The Darkness

Short Story Day 3 of 365

Jason sat in the dark, not because he wanted to but because a storm had knocked out the power in the middle of the night.

It was a good thing to sit in the dark once in a while.

And yet it was terrible.

Good, because Jason never really sat in the dark and thought about things.

Terrible, for the same reasons…and more.

Regrets. Failures. Hopes dashed. More failures.

He closed his eyes and could hear the battery clock ticking away and the wind howling between the wind chimes. It was all so common, the wind chimes and clock. But he never quite heard them as clearly as he heard them now.

And it was all so delicate, this power and electricity thing.

Jason still could hear his own thoughts and it bothered him.

Not bad ones, mind you, just wayward, errant thoughts.  

Each night as he lay in bed, Jason thought through his day, but he never really was a deep thinker.

What’s the meaning of Life?

What happens next?

Is there an afterlife?

Is there a God?

What am I supposed to be doing in this world?

When the power kicked on a few minutes into his stillness, he opened his eyes and stared at the blank TV screen in front of him.

Like a mirror, the dark screen dimly reflected him and everything around him.

No actors, music, announcers, or sports on the TV.

Just Jason sitting on a couch, contemplating life.