

I raise it up in preparation for the thing coming at me. My pings come back faster than before, a clear sign it’s getting closer. All of a sudden I don’t hear it, almost as if it disappeared right in front of me. Usually I'm used to this but this was one of the first times that eternal darkness felt horrifying. I make a tapping noise with my feet, hoping to get a response. Although I expected a tap back, what I did get was a very familiar voice.

“Shamshel are you there?” the voice says, almost in a worried tone.

I lower my hand and send out a couple pings. When they returned I could now feel this person’s features, it was Joseph. I let out a sigh of relief “Joseph what’re you doing out here?”

He shrugs “I felt your pings so I’d thought of investigating, besides no one lives out here”.

He’s right this is the one place that isn’t occupied, but that’s why I like it. It’s always silent in this place so It can be nice to day dream, to get lost in one’s mind for hours.

“But besides that, come with me, I’ve found something that you would love to see,” Joseph said.

Heh, see, what a funny word, I can see but it’s not always helpful. I feel him moving and I start to follow him, each of us sending out our own pings.

“Where are you taking me?” I say, still wondering if he’s gonna lead me to a hill. He’s done that before, hell we’ve all done that before. The older kids would lead the younger ones near the edges of hills, it’s there that they’d trip them and make them tumble all the way down. Of course in the end their mothers would give them a good whack, but that’s how we'd pass the time in an eternity of darkness. “You’ll see” he replied, I could feel a tinge of anticipation from his body. It took a while for us to move through the rocky terrain but we arrived. After using my pings I could feel that we were right in front of an opening, possibly a cave. “Great cave, more darkness, is this all you wanted to show me?” I said. Now don’t get me wrong, finding a cave is pretty brilliant but it’s not something you’d drag your friend all across the planet to “see”.

“It’s not the cave, it’s what’s inside the cave,” Joseph said, sounding a bit more excited than usual.

I let out a sigh and made a moving gesture to him. He must have felt it because he began to go into the cave. As we got into the cave something felt odd, it was too smooth. Usually caves are jagged on the inside, but this cave was too smooth almost as if it wasn't a cave at all but a structure. “Hum, Joseph are you sure this is a cave?” I ask him.

“I'm pretty sure, maybe, I think it is but I just found it cool how smooth it is”.

“Ok just wondering, I don’t want to put doubt in your finding skills, I just don’t think this is a cave” I say. Joseph lets out a little chuckle “relax man besides it’s what’s in the cave that’s important”. Before I could reply a small bright glow seemed to resonate deep within the “cave”. That’s the first time in literal years that I've seen anything except darkness. The glow hypnotized me as I walked closer to it, like if it was calling my name. Once we made a turn into the cave we saw it, never in my whole life would I think I would see it. There was a large orb of yellow light at the end of the cave. I ran to it in excitement, sliding on my knees before stopping right in front of it. Wide eyed, I slowly reach my hand out to touch it. It was the smoothest thing any of us had ever felt, even more smooth than the cave. Joseph knelt beside it as well, just looking at it. I looked over to him to see his expression. Usually there’s no light for us to make out any detailed features, but in the light it was all clear. His skin was pale to the point you could almost see his bones. His ears were pointier than mine with a sharper tip. His eyes looked partially glazed over due to the lifetime in darkness. But out of the features that made him ghoulish, his smile was the most human. His smile reminds me that even in the pit of darkness, we’ll continue to hold on to our humanity for as long as possible. It’s not the end for us, it’s just the beginning.

Joseph then looks in my direction with a smile “so, you wanna help me get it out of here?”.

It took a while, but we were able to get it out of the cave as we carried it towards home.

“Wait Shamshel, something feels off” Joseph says, almost sounding worried. The second he spoke I began to feel something as well. We feel things all the time but this wasn’t natural at all, almost like it had intent. I looked out to see what's behind us, I wish I never did that. Because what I saw shocked me to my very core. I saw three humanoid figures over a hill, presumably watching us. “Marauders!” I yell, getting Joseph’s attention. As soon as I told him, Joseph sprinted away with me trying to catch up. I look back behind us and the three Marauders running down the hill towards us. I yell to Joseph “you go up ahead, I'll deal with our chasers”. Without saying a word Joseph continued to run, still carrying the orb in his hands. I slow down before stopping, facing the direction where the Marauders are. The light helped a lot with spotting them, but now that I don't have it I'll have to rely on my pings. I feel around my legs before finally remembering the knife strapped to my waist. I pull it out, feeling the smooth handle and sharp tip. I sent out a couple pings to find them, and I did.

All three of them were coming right at me, getting closer and closer. I couldn’t tell if they had weapons but it didn’t matter, I was gonna get hurt anyway. I must have surprised them since once they got close enough to hit them, I heard two of them yelp in horror. I caught my knife in the first one’s neck as I quickly pulled away. I felt the thud of his body fall to the floor lifeless. After being startled, the other two set their intentions on me as they hit me with who knows what. I felt hard and sharp surfaces hit me, all of them hurt but nothing I couldn't handle.

After sending a few pings I felt something very familiar, the stomach. I stabbed one of them and pulled upwards, feeling his intestines pour out. The moment he started to scream, I stuck my knife deep into his throat. Before I could get it out, the last one sent me and himself to the ground. We skidded across the rocks and dirt, feeling the cuts and scrapes forming on my body. He got on top of me and proceeded to choke me, hell bent on killing me. Out of instinct I trap his arm and trap his foot with my foot, making him roll. After we rolled I reached out for a rock and hit him on the side of the head with it. I then got on top of him and proceeded to slam the rock on his head over and over. After hitting his head ten times I finally stopped to take a breather. I could feel his body and his features. The cuts and scrapes, hair, clothes, even the dents I put in his skull. I ping his lifeless body one last time as I stare at him, but just like the starless void of the sky, nothing stares back.