the dark in the light

Alone in the house, I looked out the window and saw only bright, white light. A sharp knock rang through the whole house. Only a shadow could be seen from the window, so I opened the door a tiny crack and saw nothing there except the shadow. Quickly, I shut the door, but it was too late. Even a sliver was enough to let in the shadow. It seeped through the cracks in the door like oil and flowed across the floor. It clouded my sight and consumed everything in its way. I wanted to scream and cry out for help, but the words were stuck in my throat. Besides what could possibly save me from this shadow? My heartbeat thundered in my ears and my body froze, the entire house was engulfed in black. Through the mass, a person-shaped light emerged. My heart stopped. My ex-wife came towards me. In a hushed voice she asked “Are you ready?” I stared wide-eyed and shook my head. She smiled a sinister smile and her eyes gleamed black. In her hand she held something I couldn’t see, but knew could not be good. The sounds of sirens and my own heartbeat filled my ears as my ex-wife lifted a knife in the air. I held my hand up to my face to shield my eyes from seeing what she would do to me, but that was a mistake. A sharp pain shot through my hand and I looked to see blood seeping from my hand. Confused, I look towards my wife, she came closer to me still and in trying to back away I tripped on something that wasn’t there. She bent over me and spread my blood on both of my hands. She then took my hand and rubbed the handle of the knife on it. With my hand around the knife that has my blood on the handle, she did something that made me freeze, unable to move even if I wanted to. She stabbed herself in the gut with the knife. The thundering of boots filled the ever-growing noises in my ears. The door was broken down and people I couldn’t see ran forwards. My ex-wife was lying on the floor, a stab wound in her gut bleeding profusely, but she wasn’t dead. I knew she would never have killed herself, that was not the point of this. What troubled me was, what was the point of this? I still held the knife. I dropped the knife, the others in the room heard the sound and turned towards me. They figured I must have tried to kill her. People, whom I assumed were police officers, ran towards me and snapped handcuffs around my wrists taking my freedom. I tried to explain what had really happened, but it was too late what had happened, happened. There was nothing I could do except wish that I had never made the mistake of leaving her, but you can see why I did.

​Anonymous