short story

He rested his head on the pillow and just lay there staring at the glowing outline of the shade of his window. The room had a thin film of darkness in the air but the small boy climbed out of bed and went over to the window softly peaking out and seeing down at the small children running and playing. Their laughter rose and rang in his ears. And he watched them- children his age or only a few years older or younger.

It struck him odd to know he was supposed to be going to bed at such a time, but reflecting on this he did not remember much of the afternoon. He just remembered the children playing in the street. There was the steady beat of a jump rope and the bounce of rubber balls as they hit the pavement. But the children’s laughter struck the boy most. He watched them until the small children were all called in for supper and the streets grew dark on their own.

And the boy still stood: watching suddenly another child walk out into the street. Only this was not a child like the children he that once inhabited the street. He sat down on the steps of a house that rarely anyone went into or out of- only Mrs. Greene lived there. She was old and mean and snapped at the small children when they shouted too loud or laughed to loud, but the older child sat there.

He was sixteen- but to the small boy peering out of his window with the shade banging against his awkward shoulder blades that poked out whenever the wind swept in- this young man was no more different than him. Although passive to their similarity the young boy just peered out at him. His hair was dark and thick much like his own. They both sat and waited for nothing they quite understood.

The streetlight flickered on after a few more minutes and the small boy stared at them. The one just beneath his window was his safety. Despite the teasing, the small boy just stared at the light. It kept the night away from his window. It was like the guardian angels he was told about sometimes in school. He leaned onto his window and then looked past the light to the boy. He was standing now and looking at the streetlight. His eyes glowed from far away with the dim light.

For so long both have relied on this light but all at once the light faded slowly like time falling from the face of a clock. It flickered softly in the night and both boys straightened and stared at the sickly light. It struggled as if it were the flashing wings of moths to keep the single light afloat on the short street. There were moments of darkness that were short but struck terror into the little boy.

And finally the light went out.

The streetlight gave up it’s fight.

Terror struck the small boy in his stomach. He felt sick suddenly and waited hopelessly for the light to return. But no, the light did not return. He turned around slowly letting the shade slip away from his back and he faced the pitch dark of his room. His jaw fell open slightly and he stared into it.

He remained motionless, as if by moving he’d be snatched up. He breathed without a single rise in his chest and he closed his eyes staring at the man-made darkness of his eyelids. When he opened them he heard the stumble from the Monster and he dashed quickly for his bed finding it’s safety as he heard the Monster growing closer. He leapt upon the soft mattress and under the blankets. He clasped his shaking hands and held himself tightly.
His guardian angel was gone.

He breathed softly and saw the light of his guardian angel’s opposite. And he whimpered softly. Darkness was now tickling his ankles and rather than kick them, he endured. The Monster walked past his room. The dark shadow’s of It’s feet were shown underneath the door and the little boy just watched in terror. His eyes wide and begging for the invisible white to be reveled in the darkness but all was black except for the light beneath the slit in his door.
The light went out and for a moment he felt relief. Because at least he knew the Monster was gone. All he had to face now was the monsters he had never seen before. And that seemed a smaller feat.

When the streetlight was fixed the children played in the streets under the man who replaced the light. That night there was no small boy in that room because the nights of darkness had gotten the best of him finally.