full image - Repost: The Man in the Darkness (from Reddit.com, The Man in the Darkness)
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A stranger casually stabbed me in the chest as we crossed paths on the sidewalk."Pardon me," he said politely, and continued on his way.I kept walking for a moment, before I stopped.I stared down at the knife sticking out between my ribs. It was twitching with each heartbeat.It twitched faster."What—" I managed to say before I screamed and fell to my knees.Agonizing pain shot through me and only increased as adrenaline started to overwhelm my heart, beating it faster against the blade. My mind went blank. Every breath became torture.Blood slicked my hands as I pawed at the hilt of the knife.I have to get it out... It hurt so much. I have to get it out...My fingers found the hilt. They wrapped around it. My knuckles turned white.In one violent motion, I ripped the knife out of my chest—and immediately fell limp to the ground.Blood sprayed into the air, spurting in arcs with each heartbeat.I watched numbly as the growing pool of crimson reached my face.It was warm.Everything went black.I suddenly bolted upright in the darkness, gasping for air."AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" I cried out in horror and tried to stop the bleeding, my hands flying up to my chest—My chest felt normal. There was no pain.I sat there in shock, repeatedly rubbing my shaking hands over my chest to find the mortal wound.As I finally brought my hands up to check them for blood, I realized I could barely see them. There was only one source of light, and it was coming from the lantern on the stone floor nearby—Why am I on a stone floor? I latched onto this question like a drowning man clutching at a straw. Anything to distract me from the trauma of being stabbed. Where am I?I seemed to be in a tunnel of some kind, but the light was pointed at a wall, so it was hard to tell. There was something on the ground in front of the lantern that caught my eye.I crawled over to the lantern. It was an old miner's lantern, made of brass with a handle on top. There was a bowl-shaped reflector on the front that directed light from its small, open flame.Directly in front of the lantern on the ground was a weathered piece of paper. It was yellowed with age, and there was a message written on it.I picked up the paper and held it in front of the light. Its message was written in a splotchy, deep red ink. It looked like blood.This is what I read:THERE IS A MAN IN THE DARKNESSWHEN HE IS GIVEN TO THE LIGHTYOU WILL LEAVEWHEN YOU ARE TAKEN BY THE DARKYOU WILL REMAINFOREVERI read it three times in utter disbelief before I put it back down.What kind of sick game is this? I thought nervously, trying to stay calm. I grabbed the lantern's handle. Who brought me here?I was apparently in an underground, man-made network of tunnels lined with gray, chiseled stone. As I looked down them, the floor, walls, and ceiling formed a square, with each side measuring about twice my height. Down the tunnel in either direction, several others branched off at irregular intervals. In the distance, they simply dead-ended.It was a maze."Hello?" I called out. "Is anyone out there?""Yes," a voice replied from somewhere in the darkness.I shot to my feet, body tensing. It was the stranger. The one who had stabbed me. His voice was too fresh in my mind to mistake him for anyone else."Who are you?" I shouted, both angry and afraid. My nerves were fried. "And where am I? Why are you doing this?"Silence dragged on as I waited for him to explain. I swung my lantern around to make sure he wasn't sneaking up behind me."Better find me quick," he finally said. "Your lantern will go out soon."Find him? I thought, my mind almost snapping."Are you insane?" I yelled. "What is this, a psychopath's version of hide-and-seek? Am I supposed to shine the light on you?"No answer."TAKE ME BACK!" I shouted, my voice growing hoarse.Silence. Anything not lit by my lantern was pitch black.I stood there in the barren tunnel, taking slow, deep breaths, until I collected myself.My lantern was going to run out of fuel. I had to get out of there as fast as possible, so I started walking toward where I had heard the man's voice call out from.I turned the corner, revealing another empty tunnel."WHERE ARE YOU?" I yelled, not expecting him to answer.He didn't.With no other options, I kept walking until I reached another branching tunnel.I held the lantern up to check it and discovered something other than gray stone. There was a doorway along the wall farther down. As my light banished its shroud of darkness, the door became visible. Or rather, the lack of one.Iron bars were set into the floor and ceiling, blocking the entrance. I stepped up to them and looked through. Dread washed over me.It was a cell. A prisoner's cell. There was someone in the corner... but they seemed to be vibrating. I held the lantern higher in an attempt to see what was wrong with them.Spiders were crawling all over a desiccated corpse. Hundreds of them, maybe more. A seething mass of black, finger-length spiders.I was still staring, paralyzed by this horrifying sight, when it happened.The corpse slowly turned its head toward me. Spiders were crawling in and out of its open mouth, nose, and eye sockets.I screamed in terror and recoiled, almost dropping the lantern, then turned to run away. I fled down the tunnels, my light flailing chaotically through the oppressive darkness, until