Dark is Light - by Greene M. Wills

https://Voice.club - Where did I leave my car?

The white surrounding me is uniform and unbroken, the same as pitch dark. Its milky light is blinding. A howling wind has cancelled any other sounds, I might as well be deaf…

My every pore feels under attack, as millions of icy needles prick my exposed skin. My body doesn’t feel like my own, so heavy with weariness, but my feet continue to shuffle forward.

I don’t remember why I’m here facing this storm, but where is “here”?

It feels like I have been doing this for an eternity as I try to cling to memories of my home, of my friends and of her. The images seem faded and everything feels futile, just slipping away, like the snow running through my fingers.

I know I must have walked in circles; I’m going nowhere, although I don’t even know where I want to go. The inexorability of all hits me hard and I’m aware that it’d be so easy. I can let go, lie down and go to sleep, rest, stop fighting, thinking, breathing…

Suddenly, I stumble and fall upon the frozen ground, the snow swirling around me like evil dervishes, but then I hear it. Her voice sounds so far away that I might be imagining it but I’m back on my feet, the effort nearly making me faint.

My mouth feels like it’s full of cotton wool but I shout back, every scream feels easier, every step lighter.

Now I can really hear her. ‘This way, my darling, fight it. Come back to me!’

Every atom of me reaches forward, her voice is now my beacon, my hope. Then I see her face, clearer and clearer, nearer and nearer. I’m not cold anymore as I see yellow walls around me. The wind has also stopped and it’s some machinery beeping I hear instead and another voice.

‘He’s fully awake now. The coma hasn’t left any damage, and he’s found his way back to you…’

It’s night outside the window but it’s always dark before the light.

This story is really wonderful, Greene - one of your best. It’s one of those stories you read, and then immediately read again to see how the author did it - like watching the Sixth Sense movie! Your image of white light as snow is very creative and perfect. As always, the voice of your reader is perfect. And the image you chose completes this presentation beautifully. I always look forward to new stories from you.

Thank you, Julie! I really appreciate your feedback. It’s funny that I wasn’t sure about this at all. I wanted to convey the fact that the protagonist is stuck in a sort of limbo (or at least that’s how I imagine it).

Sometimes too much light is as bad as pitch dark!

A truly unique story. Very clever that you blend a comatose state with a feeling of being trapped by snow. Also I like how you confuse light with dark.

A powerful and touching story of love and hope guiding through darkness. Beautifully written!
My favourite line is “but where is here”