Hello, Darkness, My Old Friend

Her clothes were sopping wet and her lips were trembling as she basically sprinted across the pavement. ‘Of course a hurricane decides to hit on the one day I decide I don’t need my umbrella,’ Alex thought ruefully. This day couldn’t possibly get any worse.

Then, as if the universe was specifically tuned into her business so it could make her life as difficult as possible, she ran face first into another wet body. She swore under her breath as she backed away from the small figure she had almost tackled in her haste to get home.

“I’m sorry,” she yelled above the sound of pouring rain as she swiped her wet hair out of her face and bent down to pick up the book she had dropped, “I didn’t see you there.” As she slowly rose to look at the stranger’s face for the first time, she stopped short.

She had just bulldozed a blind old lady.

“That’s all right, honey,” she replied with a light chuckle, her voice lilting with a Louisiana twang, “I didn’t see you coming either.”

Oh, god. She didn’t know how to respond. ‘Was that a blind joke? Do I laugh? Does she want me to laugh? I mean she was the one who made the blind joke. Or maybe it wasn’t a joke and laughing would make me seem like a jerk,’ Alex thought, panicking slightly at the uncomfortable situation she had just literally run into.

She didn’t know what to say or what to do, so she just let out another, “I’m sorry,” looking at the ground and realizing she had knocked the old lady’s walking stick out of her hand. She quickly bent down to retrieve it with a contrite expression on her face.

As she carefully returned the walking stick, another thought entered her overactive mind: Why was this little old lady out here in this storm all by herself?

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Alex started, voicing her thoughts, “what exactly are you doing out here on your own?” Alex questioned, shouting over the whistling wind.

“I went on a walk gone wrong,” she replied turning her head slightly and smiling at Alex, “Apparently, the day wasn’t as nice as I imagined.”

Alex’s eyebrows furrowed together in concern, “Do you have anyone to walk you home?” she asked, looking around at the empty sidewalks.

The old lady’s smile faltered before she replied, shaking her head, “No, it’s just me, honey.”

And all of a sudden Alex was facing a moral dilemma. Should she take this little, helpless old lady back to her house and risk possibly being kidnapped by her secret associates, or should she just wish her the best of luck and make a break for the bus stop? Her options whirled around her head for a while, her eyes tracking the now approaching bus, before she mentally shook herself and lightly touched the old lady’s elbow to let her know she hadn’t been quietly abandoned.

“Would it be okay if I walked you home?” Alex asked with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

“Oh, honey, you don’t have to do that,” she said, shaking her head again.

“No, I want to,” Alex quickly reassured.

The old lady smiled widely, her cheeks crinkling like fine layers of chocolate, “Well all right then,” she stated with a small nod, “to 54th Monument View we go!”

Alex gaped at the little old lady for a few seconds before putting her brain back in her head. There was no way that this lady lived in the richest, snobbiest community in all of New Orleans. There was no way. But then Alex took a better look at her. This wasn’t your normal, run of the mill grandma; she was fancy. Decked out in elegant silk and understated, yet clearly valuable, jewelry this little old lady looked like a classic, wealthy TV grandma.

“O-okay,” Alex stuttered, taking the old lady by the elbow, “let’s go.”

15 minutes later and the pair of rain soaked women arrived at a grandiose, one-story white house.

“I think this is it?” Alex questioned, turning to look at the lady attached to her elbow, whose name she learned was Orena.

Orena repeated her address and Alex nodded, confirming the location before remembering her that her current company was visually impaired.

“This is definitely it,” Alex stated loudly, rain water running into her eyes and mouth, “Now let’s get inside before we drown out here.”

Orena fished out a key from her silken pant pocket and handed it to Alex.

“Okay, in we go,” Alex said, leading Orena through her large foyer and into the even larger sitting area. Strangely enough there was a large TV sitting in front a long white couch, and that’s where Alex sat Orena before hurriedly looking around for a light switch. She couldn’t seem to find one and the thunder and rain and wind and darkness were all making her increasingly nervous.

A particularly loud crash of thunder ripped through the spacious home and Alex let out a small yelp as she jumped in her place by the wall.

