{Chapter 6}

The darkness swallowed me once more. Somehow it seemed more intense than before, more suffocating. It was strange, I had thought that with the sunlight growing stronger, the darkness would have faded slightly. It was as if the green leaves above my head absorbed it completely, rather than just enough to fill themselves with colour.

I kept my pace the same as it had started off as. If I started to panic now, I would be exhausted before I got back home, and mum and John would ask questions. I had to face my fears, and stay calm. Taking a deep breath and putting my head down, I headed further into the trees, where the path veered left and I would no longer be visible by people in the village. It was here that I was most vulnerable. I was invisible to people in the village, and I was invisible to whoever might be on the other side where me and my family now lived. It was also the darkest area, so that meant it was the most confining. If I was to confront and overcome my fear, I would have to pass this area as slowly as I could, and force myself to stay there for as long as possible. I had always been raised to face my problems head on, and that was exactly what I was going to do.

I quickly glanced behind me. I was expecting to see something at least, some sign of the civilisation I had just moments before left. Yet everything was black. Panic swelled in the pit of my stomach and I stopped momentarily to let it subside. I was going to confront this fear. If this unending sheet of black was going to harm me in any way, then I was going to rebel against it at least. I stood firm, adjusting my weight slightly, so that if I was going to run - which I was determined not to do - I would be able to straight away, without starting before I picked up speed.
Peering into the darkness was as if I were floating. I knew that underneath my feet was hard ground, stable ground that wasn't going to shift at any second, and yet, the darkness completely engulfed me, it was all I could see, and it took all physical feelings from me. It was as if I was completely numb. It was the sort of state you would like to be in if you were inviting death, and I certainly was not.

I shook my head, and with it shook that feeling away, and a new feeling arose. Something had changed while I had been floating, something important. My hands rolled up into fists and I atuned my ears to the darkness, listening for anything out of place.
There was a distant rumbling, a rumbling that shook the ground beneath me and continued throughout my whole being. It was all around me, and was soon accompanied by a deep growling. No animal I knew of could make a sound like that, and I was positive that no animal in my current surroundings ever would.
Suddenly the darkness was peirced to my left, from between the thick trunks of the trees. A peircing white filled my view and then completely swamped me. The black in which I had felt at peace in momentarily, seemed as if it was never there. My previous feeling of numbness, and the thoughts of death that followed filled my mind again. Weren't you supposed to see a white light when you died ?