Abyss - - by Kassandra Eam, Grade 10

Richard was your average sophomore, he got average grades, he was on the baseball team and was in student council. The only thing that made him different from the rest was the fact that he wasn’t sure of what was real.

Everyday he would scour the public libraries in search of something to tell him different. That he did exist. He looked for the answers in forgotten tomes and scrolls, in the Bible, in any religious writing he could get his hands on. But in the end he wasn’t sure what his answer would look like, or if he already knew the answer – that he didn’t exist.
Today, he was in the cellar beneath the cathedral in his city that held tomes, books, scrolls, and so much more.
Drowning in a sea of dust, he fled to the stairs that led back upstairs to the main hall. A beam of light shown down on his face, like a holy calling. But this light felt cold, and distant. If it felt like anything at all. Just as Richard was about to leave he heard a mumble. The hair on the back of his neck stood up. He knew no one came in after him, and that there were no secret doors down here.
Turning slowly he dashed his eyes from corner to corner, looking for the source. He saw nothing. And again, he heard another mumble.
“Who’s there?’ he called out, his voice cracking from not saying anything for so long. The reply was a monotonous one. “Not who, but what? If anything at all.”
Startled by the reply he once again looked for the owner of the voice. “W-where are you?” Richard managed to sputter out. Again, the voice answered lazily. “I exist here, there, everywhere, nowhere.” Angered and confused, Richard found a crumpled p piece of paper and threw it as hard as he could in to the darkness. “Pain is no reality, no matter how much you convince yourself it is.” The Voice said.
“Quit hiding and show me where you are!” Richard barked. There was silence. Not even the slight ruffles of paper could be heard. It was almost as if he had gone deaf. Just silence, until the ringing that pierced your ears from being in isolation for too long. “Very well, find me where the dark will rise.” The Voice said.
Another minute or two passed before Richard realized that whoever that was, was gone. Shaken up, he left. What did that guy mean? “Not who, but what? If anything at all.” “I exist here, there, everywhere, and nowhere.” And “ . . . Find me where the dark will rise.” What kind of person could bear to speak in riddles all of the time. The Cheshire cat popped into mind. Riddles always have answers.
“This guy is trying to give me answers. . .” Richard said to himself as he left the cathedral. The sun was setting, but there as still enough sunlight to walk home.
Richard began his trek home, not paying much attention to anything. Just trying to understand the riddles that The Voice had left him. The last one, he was chewing on. “The dark can’t rise. . . “Richard mumbled to himself. Kicking a rock to the other side of the street, he admired the odd shape that the rock’s shadow took at this hour. Then he realized it, that’s what it meant to meet him where the shadows rise. Richard made a mad 180 to face his shadow. Nothing happened. Still nothing happened. Until just that second the shadow began to rip itself from the ground.
No longer was it molded to Richard’s shape, but a rather bland figure. No hair of dominant features. As far as Richard could tell, this creature was flat. Just when things couldn’t get freakier, the creature opened its eyes. Sick yellow slits gleamed like the sun, and a white smiled that looked like it had been painted on there just sat on the creature’s face twitching with delight. The corners of the mouth went much farther than the eyes. It went almost way past the eyes in fact.
“What are you?” Richard gasped. The creature tore itself from the restrains of the Eart and turned towards the sun with it’s unchanging grin plastered on its face. “I am nothing, I am everything, I am anything the world wants me to be, but at the same time I am nothing when the world forgets me. Then it turned it’s terrifying face back to Richard. “You seek answers. I’ve come here to lead you to those answers.”
“I know.” Richard whispered.
The creature laughed and stopped abruptly. “You know nothing.”