“Somethin’ wrong, honey,” Orena called out to her from her spot on the couch.

“N-no, everything’s fine,” she stammered, running her hands all along the walls until she finally found a light switch. She cheered as she flicked it on, only to be disappointed when the room refused to brighten with the artificial light of the room’s ornate hanging light fixture. “Seriously,” Alex let out on a frustrated and anxious breath, “just when I think today couldn’t possibly get any worse.”

“What’s wrong?” Orena asked, her voice sounding slightly amused.

“The power’s out,” Alex replied miserably, moving to go sit by Orena on the surprisingly comfortable couch.

Orena laughed, “Well, that’s not much of a problem for me, but you seem pretty upset about it.”

Alex let out a small chuckle before letting out a deep breath in an attempt to relax, only to tense up again with another flash of lightning and boom of thunder.

“I’m just-,” Alex started after recovering from her small panic, “I’m afraid of the dark,” she said in a small voice while staring at the coffee table in front of her. It was ironic, considering her companion, but she couldn’t hide how uneasy the darkness made her feel.

Suddenly, a warm, withered, and slightly damp hand grasped her own and squeezed it tightly before Orena’s warm voice filled the room saying, “Me, too.”

Alex looked up from their clasped hands to Orena’s face. She was smiling lightly and looking straight ahead at the TV screen.

“What?” Alex replied, confusion marring her brow and coloring her voice.

Orena squeezed her hand again. “Darkness is a scary thing, honey, I know,” she said, shifting her body so she was facing Alex on the couch, “Sometimes, I get overwhelmed with nothing but darkness surrounding me. Sometimes, I get afraid.”

Alex squeezed her hand and asked, “How do you deal with it?”

“I’ve found that the best cure for a fear of the dark is another warm heart,” Orena replied, smiling again.

Alex squinted her eyes against the darkness, trying to decipher the meaning of Orena’s rhyming words. “Okay,” she said slowly.

Orena laughed, “Company, honey,” she remarked lightly, “I’m talking about being with other people, knowing that you’re not alone. It makes everything, especially the dark, much more bearable.”

“But what if I’m actually alone?” Alex questioned, “What do I do then?”

“You take a deep breath and you call on feelings of love,” Orena replied easily, “You remind yourself that you’re never really alone.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve pretty much been on my own since I learned how to read,” Alex remarked bitterly.

Orena sighed lightly and patted Alex’s thigh gently with her other hand, “I’m sorry, honey. I know it’s not easy dealing with everything on your own, and I know we just met, but you’re welcome here anytime. If you’re feeling alone, you can know that I’ll be here for you,” she said sincerely.

Alex smiled. “Thank you, really,” she said giving the warm hand she was grasping another squeeze. “You know, it’s funny, when I first offered to take you home, I was afraid that you were a part of some secret kidnapping group of fiends and you were gonna try and take me hostage or something,” Alex laughed lightly looking over to gauge Orena’s reaction to her confession.

What she saw made her blood run cold.

Instead of smiling and laughing like Alex thought she would, Orena’s face looked dark and closed off, like she was about to do something she was going to regret.

“Orena?” Alex called out to her quietly.

“I’m so sorry, Alex,” she replied, her previously warm voice turned to a remorseful whisper, “I didn’t want it to happen like this, but we need you too much to keep you out of it any longer.”

Alex began to panic. She pulled her now sweaty and shaking hand out of Orena’s grip and scooted away from her on the couch. She should have known it was suspicious that Orena, an old and blind lady, lived in this big house all by herself. She should have known it was weird for someone she just met to be so nice to her, to welcome her into their home without question.

‘God, I can’t breath,’ Alex thought through the blur of her panic attack. She should have never taken this lady home. She should have never come inside. She should have never stopped to talk to her.

“Wh-what do you want from me?” Alex demanded in a breathy voice. Her head was spinning, her body reeling from its lack of oxygen.

“You’ll see soon enough,” Orena said lowly, her eyes shining a bright purple behind her sunglasses. With a snap of Orena’s fingers, Alex found herself succumbing to an unwelcoming darkness.