The Cabin

Darkness. Everything was cloaked in unforgiving and unrelenting blackness. A dull pain radiated from the base of Ronnie’s skull, creating a throbbing headache. He ran his hand down the back of his head, slowly as it neared the painful bump that was forming. Sticky, half congealed blood stuck to his fingers as he gingerly touched it, wincing at the pain. Slowly bringing his hand down, he sat up in the darkness and groaned at the pain that shot down his back when he did so. What had happened? Where was he? The last thing he could remember was walking home from work, and the eerie sensation of being watched. Then there was the crack of wood hitting bone, an excruciating pain, and blackness. His stomach dropped. What if his injury blinded him? He waved his hand in front of his face, hoping for some kind of reassurance. Nothing; he couldn't see so much as an outline

He let out a frustrated scream. “What the fuck’s going on?! This isn’t fucking funny.”

“You tell me!” called back a voice from the darkness. Ronnie jumped backwards, cringing as the motion jostled and worsened his already pounding head. He hadn’t been expecting a response.

“Can you see anything?!”

“Nah, it’s dark as hell.”

Ronnie felt a small measure of relief; at least it wasn’t his eyesight failing him and it wasn’t permanent.

“Try to find a light then,” Ronnie said. He crawled along the ground, each motion worsening the throbbing. He needed to see; the darkness was pressing in on him and it was becoming increasingly hard to stay calm. There was a faint thud followed by the rattling of dishes and a grunt from across the room.

Ronnie ignored it, gritting his teeth and continuing his search. There had to be a way out. There had to be a wall somewhere and there had to be a light switch.

“Hey!” Suddenly there was the scratch of a match, and a small ball of light appeared across the room. Ronnie squinted against the bright little sphere, and began to hurry towards it, ignoring the protests of his increasing headache.

Suddenly there was a small yelp of pain, and the match dropped to the ground and went out. Ronnie continued towards where the light had just been. Moments later another match was lit and the little ball reappeared, illuminating a pale, boyish face framed in dark hair.

“Sorry, burned myself,” the face clarified as Ronnie moved into the small circle of light. The match went out once again, and the boy lit another one.

“How many of those do you have?”

“Only a few left.” The boy’s blue eyes were filled with uncertainty as he glanced around at the darkness. He gestured to a table behind him, just on the brim of the ring of light the match provided. It was spinning slightly. “I found them on this table.”

“We’ve got- We gotta find a light or something,” Ronnie said as pressed his hand to his forehead. The pain was no longer dulled, and was clouding everything. He clenched his teeth and tried to focus on an escape plan. Darkness crept in on the already small range of sight provided by the match light.

“Are you okay?!” The other man garbled, sounding as if he was underwater. His concerned face was growing more and more distant, fuzz clouding his blue eyes into black circles before the blackness took over Ronnie’s once again.