Candle Light Hero
Clouds darken out the Cheshire grinning moon, as they roll slowly overhead. Large fat drops of rain plummet to kiss the earth. All is silent in the small suburban town, and almost all is as dark as it is silent. A small but illuminating light flickers stubbornly in the pitch of darkness. Resting like a beacon to the lost upon a small window. The world is not at peace as it should be. Chaos manifests itself in every quiet, dark corner of the town. With only one light, being a flicker of hope, all seems lost to the sweet promises of darkness.
A child slumbers within the candle lit house, curled up to one side, clutching a stuffed cat in small arms. The child slumbers while shadows dance and leap across the grounds beyond the reach of the beacon. The shadows wait for the candle to flicker as the wick burns closer to the melting wax. Then they move. Squeezing through the cracks of the door, spreading across the floor of the kitchen and up the steps toward the bedroom where the child sleeps.
The shadows bring forth chaos and fears. They would enter the child’s mind and strike up the night terrors to feed off of the child’s innocent fears. They seek to destroy all flickers of light and wonder, and in doing so kill off the hope and belief and imagination that stands for all of humanity. They draw nearer to the slumbering child. Finger like claws of oozing darkness slowly unfurls. Centimeters away from the child’s dark brown curls. When, leaping from the desktop that had been facing the window on which the candle burns. A cat, landing gracefully upon the bed. Eyes glowing with an inner light, teeth bared and sharp claws drawn out. The black cat lets loose a snarling hiss, worthy of any feline big or small, and stalks forward. Ears down low shoulders and back arched high, the guardian advances. Forcing the shadows into retreat.
Out of the room they flee, down the hall in haste, tripping down the stairs they sprint. Flashing through the kitchen and splattering across the door to slit through any cracks upon the entrance of the house. The door and window shake with the force of the fleeing shadows, their fear so great of the guardian they struggle to be quiet. The few shadows who strayed are quickly disposed of by a swift and deadly bite of the ever watchful sentry.
The door falls silent the house settles once more into a quiet peace and the black cat turns and heads back to his charge. Leaping back up onto the desk he curls up, mindful of the candle and rest his head. He gazes out over the yard into the darkness, ever watchful of those creeping shadows. His duty is far from over, but for now he rests. The child still asleep turns to face his silent candle light hero, a small smile spreading across chubby cheeks as his dreams carry onward to another great adventure. He squeezes the black stuffed cat once more and drifts deeper into slumber.
