Through Glass(28)

It was the same as that first day except this time he wouldn’t leave me incapacitated, he would end me. I couldn’t let that happen. My body began to shake as I fought the pain, fought the weakness that covered me. My teeth clenched and I raised my head to the monster, my eyes digging into it.

“No,” I hissed through my clenched teeth, my voice deep and menacing as I threatened him, even though my body was trying to give in to the pain and pressure that filled me.

Not yet, I would die fighting if that’s how this ended.

The creature cocked its head at me as I fought it. The confusion was clear through its emotionless face. I grabbed one of the many water bottles that littered the bottom of the tub I sat in. I plucked them out from amongst the clothes, my weak arm throwing it at the thing that moved toward me only to bounce off his wide torso.

One after another I threw them, my voice screaming in panic as I uselessly tried to get the thing away from me at the same time as I tried to fight the pressure that pulsed against my head.

I grabbed another water bottle, the pressure in my head popping small white lights in my eyes. I screamed against it, I fought it. The white lights changed to blackness as my vision left. I threw the bottle without seeing, my aim going wide as tears streamed down my cheeks and my heart thumped uselessly in defeat. The water bottle hit against the wall near the doorframe, the plastic bottle slamming into the light switch.

The light turned on.

A new pain shot through my head as the light hit it, the brightness scorching my eyes. The burning in my eyeballs added to the pain I already felt; the sensations vibrating through my skull. I covered my face in an attempt to stop the smoldering burn, to stop the light from hitting my sensitive eyes, leaving me with only a dull, red glow as the light fought its way through my hands and eyelids. The monster screamed as the light hit it, its pain echoing through the small room.

Light.

I kept my face covered as the screams of the creature faded, leaving only a faint buzzing that I hadn’t heard in years. I listened to the buzzing while hoping the monster had gone and yet scared he would use this time to attack.

I had known from the beginning that they were afraid of the light. Now, I needed to know why. I tried to see through the red light of my hands, see if I could tell, to find out what had happened, but I saw nothing. The burn in my eyes lessening as my eyes adjusted, as the light flickered to nothing and I was left, alone, in the darkness.

It had been two years. Two, long years without power; how was there light? The creatures had banned it. I had tried to create it without success. Yet now, in the bathroom, moments before my death, a light had flickered on.

I lowered my arm curiously, my eyes continuing to sting from the light. I blinked furiously, waiting for my eyes to adjust, and then gasped when the empty bathroom came into focus. The dirty room was dimly illuminated by the light above my head which clearly revealed the wide circle of white ash covering the floor.

My heart sped up in my chest as I stared at it. The joints in my body tensing at the circle of white. I couldn’t look away from it. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to. From the very beginning, I had known that light would do something to them. It had been obvious; they had taken away the sky as well as destroyed anything that could create fire. However, I hadn’t expected this.

I hadn’t anticipated it to destroy them as simply as a flash of their talons destroyed us. I wanted to relax. I wanted to rejoice in the close call I had just experienced; the disposal of the thing that had tried to kill me. I knew better, though; they would be back. My only hope was that they may not know yet of this one’s death. That maybe I would have some time.

Or at least a weapon to keep them at bay.

I raised my eyes to the still glowing light above my head without understanding how it had gone on or why. I pulled myself out of the tub, the pain in my head and body fighting against the movement. My joints still ached from the Ulama’s attack on my body, my head throbbed as my nose still bled. As much as I wanted to race toward the light, I couldn’t. Everything in me was too sore and slow. I reached toward walls and toilets, my hands clinging to the slick surfaces as I shuffled toward the light switch that I had all but forgotten was there; my feet carefully making their way around the wide circle of ash.

I flicked the switch slowly— up down, up down—but nothing happened. No light came on, no buzzing of electricity. There had to be something I was missing.

I pulled myself onto the toilet and then onto the sink, carefully lifting myself to standing as my hands trailed along the slimy wall like a ladder.

The light above me was completely dark now, the large, box shape looking strangely bright against the dark wall, almost as if it was still glowing somehow. Glow-in-the-dark. How could I have forgotten something so simple? The concept had been long forgotten to me and felt new; as though I was learning it for the first time. The thought scared me. The possibilities of what else I had forgotten were unwanted.

I ran my fingers along the groove of the light, digging my long fingernails into the metal bracket that attached it to the ceiling before giving it one sharp pull. The box shifted, pulling down an inch before stopping. I readjusted my grip, clinging to the box as I pulled. The wires that held it into place snapped as I sent it to the ground.

I looked at it from where I was perched on the sink, my head turning to the side like a curious kitten. Four batteries lined the back of the light. Back-up power. It was an emergency light.