The Dark World
Nightfall
A phenomenon is an act of wonder usually formed by a prodigy.
The prodigy, in the story that I am about to relate, is named
Gabriel Wood. Mr. Wood was indeed a prodigy. Not in the sense
of him being monstrous, such as the Hunchback of Notre Dame, or
in the sense of one having great talent, but one in the sense
of something marvelous. Now, the tone of "marvelous"
seems to be more of a positive term, used to relate a joyous
thing, but this story is not one in which joyous things occur.
Our story begins at Gabriel's home. Gabriel is sixteen at
the time, and the time until the phenomenon starts is thirteen
hours. Mind Gabriel has no idea of this phenomenon nor will he
know of its existence until many, many years later. Gabriel
seemed happy at this time, for he was. He had most of his
favorite classes on this day and thought of a girl in his
calculus class who he thought was very attractive, and with
that he began this school day. His day was fine, and he had
struggled to answer his mom's basic question "What did
you learn at school today?" He continually stated that the
school is stupid and he learns nothing he didn't know
already.
Now, it has been thirteen hours into his day, and he prepares
to retire as I prepare to explain to you of this phenomenon I
stated many times earlier in the story. I will describe this
event as Nightfall for that is what it was. The next day came
naturally as did the phenomenon. Gabriel's mother noticed
that her son failed to wake up. As she came to tell him of the
time of the morning, Gabriel said "Oh no. It is still
night time." As he glanced at his alarm clock he then said
"There must be a power outage, too." Soon Mrs. Wood
realized that this phenomenon made Gabriel Wood blind.
Night
Gabriel Wood remained blind almost for his entire life. And in
that entire time he refused to believe it. His family told him
time after time and he would return with "Oh no, it is
just night time. How can I be blind?" As he would look out
the window, he said, "And the street lights are out. There
must be a power outage. I'm surprised it has been out for
such a long time."
Later, when Gabriel was forty, a young boy, with the name of
Tim, noticed, at the house just down the block where no one
seemed to live, something very odd. There were rumors of it
being haunted, but as he walked up the road from his
friend's house, he saw an elderly couple walk into the
house. He refused the thoughts of them being ghosts since they
seemed to be as normal as his own parents, and continued to his
house. That night at dinner he asked, "Who owns the house
that is next to my friend's, Jimmy?" He then learned
of the state of Mr. Wood, and in a way felt sorry for him. He
started to visit hoping that the man wouldn't be lonely.
Mr. Wood said to Tim every time he entered, "Be careful as
you come in, it's so dark I fear you may trip." Tim
never did need him to say that. And there he felt the sadness
of how he must be to be blind, and the only way to cope is to
say it's night. It was this sadness that made him agree
that it was night.
Dawn: Part 1
It wasn't until Gabriel was 92 that he received his sight
back. He got out of bed to look for his family, but no one was
there, for they had all passed away. As he looked in the mirror
he wasn't the young boy he was before, but an elderly man.
As he would look for his friends, they were no longer there.
Tim left as well many, many years before. Outside the world was
so different, he thought he was somewhere else. But he was
where he has always been, in the same house for 76 years. And
he believed it was one night.
With no one to be with, the only thing he had were his
memories. 16 years of memories he had, and stood here with 92
years. He was filled with the sadness that Tim had felt for
him. And also like Tim he thought that it would be best for him
to believe life was only one night. That way, he could die in
happiness.
Dawn: Part 2
Out on the countryside, away from Gabriel, and Tim, and this
story, a small goldfish, in a small pond, would swim around its
little home. The fish would do nothing besides swim around in
that pond, for the fish had no memory. Every time it would
swim, it forgot it did so. So it needed to learn about its
home, and would swim around it again, only forgetting that it
did so. And a couple of years later, the fish would stop
swimming, and float on the surface of the water, never to move
again. As it would reach its last movement of its tail, it
would think of its life, and it never would have thought of the
meaning of its life and have nothing but the hope to learn of
its home.
Soon it would sink, and rot, and the fish would be nothing.