Untitled attachment

Notices where this attachment appears

1. Embed this notice
   RS, Author, Novelist (sfwrtr@eldritch.cafe)'s status on Thursday, 02-Nov-2023 00:10:19 JST RS, Author, Novelist

   in reply to

   #Writever 10.15 — Ténèbres darkness CW?: #Halloween?

   The third time my sister came to my house to dispel the darkness surrounding me, she grabbed me by the arm and dragged me to the nearest clinic.

   I skipped trying to explain the visible aspects of my condition, to escape our being labeled as a pranksters. They found my vital signs good and pronounced I'd live to see another day. One nurse wondered if I were becoming apathetic.

   Dark cloud. Metaphorically, from their standpoint. Meant apathy?

   I explained it in gory detail to my GP at UCLA medical, but our proximity to Halloween made the silver-haired man smile benignly. I couldn't demonstrate on demand. The office ran a series of blood and urine tests, then ordered a sleep study. When I reminded him my mother had had a brain tumor, he finagled an MRI.

   All negative. The GP referred me to a psychologist.

   Going home, I thought how it would make a great Halloween costume. I, of course, hadn't seen it. Darkness, right? My sister joked I had Ténèbres Syndrome; her husband was French. She described it as being in a cloud on moonless night. She saw circulating tendrils of fog, but not me. When she said I'd turned into a Nazgûl, without the armor, I demanded an explanation. Then I growled, remembering her first visit, and reminded her that her last visit I'd put on a nightgown.

   Each time my sister took my hand, I could see again.

   The psychologist decided I might actually be apathetic, that I'd grown bored with office work. I slept too much. He theorized the "Ténèbres blindness" was hysterical; I doubted my future. He referred me to a psychiatrist for medication.

   My sister made a raspberry on the way home. "You're lonely." With two kids in her tiny apartment, I wasn't moving in with her and her /petit lapin/. "I think I can solve two problems," she added, "Quickly."

   Darkness descended before she arrived with my new roommate. I barely registered /The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown/ now played on the TV when my vision faded to black. I grabbed for the remote, heart speeding, before I'd fail to find it. I increased the volume, maybe because my sister was right. In utter darkness, loneliness /and/ helplessness closed in.

   Well...

   Were I to agree to a roommate, meeting them now would ensure no secrets.

   The doorbell bing-bonged. I crept along the wall to the door, then opened, saying, "Now might not be a good time."

   She gasped.

   A manifestly male voice said, "Oh, I'm sorry. Is something the matter?"

   Flustered hearing a male voice, and that my sister would suggest a guy living with me, I sputtered. "I'm a Nazgûl."

   "Oh, fun!" the guy said enthusiastically. "I wish I could see that. I don't mind Halloween parties. Apples, candies, especially good punch, and the sounds of all the people. Nice. I made a friend. Once." He petered out. "I'm Kwon."

   My sister asked, "Can we come in?"

   "Um. Give me your hand, first," I said, sticking out my hand.

   A big, slightly calloused hand touched, then gripped mine. His touch didn't dispel the darkness.

   "Um..."

   "In little-sister-speak, that's, 'Please come in.' There's a step down."

   The tap of a cane shocked me to my senses. She led him and he led me to the couch.

   He said, "We're blind."

   "No. I'm, um. It comes and goes. Total blackness."

   "That doesn't sound good."

   "I disagree," my sister said. "Now we can show the doctors." She touched my hand and my sight returned, showing an elderly asian fellow in glasses. He needed the cane for two reasons. When she let go, darkness enveloped me. "You're still afraid of the dark. How many nightlights do you have?"

   "Less than 15."

   Kwon said, "I've dealt with darkness since I lost my sight in 2003. Darkness has become my friend. I see with my ears and fingers. May I?"

   "What?"

   "Touch your face?"

   "I, um, okay." Hands delicately brushed my cheeks, nose, eye ridges, ears—then he took my hands in his. He had me do the same to him. Tougher skin, wrinkles, bristly cheeks. In darkness, I felt kindness, patience, and gentleness.

   The sudden distinct perception fascinated me.

   He said, "I could show you the ropes."

   My sister asked Kwon, "Do you mind crowds?"

   "So long as they don't crowd me," he said, laughing. "Good with my cane, too."

   "Don't worry, I'll go with you both. I bet I can find a dress or something in her closet that will be a suitable costume for the West Hollywood Halloween Carnival."

   "No, no, no," I said.

   Her voice raised. "Little sister, you'll be a Nazgûl with a cross-dresser as as a plus-one in West Hollywood. You've got the best costume. People will give you space... and we'll get plenty of pictures to show the doctor!"

   What an understatement. My Nazgûl "costume" made the local news, then then morning shows.

   [2 hrs. Author retains copyright.]

   #BoostingIsSharing
   #CommentingIsCool

   #fiction #fantasy #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #RSstory #microfiction #shorts #ShortStory #shortstories #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory