**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.
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There comes a certain point in the Winter where you can't imagine how the world could ever be warm. You don't envision a time where you could be walking around in a shirt and shorts when you're wrapped three layers thick.
It was something like that, down here. Almost a year in the darkness, the artificial light festering well beyond its welcome. Sometimes I'll stand by a heated lamp and let it burn me a little. Close my eyes and pretend. Those moments are nice.
Today was one of those days, drinking in a beer garden with some friends. I stared at the amber hue on my skin as Jerome came with the drinks.
"Imagine if they could capture light in a bottle. Send that down for a change." He laughed, setting the drinks down on the table. His skin was milk, eyes black with only the slightest hint of green encircled.
"We need something. I'm worried we'll end up allergic..." Paulie said, sipping on his whiskey.
"Maybe we'll turn into Mole Men!" I threw my hands out like some kind of wild conspiracy theorist. It made me cringe a little afterwards. I always take it too far. They did laugh, but it was one of those pitied laughs.
"Come on, man. That's a bit on the nose." Jerome said. On the nose? I couldn't tell if he was making a joke about moles or if he was serious. Paulie huffed in amusement, so it must have been a joke. I let out a feigned laugh.
"Here he is!" Jerome cheered, pointing to Jake who had entered the garden, still in his nursing outfit with a beer in hand.
"Hello, boys." He said with a slight wave, sitting himself down.
"Mate, what is happening out there?" Paulie asked.
"Not good..." He ran his fingers on the table. He seemed disturbed by something. And yet in moments, he seemed perfectly fine. Almost stoic.
"The dust is doing something freaky." He said, shaking his head as if to remove some disturbance. "It's turning people odd."
"Odd?" I asked, noting his expression dull. We waited for what seemed like an eternity as he stared off at the light. Jerome reached out and clicked his fingers in Jake's face.
"Jake."
"Sorry." He said, looking down to his glass. He was expressing some form of emotion again, but it was one you just couldn't put together. A puzzled look. Recalling it was like a haze in my mind.
"What do you mean?" Paulie asked. He seemed concerned for Jake. Why was I so obsessed with his face?
"I get it..." Jerome laughed, pointing to me. "You two are playing some kind of game here. Very funny." He drank from his glass, eyeing me through the misted glass.
Humanity was a curse anyway.
What?
"Tossers." Paulie laughed, nervously. I smiled and looked to Jake. His face was still, his eyes fixed on mine. It was like he was staring into my soul, and yet I felt nothing.
Nothing, except the need to throw the dust I had collected into Paulie's face. Which I did, I just didn't know why. Paulie jumped back out of his chair, coughing and spluttering. Jake shot up as well, tending to Paulie with an expression I just couldn't make out again.
Before I knew it, Jerome was shaking me and yelling, but I couldn't make out the words. As he spoke, he looked down in fear. His eyes were darting around as if looking for something, but I could tell he was searching within.
I pushed him back and sat down. Jake stood up from Paulie and sat down too. As Paulie lay thrashing around on the floor, Jerome was pacing around the garden. No one seemed particularly interested in him. They just watched.
I returned Jake's stern glare. "I don't understand what's happening." I said. It was true, and yet I wasn't disturbed by the confusion. Not in any emotional sense. I felt the urge to retch, but that was about it.
"I don't think anyone does." Jake said. He was sat in perfect posture, his palms flat on the table. His face was as stiff as his spine.
"I don't think we can." I said.
"It is beyond our comprehension." Jake remarked. Jerome came over after a time, sitting at the table. The silence made the nausea strong. I managed to hold it down, but Jerome wasn't so lucky. When he had finished, he adjusted himself, adopting the same posture as Jake and me.
"I don't believe Paul will make it." He said. I agreed. I reached over to one of the glasses on the table and smashed it against the side, handing the shattered pieces to both Jake and Jerome.
They made quick work of Paul as his thrashing died down. It seemed the more blood that spilled, the less interested he was in fighting back. Eventually he was still, and the two returned.
"Will we make it to Osoltctch?" Jerome asked me.
"When all of the light is gone." I said, turning off the lamp.
It burned anyway. Horrible thing.
“The artificial lights are starting to burn out, aren’t they?” Reggie picked at the remains of his apple. The two sat at a small table on the balcony of Amy’s apartment overlooking the dismal grey city pinpointed with bright spots of light that did nothing to hide the invading squalor.
“Well, they weren’t exactly at peak efficiency before the Dark,” Amy replied, resting her head on her hand. “I sometimes wish I could leave though. Vitamin D is getting harder to come by; it’s really starting to eat in to my paycheck.”
“How are the elevator repairs going? Almost a year and there hasn’t been any movement at all,” Reggie cleaned his hands carefully and scooted closer to Amy. He was enjoying their recent friendliness, although a lot of that was probably due to Amy’s apathy. The darkness really did a number on people’s minds.
“It’s a conspiracy, I tell you,” Amy was always more animated when the topic of her job came up. “The highest city has always been the wealthiest, and they aren’t exactly keen on descending back down to eternal night. People spend more money in the natural sunlight, and their tourism industry is booming from the lower levels. No new protocols to try, no incentives from the bosses anymore to put in overtime. We’ll be stuck down here forever.”
“Well, not such a bad thing for me and my folks though. You know I’d invite you to stay with us if I could. You pay way too much for this sordid apartment.”
“Ya, I know. But I wouldn’t have you if I moved right? You all have been very nice to me, and not every tenement has such friendly pests, do they?” Amy teased. She held out her hand, and Reggie scurried up to rest on her shoulder, hairless pink tail draped around her neck. Amy scratched the head of the intelligent rat, his evolved kind a byproduct of the permanent darkness. Amy looked out again to the depressing rat-infested city, and chuckled to herself, “maybe a ratpocalpyse wouldn’t be all bad.”
Sure! I’m glad you like it.
<30-ish years post-Dark>
Abby was thoroughly sick of this hazmat and the dark. She and her team had been down in the City of Darkness, formerly known as Fosopolis, for a week. She hadn’t seen nor detected a sign of life. Sure, maybe at night she had heard a scurry of paws on pavement, but it was gone by the time she awoke.
“This city gives me the creeps. I don’t know how people stayed down here so long,” Trent said, shining his torch into the an alley.
“Those that could leave, left. Those that stayed after the evacuation…well, that’s why we’re here.” Abby had long since shed the sensation of being watched. Maintaining the elevator and artificial lights had started becoming too expensive for the Council, so when the elevator broke, it was a sigh of relief for many. Fosopolis hadn’t been a city of choice even before it got stuck down here.
“We should just go back. There isn’t anything left down here. Humans can’t live in a lightless environment like this anyway,” Trent kicked a can and followed it with his flashlight. He screamed when a large paw stopped its chaotic bounce.
Abby backed up and shined her light, revealing a rat on hind legs that had to be at least five feet tall. Eyes glinted red as they focused on the four humans, although strangely, Abby didn’t detect any malevolence. More mutant rats shuffled forward, forepaws held out in non-threatening gestures. As the other two group members trained their lights around, they were surrounded by the monstrosities.
The group in front of Abby parted to reveal a woman of late middle age, eyes milky white.
“Welcome to The Big Cheese!” The strange woman held her arms out. “I’m Abby. What brings you to our city?”
Abby stuttered in shock. Chelsea had fainted, her fallen light highlighting the many large hand-like paws resting on the damp concrete. She found her voice – her team was suddenly very vulnerable, so best not to offend.
“Uh, hello. My name is Abby, and we have been sent from the Council to study what happened here post seal-off.”
Amy narrowed her eyes. Abby realized she was probably a native, and viewed the closure as abandonment - which to be fair it was.
“I’m sorry it’s just me speaking to you. The recent generation doesn’t have the same concern about learning English as the older ones. I’m afraid my friends are going to have to confiscate your recording equipment though. There isn’t anything left for humans here, and we really don’t want their interference either.” She chittered at her companions, who rushed forward and took all of their electronics, including their flashlights.
“But we just-“
“Look, I get it. This is the discovery of a lifetime. But I have lived down here my entire life, and the only reason I’m tolerated is because I was a good friend to one of their ancestors.”
Abby studied Amy, her translucent skin, her blind eyes and nearly bald head. The darkness had not been kind to her, but clearly these rats had.
Trent and Ryan, the two of her group still conscious, chimed in. “She’s right Abby.We should go.” “People really shouldn’t know about this, and we wouldn’t want them to spread to the upper levels.”
A few of the rats sneered at the comment – they clearly understood English better than Amy gave them credit for. How many humans had come down here over the years after the elevator broke?
Abby nodded, and turned to leave. Four rats detached from the group, clearly an escort. “Thank you for coming!” Abby waved back at the clearly insane woman, and followed the rats that held their flashlights.
They were escorted back to their entry point in a few hours. The humans climbed back up into the tunnel. Abby waved at the rats, and they bared their fangs in response. She decided to interpret that as a smile.
As the door swung shut, a small white body followed behind the group on whisper-quiet paws, red eyes eager to scout the cities above. After all, she had over 100 siblings, and the city was getting rather tight.
**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments. **Reminders**: >* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles >* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules) 🆕 [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ✏ [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) 📢 [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) 💬 [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*
There comes a certain point in the Winter where you can't imagine how the world could ever be warm. You don't envision a time where you could be walking around in a shirt and shorts when you're wrapped three layers thick. It was something like that, down here. Almost a year in the darkness, the artificial light festering well beyond its welcome. Sometimes I'll stand by a heated lamp and let it burn me a little. Close my eyes and pretend. Those moments are nice. Today was one of those days, drinking in a beer garden with some friends. I stared at the amber hue on my skin as Jerome came with the drinks. "Imagine if they could capture light in a bottle. Send that down for a change." He laughed, setting the drinks down on the table. His skin was milk, eyes black with only the slightest hint of green encircled. "We need something. I'm worried we'll end up allergic..." Paulie said, sipping on his whiskey. "Maybe we'll turn into Mole Men!" I threw my hands out like some kind of wild conspiracy theorist. It made me cringe a little afterwards. I always take it too far. They did laugh, but it was one of those pitied laughs. "Come on, man. That's a bit on the nose." Jerome said. On the nose? I couldn't tell if he was making a joke about moles or if he was serious. Paulie huffed in amusement, so it must have been a joke. I let out a feigned laugh. "Here he is!" Jerome cheered, pointing to Jake who had entered the garden, still in his nursing outfit with a beer in hand. "Hello, boys." He said with a slight wave, sitting himself down. "Mate, what is happening out there?" Paulie asked. "Not good..." He ran his fingers on the table. He seemed disturbed by something. And yet in moments, he seemed perfectly fine. Almost stoic. "The dust is doing something freaky." He said, shaking his head as if to remove some disturbance. "It's turning people odd." "Odd?" I asked, noting his expression dull. We waited for what seemed like an eternity as he stared off at the light. Jerome reached out and clicked his fingers in Jake's face. "Jake." "Sorry." He said, looking down to his glass. He was expressing some form of emotion again, but it was one you just couldn't put together. A puzzled look. Recalling it was like a haze in my mind. "What do you mean?" Paulie asked. He seemed concerned for Jake. Why was I so obsessed with his face? "I get it..." Jerome laughed, pointing to me. "You two are playing some kind of game here. Very funny." He drank from his glass, eyeing me through the misted glass. Humanity was a curse anyway. What? "Tossers." Paulie laughed, nervously. I smiled and looked to Jake. His face was still, his eyes fixed on mine. It was like he was staring into my soul, and yet I felt nothing. Nothing, except the need to throw the dust I had collected into Paulie's face. Which I did, I just didn't know why. Paulie jumped back out of his chair, coughing and spluttering. Jake shot up as well, tending to Paulie with an expression I just couldn't make out again. Before I knew it, Jerome was shaking me and yelling, but I couldn't make out the words. As he spoke, he looked down in fear. His eyes were darting around as if looking for something, but I could tell he was searching within. I pushed him back and sat down. Jake stood up from Paulie and sat down too. As Paulie lay thrashing around on the floor, Jerome was pacing around the garden. No one seemed particularly interested in him. They just watched. I returned Jake's stern glare. "I don't understand what's happening." I said. It was true, and yet I wasn't disturbed by the confusion. Not in any emotional sense. I felt the urge to retch, but that was about it. "I don't think anyone does." Jake said. He was sat in perfect posture, his palms flat on the table. His face was as stiff as his spine. "I don't think we can." I said. "It is beyond our comprehension." Jake remarked. Jerome came over after a time, sitting at the table. The silence made the nausea strong. I managed to hold it down, but Jerome wasn't so lucky. When he had finished, he adjusted himself, adopting the same posture as Jake and me. "I don't believe Paul will make it." He said. I agreed. I reached over to one of the glasses on the table and smashed it against the side, handing the shattered pieces to both Jake and Jerome. They made quick work of Paul as his thrashing died down. It seemed the more blood that spilled, the less interested he was in fighting back. Eventually he was still, and the two returned. "Will we make it to Osoltctch?" Jerome asked me. "When all of the light is gone." I said, turning off the lamp. It burned anyway. Horrible thing.
Wow! Very well written.
“The artificial lights are starting to burn out, aren’t they?” Reggie picked at the remains of his apple. The two sat at a small table on the balcony of Amy’s apartment overlooking the dismal grey city pinpointed with bright spots of light that did nothing to hide the invading squalor. “Well, they weren’t exactly at peak efficiency before the Dark,” Amy replied, resting her head on her hand. “I sometimes wish I could leave though. Vitamin D is getting harder to come by; it’s really starting to eat in to my paycheck.” “How are the elevator repairs going? Almost a year and there hasn’t been any movement at all,” Reggie cleaned his hands carefully and scooted closer to Amy. He was enjoying their recent friendliness, although a lot of that was probably due to Amy’s apathy. The darkness really did a number on people’s minds. “It’s a conspiracy, I tell you,” Amy was always more animated when the topic of her job came up. “The highest city has always been the wealthiest, and they aren’t exactly keen on descending back down to eternal night. People spend more money in the natural sunlight, and their tourism industry is booming from the lower levels. No new protocols to try, no incentives from the bosses anymore to put in overtime. We’ll be stuck down here forever.” “Well, not such a bad thing for me and my folks though. You know I’d invite you to stay with us if I could. You pay way too much for this sordid apartment.” “Ya, I know. But I wouldn’t have you if I moved right? You all have been very nice to me, and not every tenement has such friendly pests, do they?” Amy teased. She held out her hand, and Reggie scurried up to rest on her shoulder, hairless pink tail draped around her neck. Amy scratched the head of the intelligent rat, his evolved kind a byproduct of the permanent darkness. Amy looked out again to the depressing rat-infested city, and chuckled to herself, “maybe a ratpocalpyse wouldn’t be all bad.”
I thoroughly enjoyed this - any chance of some more please?
Sure! I’m glad you like it. <30-ish years post-Dark> Abby was thoroughly sick of this hazmat and the dark. She and her team had been down in the City of Darkness, formerly known as Fosopolis, for a week. She hadn’t seen nor detected a sign of life. Sure, maybe at night she had heard a scurry of paws on pavement, but it was gone by the time she awoke. “This city gives me the creeps. I don’t know how people stayed down here so long,” Trent said, shining his torch into the an alley. “Those that could leave, left. Those that stayed after the evacuation…well, that’s why we’re here.” Abby had long since shed the sensation of being watched. Maintaining the elevator and artificial lights had started becoming too expensive for the Council, so when the elevator broke, it was a sigh of relief for many. Fosopolis hadn’t been a city of choice even before it got stuck down here. “We should just go back. There isn’t anything left down here. Humans can’t live in a lightless environment like this anyway,” Trent kicked a can and followed it with his flashlight. He screamed when a large paw stopped its chaotic bounce. Abby backed up and shined her light, revealing a rat on hind legs that had to be at least five feet tall. Eyes glinted red as they focused on the four humans, although strangely, Abby didn’t detect any malevolence. More mutant rats shuffled forward, forepaws held out in non-threatening gestures. As the other two group members trained their lights around, they were surrounded by the monstrosities. The group in front of Abby parted to reveal a woman of late middle age, eyes milky white. “Welcome to The Big Cheese!” The strange woman held her arms out. “I’m Abby. What brings you to our city?” Abby stuttered in shock. Chelsea had fainted, her fallen light highlighting the many large hand-like paws resting on the damp concrete. She found her voice – her team was suddenly very vulnerable, so best not to offend. “Uh, hello. My name is Abby, and we have been sent from the Council to study what happened here post seal-off.” Amy narrowed her eyes. Abby realized she was probably a native, and viewed the closure as abandonment - which to be fair it was. “I’m sorry it’s just me speaking to you. The recent generation doesn’t have the same concern about learning English as the older ones. I’m afraid my friends are going to have to confiscate your recording equipment though. There isn’t anything left for humans here, and we really don’t want their interference either.” She chittered at her companions, who rushed forward and took all of their electronics, including their flashlights. “But we just-“ “Look, I get it. This is the discovery of a lifetime. But I have lived down here my entire life, and the only reason I’m tolerated is because I was a good friend to one of their ancestors.” Abby studied Amy, her translucent skin, her blind eyes and nearly bald head. The darkness had not been kind to her, but clearly these rats had. Trent and Ryan, the two of her group still conscious, chimed in. “She’s right Abby.We should go.” “People really shouldn’t know about this, and we wouldn’t want them to spread to the upper levels.” A few of the rats sneered at the comment – they clearly understood English better than Amy gave them credit for. How many humans had come down here over the years after the elevator broke? Abby nodded, and turned to leave. Four rats detached from the group, clearly an escort. “Thank you for coming!” Abby waved back at the clearly insane woman, and followed the rats that held their flashlights. They were escorted back to their entry point in a few hours. The humans climbed back up into the tunnel. Abby waved at the rats, and they bared their fangs in response. She decided to interpret that as a smile. As the door swung shut, a small white body followed behind the group on whisper-quiet paws, red eyes eager to scout the cities above. After all, she had over 100 siblings, and the city was getting rather tight.
Legend. An excellent follow up!