I ran out of breath.With the lantern safely on the ground, I put my hands on my knees and panted with rasping breaths. The tunnels felt like they were pressing down, suffocating me."She's one of my favorites," the man remarked from down the tunnel, sending a chill down my spine. His tone was sinister.I could tell almost exactly where he had spoken from.Without hesitation, I snatched the lantern from the floor and sprinted. My lungs hadn't recovered, but I needed to get him. There was no choice but to play his game, and I was going to win.When I turned into his tunnel, I thought I saw him at the edge of my light, but he had disappeared around another corner far away. The lantern's beam was noticeably dimmer than it had been before.I tried to keep chasing him through the abyssal dark, but I ran out of breath even faster this time. I went to lean on a wall and my shoulder hit iron bars.Whirling around in alarm, my light swept through the bars and into the room behind them. I made the terrible mistake of glancing inside.Something resembling a person was strapped down to a table. Their skin had been peeled off and—I ripped my eyes away, letting out a weak scream, and forced myself to keep running. I didn't make it far before I threw up and fell against a wall, gasping for air."Do you want to see your cell?" the man cheerfully asked from afar, his evil voice echoing in the tunnels. I could almost hear his grin. He was a predator toying with its prey.How is he so fast? I despaired. I've been running as fast as I can, but he's not even tired.Gritting my teeth, I held the handle of the lantern in a death grip and staggered towards him. I didn't know how much fuel was left, but I couldn't see as far as I did earlier. I had to catch him before the flame guttered out.Once again, I wasn't fast enough, and he had left by the time I turned the corner. I limped after him, struggling to continue.My body was spent, and I was looking down at my feet when my head slammed into a stone wall. A dead-end. My vision flashed white, and blinding pain overwhelmed me. Moaning, I slid down the wall, put the lantern aside, and held my head as I curled up into a ball.It was impossible. I couldn't catch him. Even if I was in perfect condition, he would still run circles around me.Across the tunnel, I watched the darkness slither closer as my lantern burned low. I didn't know what to do."GIVING UP ALREADY?" the man's voice rumbled from somewhere close.My heart skipped a beat. He sounded demonic. Inhuman. Like he was eager to tear me apart.Even though I was afraid out of my mind, I desperately tried to get up. He was so close, and I still had enough light to catch him. I almost made it to my feet before my legs gave out. My body, utterly exhausted, was betraying me."I can't do it!" I begged him, as I kept trying to make my legs work. "Please! Please just let me leave!""BEGGING WON'T SAVE YOU," he growled menacingly.My arms curled around my knees, and I began to rock back and forth in anguish.Why? I thought numbly. What did I do to deserve this?Tears rolled down my face as the light turned to a pale glow. Once the light faded away, I would suffer a fate worse than death.How was I supposed to catch the man in the dark? I despaired as I watched the darkness devour the light and creep closer. What kind of man would do this to people?"It's not fair..." I sobbed, emotions hitting me all at once as the end approached. "I just want to go home..."The pale glow turned to a dull yellow haze.He's a monster, I thought, turning spiteful. He's not a 'man' in the darkness.It was all a lie.I was never going to leave...He's not even a man...I looked down at my hands. It was almost too dark to see them now.Not even...a man......in the darkness...The lantern was seconds from running out of fuel when I suddenly lurched to my feet with the hysterical strength of a man facing his death."DON'T STRUGGLE." He was right next to me, just a few steps out of the light.I vaulted over the lantern and whipped around to face it.Its pitiful, dying light covered my entire body.With every last shred of my soul, I prayed it was true. And I screamed."I AM THE MAN IN THE DARKNESS!"The light went out.I jumped to my feet in wild panic before my brain could process that I was back on the sidewalk.I froze and touched my chest. My chest wasn't stabbed. I glanced up. I wasn't in the darkness.I was still bone tired, but otherwise, nothing was wrong with me.Could it have been a nightmare? Did I simply pass out on the sidewalk?No, I rejected immediately. There's no way it was a dream.I stared at my hands....Right?Instinct made me turn my head.The stranger who had stabbed me was walking away in the distance.For some reason, I ran after him. Maybe I just needed to know if it had all been real. Maybe I just wanted him to be normal—to put my fears to rest. Either way, I was determined to catch up to him."WAIT!" I shouted painfully. Even if it hadn't been real, my exhaustion was. My legs were cramping as I forced them to carry me forward. My lungs were on fire. My heart was almost tearing out of my chest."Stop..." I wheezed through my dry throat. I tasted blood. He was leisurely strolling along and didn't seem to hear me.My body was about to break down, but I was rapidly gaining on him.I was three seconds behind him when he turned a corner.Exploding forward to stop him, I spun around the corner and—I was met by an empty street.He was gone.
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