The darkness swept over the far edge of the counter, and edged forward, inch by inch. The candles disappeared into it, one at a time, their light snapping off. JC and Brook grabbed a candle each and pulled them right back to the inner edge of the counter, to preserve their light. JC, Brook, Happy, and Melody, and the ghost girl Kim, all huddled together, looking desperately around them; but there was nowhere left for them to go. The dark had already swallowed up both ends of the bar, and they couldn’t back away any further. They were already pressed up against the empty shelves that had once been full of bottles. Until they’d exploded.
Brook looked bitterly at JC. “You’re supposed to be the great expert; you’re supposed to know what to do about things like this! Do Something! There must be something you can do!”
“I’m thinking,” said JC. “If anyone else has an idea, feel free to contribute.”
“I’ve still got my machine-pistol,” said Melody. “But without something to aim it at. .”
“Hang on to it,” said Happy. “In case we need. . a final way out.”
“Really not helping, Happy,” said JC.
He yanked off his sunglasses, took a step forward, and glared at the darkness creeping across the counter like a great black wall. His eyes glowed fierce and golden. And the dark stopped, holding its position on the counter like a dark dividing line. And then it pressed forward again.
“Ah,” said JC. “I was hoping for rather more than that.”
He broke off as the dark surged forward. It came on in a rush, like a predator pouncing on cornered prey, rolling right over the last of the candlelight. The dark slammed forward and filled all the room. The candlelight disappeared, gone in a moment, and even the golden glow of JC’s eyes blinked out. The dark hit the far wall behind the bar; and there was nothing left but darkness everywhere.
* * *
“Everyone stand still!” JC said sharply. “Nobody move an inch! Now, sound off! Is everyone still here?”
“I’m here, JC,” said Kim.
“I’m somewhere here,” said Happy. “Can’t see a damned thing. Melody, are you here?”
“Of course I’m here!” said Melody. “Right beside you. Here, this is my hand. Grab onto it. That way we can’t be separated. I will never let you go, Happy, never leave you. You do know that, right?”
“Yes,” said Happy. “But I do like to be reminded occasionally. I can feel your hand in mine, feel your shoulder pressing up against mine. But I can’t feel your presence, can’t feel anything. .”
“Brook?” said JC. “Adrian? Speak up, man; are you still with us?”
“Yes,” said the barman. “Sorry. Couldn’t say anything there, for a moment. It’s hard to. . to. .”
“It’s all right,” said JC. “Trust me; we’re all as shaken as you are.”
“Maybe more,” said Happy.
“Shut up, Happy,” said JC. “All right; everyone stay exactly where you are! This would be a really bad time to go wandering off on your own and get lost. Adrian, you may hold my arm if you like.”
“Got you,” said Brook.
“I said hold it, not crush the bloody thing!”
“Sorry.”
“I wish I could hold you, JC,” said Kim. “I feel divorced from the world at the best of times, and this really isn’t helping.”
“Okay,” said JC. “It’s important we all to stick together. The light might have gone out of the world, but we haven’t gone anywhere. We’re still in the bar. I can feel the floor under my feet and the shelves digging into my back. So the dark hasn’t transported us anywhere. That’s important. We’re still in the bar, still in the King’s Arms. We just have to figure out how to get the lights back on.”
“Very practical,” said Melody. “Almost inspiring. Can’t say it’s helping me feel any better. I’ve never known anything like this, never encountered a darkness as. . complete as this. I really can’t see my hand in front of my face. I know it’s there because I can feel my palm bumping against the tip of my nose; but I can’t see anything. Not even those little flashes of light you sometimes get when you turn out the light to go to sleep. And it is so cold, JC! I mean really cold! I am freezing my tits off!”
“It’s the dark,” said Happy. “No light, no energy, and eventually no life. We can’t stay here, JC. The dark is killing us by inches.”
“Come on, Happy,” said JC, a bit desperately. “Are you sure you can’t sense anything here in the dark with us? Any motivating force?”
“No,” said Happy. “I can’t sense anything; as though the dark is suppressing my ESP. I can’t See anything; and normally I could See your souls shining at the bottom of a coal mine. Small and insignificant things that they are. . I can’t hear anything except your voices. And all I can feel is the cold. My hands are going numb. Soon I won’t be able to feel your hand, Melody.”
“Don’t say that,” said Melody. “I won’t be separated from you. I won’t.”
“What are we going to do?” said Brook, his voice rising hysterically. “I hate this! I hate being here. It’s horrible.”
“Well, not crushing my arm with your hand would be a good start!” said JC. “Seriously, Adrian, calm down! Or I swear I will find your head in the dark and slap you a good one!”
“Sorry,” said Brook.
There was a clicking sound, followed by several more.
“What was that?” Happy said immediately. “You all heard that, right? Somebody tell me what the hell that was!”
“I’m trying to get my lighter to light,” said JC. “Ah! Damn!”
“Now what?” said Melody.
“I burned my hand on the lighter’s flame,” said JC. “And yes, it does hurt quite a lot, thank you all for asking. So the flame is quite definitely burning, but we can’t see it. We’re being prevented from seeing it, by the dark. Okay, I’ve turned it off again. Now I have taken off my sunglasses. Can anyone see my eyes shining? Even a little bit?”
“No,” said Kim. “Not even a glimmer. And I can usually see them even when you’ve got your eyes closed, when you’re sleeping.”
“Far too much information there,” said Melody.
“It’s like the dark at the end of the world,” said Happy. “When the sun and the stars have all gone out because it’s all over.”
“It’s not over until I say it’s over,” said JC. “Now everyone hush and let me think.”
They stood together in the dark for some time. They had no way of knowing how long. It was hard to get any feel for time passing with nothing to judge it against. Minutes could feel like hours in the dark. Every insomniac knows that. JC glared helplessly about him. He still had his sunglasses in his hand, hoping his altered eyes would let him see something if he gave them enough time to adjust. . but there was nothing around him except the dark. And the cold. And the silence. JC’s thoughts raced frantically back and forth, unable to settle on anything for long, as he raised and discarded one desperate plan after another. There had to be something he could do. . He’d never felt so small, so helpless and vulnerable. . It was like being a small child again, abandoned by his parents to the long marches of the night, after the night-light had finally been switched off.
No-one ever really remembers how scared of the dark we are as children because we couldn’t bear it.
“I really don’t like this,” Happy said miserably. “I was very afraid of the dark as a child. Until my psychic abilities kicked in; and then things got really bad. Because then I knew for sure that there really are monsters in the night.”
“I was scared of the dark when I was a little girl,” said Melody. “I thought there were things in the shadows, in my bedroom, watching me. Bad things. Waiting for me to fall asleep so they could get me. As I grew older, I swore I wouldn’t let myself be afraid of anything. And mostly I’m not.”
“Only mostly?” said Happy.
“I’m scared of losing you,” said Melody.
“Never happen,” said Happy. “Though I must say, it is entirely typical of you to wait till we’re trapped together in the dark, to guilt-trip me.”