Deep, Dark Black

As Amanda opened her car’s hood, attempting to find the cause of the strange rattling sound, she watched the strange cloud in the sky. It was in the far distance, really just a smudge in the sky, hardly worth mentioning. But it was black. Deep, dark black. Amanda had never seen a cloud like it.

It was an otherwise gorgeous day downtown: bright skies, a warm breeze, no rain. Although, calling it “downtown” was generous. None of the buildings were over two stories tall, there was always easy parking, and it had a perpetual run-down feeling. Despite all that, Amanda loved her town. 

Her boyfriend, Charlie, was in the repair shop across the street, attempting to haggle the owner into checking out their car for free despite Amanda stating that it didn’t work like that; you had to pay for services just like everyone else. But Charlie was Charlie so he had gone in to try anyway, leaving a bemused and beleaguered Amanda to pop the hood and see if she could fix the problem herself, regardless of her limited knowledge of engines. The worst part was Charlie was rather good at getting what he wanted so there was a decent chance they would get the inspection for free, which annoyed Amanda.

Looking up at the odd cloud, Amanda became distracted and accidentally burned herself on something hot in the car's inner workings. She yelped and jumped back. 

“Shoulda turned the car off first,” she mumbled to herself, opening the car door to turn off the engine and feeling extremely grateful that Charlie hadn’t been here to see that. She turned off the engine and pulled out the key. Just then, a shadow fell over her and she popped her head out the window to watch that cloud. 

Amanda frowned. She had first noticed it because of how dark it had been. Completely black. Now she noticed it for how fast it moved. In fact, the horizon seemed to be slowly bleeding black. Amanda felt her heart rate pick up. It was a very odd cloud.

Amanda put the key back in the ignition. The sky was starting to give Amanda a queasy feeling she didn't like. They could come back later to fix the car, right? 

Amanda decided that she’d swing around to pick up Charlie and then go a few miles down the country roads before fixing the car. Just far enough to be away from that darkness. Besides, Charlie was handy, almost as handy as he was persuasive. They could figure it out themselves.

Rrr…rrr…rrr…

“Come on!” Amanda yelled, slapping the steering wheel. Amanda took the key out, slipped it back in, and tried again.

The key turned in the ignition and started with the loud, familiar rumble Amanda so adored. She let out a whoop of joy and pressed her foot to the gas, checking her mirrors as she did to make sure she didn’t accidentally kill any pedestrians—

The car shuddered to a stop as Amanda slammed on the brakes.

Black. The sky was black. It didn’t look like night, or smoke, or anything natural. It looked like ink blotting out the world, and it was coming closer. Then the screaming started. A lady with an armful of shopping bags was pointing and shrieking at the sky. Soon a chorus of cries filled the air as more and more people spotted the black blotch in the sky.

Amanda shook herself. What was she doing? She needed to go! Amanda slammed on the gas pedal and jerked the steering wheel in a tight U-turn, not just hitting the curb, but driving all the way on top of it and parking in front of the repair shop. 

Amanda threw open the car door and ran towards the repair shop entrance, leaving the car running. She couldn’t quite explain the pounding in her chest or the spinning in her brain. All she knew was that the blackness draining into the sky couldn’t possibly be good, and she wanted to be as far away from it as possible. 

“Charlie? Charlie!” The bell rang as Amanda threw open the door. Relief flushed through her at the sight of her gangly boyfriend standing at the counter. In the light, his auburn hair looked red and his game face (which came out whenever he sensed the opportunity to “persuade” people into giving him what he wanted) looked almost comically intense. 

He looked over, annoyed at the interruption. “Yeah?”

“We have to go!”

Charlie tilted his head and started towards her. “Everything okay, babe?”

Amanda snatched his arm with both her hands and attempted to drag him towards the door faster, even though he outweighed her by at least fifty pounds. “No! Look outside!”

Charlie smirked at her admittedly atrocious parking job. In her anxiety to get to him as soon as possible, Amanda had parked on the sidewalk, mere feet from the front door. Finally, Charlie let his gaze drift upwards towards the sky. His jaw went slack.

“What the…”

There was only one other person in the repair shop. The shop owner, whose name tag labeled him as “Joe,” marched over with an extremely harassed look on his face. In fact, his whole body looked like the personification of the word “grumpy.”

“Ay! Move your car offa my sidewalk! What are you, stupid?”

“Hey,” Charlie said darkly, shifting to face Joe. “What’d you say?”

“It doesn't matter,” Amanda growled, heaving her weight against his back. She turned her head to Joe as she did so. “I’m very sorry. We’re going to leave right now,” she paused briefly to glare at the unmoving Charlie, “...and I suggest you do too.”

Joe peered around them and his eyebrows rose, fixing a look of utter shock on his face. He moved out the door in a dazed trance, staring fixedly up at the sky. He stood in front of her car, just outside the open shop door, face unfocused and drawn.

“Amanda, I don’t think we should go out—”

The constant backdrop of screaming reached a crescendo all at once. Amanda whipped her head toward the street. Her scream joined the mix.

At the end of the street, a wall of black was swiftly crashing towards them. It blotted out the sky. When it passed over buildings, benches, cars, animals, people—they disappeared in utter blackness.

The shop owner Joe took a final step out the door and stood facing the wave of black which came careening towards them.

