Trou Noir

The last glow had faded... How much time had passed since that fateful day? Weeks, months? Maybe more?  

In a nearly lethargic state, I remember that day, which we had prepared for down to the last detail. A beautiful summer day where the sun shone fiercely, and everyone dreamed of heading to the seaside, while we were getting ready to descend into the heart of darkness.

A dull noise in the distance brings me back to the terrible reality. A horrifying sound coming from the depths of the earth, which haunts us endlessly. It’s like a heartbeat, a gloomy rumble that haunts this cursed place.  

— We have discovered the gates of hell! This chasm will be our grave, moans Jason.  

— Shut up, Jason, shouts Mike, this is not the time to waver.  

But Jason is right; we will probably never see the sky again. And even if rescuers were sent to look for us, they must have long since given up.  

By luck or misfortune, once swallowed by this belly that devoured us alive, we managed to survive thanks to a cavernous flora that thrives in this hostile environment.  

This providential vegetation challenges all scientific theories that state that nothing can survive in absolute darkness. Here, there is no photosynthesis, life without light. Some researchers would give everything they possess to witness this fantastic phenomenon.

A phenomenon that serves as our food while our reserves have quickly depleted. This unknown underground species has no flavor and certainly very little nutritional value, as hunger never really leaves us. We chew on it constantly in the hope of being satiated, gathering these sorts of spongy flakes from the walls of the icy cavern.

The darkness possesses us as if it has absorbed us. It melts us into this complete obscurity. It slowly digests us within this gloomy environment where the gift of sight is obsolete. What must we look like now? Terrifying bags of emaciated bones, disheveled, stinking.

— Wake up, Paul, we have to go!

I open one eye and she is there in front of me. Eva. My love. With her angelic face and her beautiful golden curls cascading into her chest.

— Don't look at me like that, she says, laughing, you look like you've seen a ghost.

That laugh… That laugh that I loved so much…

— Paul! Paul! Mike shouted, pulling me back into this void of absolute blackness. We have to try again. We can't end up here, not like this!

— He's stronger than us, Mike, I say resigned.

— What? What are you talking about, Paul? Who are you talking about, for heaven's sake!

— The darkness, Mike! It possesses us. Now that we have defied it, it won't let us go.

— No way, you both have completely lost it.

The cracking sound is heard again, like an echo intruding into our conversation to signify that we are at its mercy. A terrifying sound that no sound engineer could replicate. 

We have tried several times to free ourselves from this stone cage that has engulfed us. But all our attempts have been in vain. The survival instinct, that's all. That force that pushes you to go all in. How long does it take for this adrenaline rush to finally fade away? 

— I don’t want to die here, eating seaweed, Mike added. 

I feel his silhouette rise up, spitting out the odorless and colorless plants that the infinite night has created in its terrifying lair. 

Jason's teeth chatter against me, his protruding ribs piercing mine. Because in addition to the darkness, there is this cold. This cold that freezes the veins down to the blood.

The sleeping bags we brought are soaked with water. Water that is no longer a source of life in this apocalyptic shroud. No, it is ice-cold like death. Water that smells of mold and settles everywhere, gnawing at every pore of our skin. 

— What are you planning to do? Jason asks Mike. 

There’s no way out. The tons of rock that have fallen have buried us alive forever. 

We have used all our strength, scratching at the ground as hard as concrete and trying to clear the pile of stone blocks that obstruct the entrance to the cavity in which we are trapped. Our hands are horrifically painful, our bodies no longer support us.

— I have to try.  

— Try what?  

— We need to attempt to find an exit.  

— But there isn't one; we've gone all the way around this hole.  

— Try to remember, Paul, you were in charge of the route, he said, shaking me.  

— I don’t remember anything; how many times do I have to repeat it to you?  

Why had we ended up in this dead-end room? What were we looking for in this place with no way out? It was a mystery. None of us could recall.  

I had woken up with a terrible headache and bruises all over my body. A thick trickle of coagulated blood was running down my face... And then darkness in my mind but also everywhere. Absolute darkness like one cannot imagine. A heavy, oppressive, terrifying blackness that surrounded us and paralyzed us.  

Our meager food rations had not lasted long, and the light from our headlamps had eventually gone out as well, leaving us devastated, hopeless, condemned to certain death in the midst of the void of an eternal night.  

Hours had passed, then days that we could no longer see unfold, and time had ultimately slipped away from us as well.

From inner nightmares to irrational dreams, we were lost, body and soul in a world cut off from the world. But this land beneath the earth is not done with us. It keeps shaking and groaning more and more intensely. It twists and dislocates as if it were having a bad digestion.

Mike finds himself on the ground in a tremor more violent than the others. Jason lets out a scream. Groping around, I try to find him, but I understand in horror that he has disappeared, even though just a few seconds ago I could still feel his breath against my cheek. 

– Jason! 

– Nothing broken, Paul? 

– Jason has disappeared! 

– You're delusional, that's impossible; he couldn't have flown away. 

– I'm telling you he's not here. Don't move, I think he fell. 

– Fell? Fell where? 

– I don't know! 

A silence more terrifying than the constant rumblings that torment us all day settles in. Then a freezing air filled with suffocating dust bursts from the depths, and suddenly… We hear Jason scream: 

– This is not possible! 

– I think I'm hallucinating. 

– What do you mean? What do you see? 

– Something that shines. A damn thing that shines! he screams. 

Mike and I head towards the sound of his voice, sliding into a narrow passage. I finally manage to touch him, and he grabs my face with both hands and turns my head to the side. I see it. A tiny shining star in the middle of an ocean of darkness. 

There we are, the three of us, stunned in front of this little shining point that blinds us nonetheless. Mike is the first to react. 

– I'm going to get closer, stay here! 

Endless seconds pass. He crawls slowly through the tunnel, then stops there without moving. 

– Mike! Mike! What do you see? Jason impatiently asks, will you answer yes or no?

— I believe I've never loved observing the night as much as I do now.  

— The night? What are you talking about?  

— Outside... Outside, it’s night, he says in awe, his voice trembling on the verge of tears. It’s magnificent.  

We crawl towards him and discover the most beautiful spectacle. The stars, the moon, infinity is presented to us in the majestic glimmers of pure magic. A dazzling fairy tale...  

In a moan that seems distant to me, I hear Jason strangely say:  

— Do you think we’ll make it out?  

— Of course, I say, laughing out loud, we’ll definitely make it out. Look! Look at the light. I’ve never seen anything so spectacular.  

— The light, what light? Where do you see light? he asks eagerly.  

— But there! Can’t you see? Look, it’s magnificent!  

— I see nothing. There’s no light, Paul!  

His wide eyes plunged into the abyss, the void reappears.  

The darkness has turned us into delirious shadows offered to the nightmares of the night.