It was a day just like any other; nothing seemed out of place in the least bit. I was lying in my bed aimlessly tossing a paper ball in the air and catching it, repeating the cycle over and over again. My dog was on the floor next to my bed snoring loudly. I had been planning to go to Lea's house later on. Everything was normal, just the calm before the dreadful storm.
In a snap, the serene atmosphere was shattered. One moment my dog was sleeping, the next he was on his feet barking ferociously. It wasn't like he was barking at someone or something; he was just utterly terrified. I shot up, too fast apparently because I became dizzy, and went over to my window. I scanned the area outside, trying to find anything out of place. Everything was in order and there weren't any odd noises either. My door suddenly flung open and in came my mother with my younger sister following her closely.
"What is wrong with that dog?!" My mom yelled over the deafening barks.
"I-I don't know! He just-" my sentence was cut short by a sudden rumbling beneath us. The air thickened and the atmosphere became eerie and menacing. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Sirens went off throughout the town and I could hear a ruckus outside. Suddenly the unthinkable happened. Several Heartless appeared before me, their glowing eyes piercing into mine.
My sister let out a heart wrenching shriek of fear, a sound that will haunt me until the end of my days. My mother instinctively grabbed her and crouched over her small body. My dog completely lost it at that point, charging at the mindless creatures. Before I could do anything to stop it, the Heartless had engulfed him and began ripping him to shreds. It was mortifying. My sister was bawling, and my mother was trying her hardest to fight back tears, so I knew what I had to do.
I grabbed the bat that had been leaning against the wall and swung relentlessly at the Heartless, not really even paying attention to what I was hitting. To my surprise I noticed that they seemed to be depleting, slowly but surely. I kept it up until all of the monsters had been destroyed. I looked over and noticed that my mom and sister had disappeared.
"They escaped," I sighed to myself, feeling slightly relieved. Bat in hand, I booked it out of my room, ready to slaughter more Heartless.
I hadn't taken more than five steps before I was frozen in my tracks. My blood turned cold and my head began to spin. There was a plethora of Heartless all throughout my house. In the midst of the swarm I saw my mother and my little sister, lifeless on the floor and covered in blood.
A deafening scream escaped my being, ripping through the heavy air. For a moment, all I could do was stare at the monstrosity before me. My stomach churned into horrendous knots, making me nauseous. Every fiber of my being was overcome with so much agony...so much rage.
A Heartless clung to my leg, snapping me out of my trance. I shook it off and beat it with my bat, sort of releasing the emotions that had overtaken me at that moment. After recollecting myself as much as possible, I ran over to my mother and sister, sending heartless soaring through the air as I went. I knelt down beside my mother, trying to gasp for air. She was in the same position as before: crouched over my sister, holding her, doing he best she could to protect the small girl. I would've sat next to them and sobbed until there were no tears left inside of me, but there wasn't time for that. Since I was too weak to protect my family, I had to at least try and make sure my best friend made it out alive.
I bolted out the door, knocking Heartless away with my bat. The sky was a mixture of deep purple and black, with dark gray clouds thrown into the mixture. It covered everything as far as I could see, creating a suffocating blanket of thick, inescapable darkness. Buildings were collapsing before my eyes and people were being gruesomely torn apart by the Heartless. Innocent blood covered the streets and anonymous limbs were strewn all about.
I ran down the street toward Lea's house as fast as my legs would carry me. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes and flying back in the wind as I ran. I had to pull myself together if I wanted to survive. Suddenly a strong force slammed into my left side, sending me soaring through the air and knocking the bat out of my grasp. I grunted as I hit the ground and I was a bit dazed, not having a clue as to what was going on. Then a familiar voice rang in my ears.
"Isa! My family...they're all-" the voice, nearly in hysterics, belonged to just the person I had been searching for.
"I know, mine too." I cut him off so he didn't have to explain and relive what he had just witnessed. Of course I didn't know quite what happened, but it must have been similar to my experience. We seemed to be in about the same shape. I got up, then helped him up, and there we stood trying to pull ourselves together.
"Lea," I started, placing my hands on his shoulders and looking him dead in the eyes, "we're strong enough to get through this. I know we can do it." He returned the determined look I had in my eyes and nodded his head.
I picked up my bat and we gave each other one last reassuring glance, then we took off. We sprinted into the town, our feet pounding loudly on the pavement. The events taking place around us were sick enough to make a grown man cry. Mutilated bodies were piled up along the streets with Heartless feeding off of them, searching for what they crave most: hearts, memories, emotion. We couldn't stop to help anyone; there was no time. The Heartless were multiplying by the minute, and the sky was growing darker and darker. Debris was falling from the sky and covering the streets, blocking regular pathways and making it difficult to escape. We had to get out of there. Then the worst case scenario happened: we came up on a dead end.
"Of course!" Lea yelled, throwing his head back.
"Well don't panic, let's just-" I had turned to go back and look for a way out, only to find that a swarm of Heartless had followed us and we were surrounded.
Lea and I backed up slowly, not knowing what else to do. Everything was shrouded in such intense darkness, and my entire being was engulfed in a fear like no other. I looked over and Lea and wondered if I looked as petrified as he had. I looked back at the Heartless, accepting the fact that there was no way out, and we were about to die in that dark alleyway.
I looked down, suddenly remembering my trusty bat. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing right? I swung with all my might at a Heartless in front of me, but to no avail; this one was much larger than the others I had dealt with. It swatted the bat out of my hand, sending it soaring over the remains of the building we were up against. Not even five seconds later, the most intense pain I had ever felt shot across my face. Immediately after that, it happened again, but going the opposite direction, overlapping the first cut. It felt to me like it created an ex. No matter what shape it was in though, the pain was unbearable. I hit the ground, clutching the painful area with my hand. I could feel blood running down my face, getting into my eyes and mouth, covering my hands and clothes, dripping onto the cold hard ground. Lea collapsed on the ground next to me, grabbing my arm.
"Isa! Come on, stay with me...we're gonna get through this remember?" Lea's voice was shaky, and I could tell he didn't believe the words he was saying to me. I looked at him through squinted eyes.
"I'm not so sure anymore...look around. But hey, you've always been my best friend...all the way up till the end. Thanks." I said this genuinely; all of it came straight from the heart. I could see his facial expression changing from terrified to a sort of calm acceptance.
"Yeah...you too." He nodded his head. Even in the toughest situations, we understood each other.
The Heartless were closing in on us; it was only a matter of minutes by then, maybe even seconds. Both of us had started screaming at some point, and that was the last thing I heard before I blacked out due to blood loss.
The next thing I remembered was waking up in a white room with strange men hovering over me. My head was pounding but I could vaguely hear their voices all slurred together. My vision was blurred, but one of them had long blonde hair, another had long silver hair and dark skin, and another had a long silver and white ponytail. I also made out an eye patch and scar on that one. I was only awake for a minute or two, then I blacked out again.
The night the darkness consumed my world was the worst experience of my entire existence. I lost my family, my home, my friends... everything. Even my friendship with Lea was lost eventually. Darkness is a dangerous, powerful force and should never be abused for it can rip away everything you know and love before your very eyes.