The Day Darkness Got Its

Don’t hide. That was what his mom and dad had told him. Don’t hide. Live.

But sometimes he had to hide to live. Sometimes, when darkness crept over the world and horrible things prowled in the night, their howls rending the empty air, he had to hide. Sometimes it was up in the hollows of trees or in (hopefully) abandoned animal burrows. For a few nights, it had been in a tiny little chamber inside a cave, with a terrible clawed creature prowling around the opening, trying to scratch its way in, the sound of claws scraping on stone tearing into his sleep.

Every day, he lived just like he’d promised them, but he lived in fear. He feared that he wouldn't be able to find dinner and he feared that things would make dinner of him. Every night, he dreamed terrible dreams of teeth and claws and outstretched hands covered in tar.

All the while, Guy wondered why. Why had he survived? Why had he taken those few steps to the side that meant he hadn't gone slipping over that ledge into the tar pit? Why was he still going at all? What was the point of all this?