Chapter 1: Lost in the Dark

I woke up, and lifted my head. There was a small lamp hanging on the ceiling above me to provide a small circle of light, but beyond that was just black. I got up and looked behind me. A wall.

Where am I? I thought. How did I get down here? Not only did I not know that, but I couldn't seem to remember anything. I couldn't remember who I was or where I came from. All I remembered was a name: Erica. My name?

I looked down at my hands. They were white, but slightly tanned. My nails were painted a dark purple. I was wearing a blue jacket and a white belly shirt underneath. I looked at my bare feet. Their nails were painted the same color. I was wearing navy blue skinny jeans. I felt my hair. It was long and curly. I brought it around to look at it, and found it a black color. Almost as dark as the black in front of me.

I stood against the wall for a while, trying to think of what to do. I finally decided to go forward and search for an exit, but that brought up the problem of not being able to see. After a little longer, decided to try and bring down the lamp from the ceiling and take it with me, as it was just a normal oil lamp hanging on a hook.

The wall was rigid and uneven, and I tested to see if I could grip it. It was surprisingly easy, and I started to climb. The ceiling was about nine feet tall, but I got to the top in a matter of moments.

Then I realized. The lamp was too far away for me to reach. I tried several times, stretching as far as I could, but it was no use.

I thought for a moment, then decided to jump for it. Not the best plan, but there was only so much I could do.

I readied myself, pushed off the wall and reached out with my hands for the lamp. I managed to knock it off the hook, but it fell down with a crash and broke, releasing the oil.

It had not gone out, however, but I think that might've been better if it did. The fire immediately spread out to the leaked oil. I tripped trying to back away from it, and instinctively put my hands behind me to catch myself. But the oil, and there for the fire, had spread behind me, and I fell into it.

My hands fell right in the middle of the flames, and the pain caused me to flinch and I moved my hands out from under me, causing me to fall further into the flames.

I got up immediately, and tore off my flaming jacket. I stomped on it as much as I could to put it out, not caring I was bare foot. I put them out quickly, and my feet barely even felt heat.

The fire waned down. It had almost used up all the fuel. I dreaded the moment the light would go out and I would be surrounded by the darkness. I stared at the flames, watching them go down, and they went out.

I sat down against the wall with my legs curled up in front of me. I felt cold, all of a sudden. I felt for my jacket, and clumsily put it on. All I could think about was the cold.

Then, I saw a light. A soft, blue light, only a few feet away from me. I crawled toward it. As I drew closer, I could see it was another lamp. It was black and had a blue flame inside. But it didn't look attached to anything. It was just floating in midair.

Then it heard me. I turned around, and I could see it had eyes. Small dots the same color as its flame. I came closer, and stared at my hands. I didn't notice before, but my hands were now red from the burns.

It drew closer, and put its hand on mine. It felt like it was sucking my very life from me, and I jerked away.

It just stared at me longingly. Then I noticed the flame inside of it. It was small, just barely staying lit. It's dying. I thought, and reluctantly put my hand in front of it. It began draining me again, but it seemed to refrain from doing too much.

I saw its flame get bigger, and it stopped. We stared at each other for a while.

"Hi." It finally said. "Who are you?"

I thought for a moment. Neither of us knew who I was, so I said the only thing I could think of. "Erica."

"I'm Flicker." It said. "You can call me Flick. Thank you for helping me. I need to consume life energy to keep my flame lit. If it goes out, I'll die."

"Your welcome." I replied. "Where are we?"

"I don't know, really. I fell down here through a hole in the forest after being attacked by a weird man. Then the hole closed. I just want to go home."

"Me too."

We stood in silence for a few moments.

"How about we look for an exit together? I'm not getting anywhere without a light and you need someone to keep that flame lit."

"Okay." He said as he nodded. "I'd like company down here."

And we both walked off in search of a way out of the seemingly endless darkness.