“Wait!” Amanda screamed, but Joe stood resolute. Charlie grabbed her and pulled her away from the door so fast they fell to the floor, letting it slam closed. The cheerful chime rang, a little parody of normal life. It made Amanda feel ill.

The blackness arrived. 

It came rushing forward, cascading across the street. Amanda closed her eyes, waiting to die. Ten seconds and it would be over. She'd be dead in a snap. No pain, no worries. Surely just ten seconds and then it would be over. Surely…Oh, please.

One, two, three. She sucked in a breath of air. Four, five, six. Another breath. Seven, eight, nine. Another breath. Ten…

Utter silence. Amanda pried her eyes open. Black enveloped the building. The windows were black, outside the door was black. It was like staring into a black hole. 

“Did I go blind?” Amanda whispered.

“Nah, I see it too,” Charlie said.

Amanda tried desperately not to cry. There wasn’t a sound outside. “What’s happening?”

Charlie shook his head in bewilderment as he helped Amanda to her feet. She could feel her heartbeat buzzing in her head. 

“Why did everyone stop screaming?” she asked. “Where’s Joe?”

They stood looking out the glass shop door, seeing nothing. Amanda kept waiting for Joe to come running back inside, or at the very least to say something. But there was nothing besides the quiet and dark.

Eventually, Charlie picked up a broom which had been resting against the counter. “I have an idea,” he said. He carefully pried the door open and Amanda shrank back, expecting the black to come creeping in. It did not. Charlie held the broom handle into the darkness, swinging it around where Joe had been standing. He hit nothing. Joe was simply gone. 

Charlie slowly pulled the broom back inside, leaving the broom completely unharmed from its interaction with the black. 

“So, he’s…dead?”

Charlie shrugged. “I don’t know.”

They both continued to stare out at the darkness. Silent and deep. Amanda felt a hysteria start to rise up but she forced it back down. Now was not the time. She rested her head against Charlie’s shoulder. How long would the black stay? What was it? Were all those people gone forever? How would it stop? Her mind kept tumbling in circles. The most important question rolling around over and over in her head: How would they escape? All those people…suddenly quiet.

Charlie mumbled something and Amanda turned her head toward him to hear better.

“The car,” he repeated. 

“What?”

“Maybe we can drive out of this, if we’re fast enough.”

“You can’t drive blind, Char. Besides, it's in the darkness now. Maybe it’s not even there.”

But Charlie was getting energized now and Amanda had a sinking feeling. He never lost when he got that look on his face. 

“No, no, listen. You parked right by the door and you left it running. All we have to do is just make sure you hold my hand until I can touch the car and then if I don’t feel it I’ll come back inside. If I do feel it I’ll pull myself to the driver’s seat and honk to let you know it's safe to come join me.”

“And if you don’t honk?”

Charlie ignored that. He was already heading to the door. Amanda’s heartbeat sped up so rapidly she felt like her chest would burst. 

“Charlie—wait! What about Joe?”

“He wasn’t holding onto anything! Come on, I have a feeling this’ll work. Trust me!”

“This is stupid! Let’s just wait for–”

“For what?” Charlie interrupted, whirling to face her. “We don’t know how long we’ll be here and we don’t have any food or water. For all we know there is nobody to come for us. We have to save ourselves, Amanda.”

Amanda shook her head firmly, but Charlie took her wrist. His eyes were eager. “Trust me!” 

He always had a knack for getting what he wanted. Amanda gave in. “Okay.”

Charlie grinned and entwined his fingers with hers. Without giving her time to back out, he shoved the door open, the bell chiming gave Amanda a fright, and stepped outside. Amanda lost her breath when he disappeared, but his hand was still in hers and he squeezed once.

“Charlie? Are you alright?”

No answer. Perhaps the black had swallowed it up. 

Another step forward and then another. Her arm disappeared into the darkness. The next step had her arm stretched out all the way. But he should be almost there. His fingers slowly slid out of hers and she immediately tightened her hold. But he gently tapped her hand with his thumb. Almost there, trust me, Amanda imagined him saying. His fingers slipped away until only the very tips of their fingers were touching. 

Please, oh please, Amanda silently begged. She could feel her heartbeat in her fingertips and wondered if Charlie could too. She could see nothing of him, only felt the whisper soft touch of his fingers.

And then it was gone.

“NO!” She lashed out wildly, trying to grab him once again but caught only air. He’s reached the car, he reached it so that’s why he let go, that was the plan and it worked, he’s okay, he’s fine, everything is fine. 

Amanda imagined him grabbing the side of the car, edging his way to the front seat. Step by careful step. Now he would be prying the car door open, quickly, so as not to let the black in. He’s slipped inside now, she told herself. He’s turning the overhead light on and feeling the steering wheel and keys. His hand is hovering over the horn and he’ll push down any moment to let me know it’s safe. Any moment now. Aaaaany moment.

Amanda waited. It was completely still. All around her was black, empty space devoid of shape or sound. Her arm was invisible in its depths, no longer anchored to Charlie. She continued to wait, the seconds passing into minutes and continuing to drag on. No honk sounded in the dark. Just the emptiness. Had he gotten in safely? Had he forgotten to honk? Had the darkness swallowed the sound? Or had it swallowed him?

Amanda stared into the deep, dark black.

Waiting.