Dark
The constant echo
The monotone dripping, echoing from far away fills the void of John’s sleep. A cool and damp breeze, if it even qualifies as a breeze, facilitates the echo. He wonders what sunlight would feel like, what it could feel like, but he knows he’ll never see it. He’s supposed to feel proud of being a 6th generation New World survivor but doesn’t quite understand why. In the last education session, they were taught that his generation has now adapted to living in this humid, dark enclosure and so being exposed to the surface would certainly kill them. They had no choice now, survival in these caves was the only thing keeping society alive.
The drum was struck and so it was time for the Recitation.
“Harsh, is the heat
Scalding, is the sun
Blinding, is the light
Of utmost importance, is the underground”
The herd of people could feel their voices vibrate in unison throughout the cave’s walls, a feeling of familiarity and structure which brought everyone together. John loved the ambiance, here he truly felt like a part of something, like something important. So, he wondered why his father didn’t feel the same way, he only seemed to say those words when the Olori wandered nearby, and even then he didn’t look like everyone else. His father would just reply by saying he’s getting old and doesn’t have as much energy, but John would still be a bit worried, after all, no one else seemed to be like that. Recently though, there has been some tension between the survivors, something about water but John decided that wasn’t his problem, the adults would sort that out, after all, he had classes to go to.
One day his father stormed into their outpouching and began yelling furiously, luckily his mum was there to calm him down. Last time someone was yelling excessively, that couple had to be moved to one of the border outpouchings, John wondered what was done since he never heard them again. Now his father, as usual, would go talk to his mother under the covers, quietly. Since John had been learning how for the society to function there should be no secrets, this time John went to listen in so he could see how useful this new knowledge would be.
“Anne, we can’t stay here anymore”
“I wish there were other options Owen, but WHERE are we gonna go huh? There is nowhere”
“You know there’s one option”
“How do you even know it’d be possible to leave? And not only that, but to survive? We don’t have anything useful here”
“Exactly. John will be in the last generation to live here; do you really want that? There must be a way, after all we got down here somehow. You know dad always told me; the Dark tunnel’s the only hope of preventing our society’s collapse. Have you seen how agitated people are becoming? And what’s gonna happen next? The Olori are gonna save us? Come on they’ve barely done anything, Oscar, Oliver and Orlando have just sat in their rooms ‘thinking’ but you KNOW they are incapable of finding a solution, how can they when there’s absolutely nothing down here. We have to make a move soon, before we have no energy left and we succumb to our own stubbornness”
“Surely the water will start flowing soon? Everyone’s been at work for weeks, it’s only a matter of time befo….”
“Look, it’s too late now, the ground has become impenetrable to our hands no matter what the Olori are saying, that ‘we’re almost there’, it’s not happening. Our tools have all almost rusted to the point of falling apart, so we’ve passed the point of being able to fix anything down here. Something should’ve been done a long time ago but now, we have to deal with what’s left, and you know what that is, no matter how much you can’t accept it”.
A long pause ensued, then, a sigh of acceptance filled the void.
“Ok. How are we gonna get John to leave everything behind to join us? Is there anyone else who’d be willing to come?”
“Just us”
John sat down, thinking about everything they had just said, what was going to happen to them? Should he tell everyone? Someone? Maybe everyone will come with them, or maybe everyone can convince them to stay? John barely noticed the tears trickling down his cold cheeks through all his thoughts. The next thing he knew he was half-asleep being carried somewhere.
John’s dreams were filled with episodes of blinding flashes and complete darkness. A lonely figure stood in the middle of them, completely motionless yet everything seemed to swirl around him. John woke up suddenly to the feeling of movement, but, quickly realizing it was during Rest, a wave of relief shook his body and he was about to lie down again when a candle flickered near him and he saw the serious face of his father looking straight into his eyes with one finger over his mouth. John didn’t know what to do, all he wanted to do was speak, of anything but just before he could do that his father placed a cloth over his mouth to quieten him. “I don’t want to go”, John pleaded, “it’s scary outside”. His father’s eyes began to tear up as he was tightly hugged, something John had only seen when his grandpa died.
“This adventure is the only option Johnny, please”
The sense of desperation made John feel stuffy, and some part of him accepted that he had to leave since his father would never have acted like this otherwise. His mother came with a backpack filled to the point of bursting, and they walked out of their outpouching, mother, son then father.
The soft ground silenced their footsteps as they walked past the other tunnels slowly reaching the Olori rooms – the fringe of their settlement. John couldn’t help but look around at all the different outpouchings and wonder what he’s leaving behind, but his father would quickly tap his head, reminding him to look at the ground and follow his mother’s footsteps. The calming dripping was no longer heard clearly, the air was empty. The Olori rooms to their right brought a certain anxiety about them, and John now felt that this was real. The Dark tunnel was in front of them. The unknowns began here.
