Blackout Essay, Research Paper
`??????????????? The
cool October wind brushed the autumn leaves, making a sharp sound in his ear.
It was a simple wind that blew one second and left the next.?It was
a beautiful sight, Michael thought to himself . It was such a great feeling to
see his house getting closer as he crossed the road. Michael was getting
excited at the prospect of placing his key in his front door and the comforting
crunch of the key turning in the lock as the heavy door opened.?So
comfortable with the notion he had just created for himself Michael allowed his
neck muscles to completely relax and his head slumped towards the ground. His
eyes closed tightly, unwilling to see his head crash into the street, praying
that the pain would not last long, if at all. His eyes were jerked open by the
fact that his chin had just slammed into the ground and he laughed quietly to
himself, realizing that he would not be allowed to die that easily. He would
have to make more of an effort than just allowing his neck muscles to relax.
Michael focused on the street and actually began to admire it. Taking in the
splendor of the footpath, it?s the simple things in life that you notice. "Funny," he thought to himself.
"People drive up and down this street every day and do not even understand
what they are driving on." Michael did not quite understand what the
meaning of? the colour was, he glanced
back at the grey street again. This time it looked like there were more speckled
fragments of black than white.The blackness of the street was of varying
degrees, but it was still black. The blackness had come from various sources
such as oil stains and small rocks, but its presence, as well as the lack of
other colours began to confuse Michael. He shook his head and raised his
fluttering hands to his forehead, in order to banish these insane confusing
thoughts from his mind, but sadly his efforts failed.?Michael
faced the fact that he would have to again focus his attention to the grey.
With a heavy sigh he began to take the grey back into his mind, and his soul.
Michael became frantic as he began to search wildly for a source of colour,
some source of life, but his desperate search came up negative. Tears formed in
his green eyes and steadily made their descent down his pale cheeks, leaving a
salty trail of misery. As gravity took over the tears fell from his face to the
ground, making a silent ‘plop’ on the street.?Michael
felt disturbed as he saw the dark tarmac swallow up his tear, leaving only a
small round black mark as a sign of its existence. Unable to watch the sight
anymore he turned his head to the right, in hope of some light relief. For a
brief moment Michael’s small hopes lifted, triumphantly painted on the black
tarmac where two, seemingly unending, strong yellow lines. This sign of light
on the bleak scene made Michael smile and reach out to touch the lines. He
reached out, hoping that the lines were not manifestations of his imagination.
Realizing that the lines were real objects that could be touched made Michael’s
heart jumped. He ran his fingers across them, ignoring the rough feel of the
road underneath; such imperfections meant nothing to him at that moment.?It was
at that moment when Michael saw the one thing that robbed of his smile, the one
thing that made all his high hopes come crashing down, it was nothing gigantic,
yet it was earth shuddering, it was a speck of grey amongst the bright yellow
lines. Michael blinked his eyes, wishing that it was his over worked mind
playing horrible tricks on him. It was not. Once he opened his eyes from the
quick blink more and more specks of grey started to appear. Grey fragments
rained down on the yellow lines in their masses. Unable to focus on the gray
any longer, Michael raised his head, forcing the muscles he had relaxed only
minutes ago, to work again. He let his eyes follow the horribly imperfect
yellow lines to their destination. Michael felt like screaming when he saw that
the lines curved into all encompassing blackness.Unable to look at the horrid sight any more
Michael forced himself to look behind him. For a moment his hopes rose when he
saw a lone streetlight, shining a welcoming light into the world. Michael
caught himself in mid sigh when he realized that the light was a hoax, a way to
tease people into believing that happiness existed. Michael saw that beyond the
glorious ‘white beacon’ was nothing but another all encompassing darkness. Attempting to thrust his arms in the air
Michael felt like screaming again. He hoped to thrust his head in the air, but
was interrupted by the hope of finding something worth living for. Up above,
the clouds had engulfed the sky. The blackness had hidden the moon, his home,
his family, his friends and the stars. Only blackness.?Michael
wanted to run from it all, and, for a moment he felt content that the darkness
had not won yet. Now, though, he began to realize that the discoveries he had
made about this world tonight had taken a physical toll on his body. His fight
would have meant nothing at all if he gave in.?Michael
realized that it did not matter if he won or lost. The darkness had overcome
the light forever. For Michael it did not matter if he stood up to the
darkness. It meant nothing. With that he closed his eyes, allowing the
darkness to win.?He forced
his eyes open, unwilling to believe that everything meant nothing. Michael
turned his head forward, and his face actually felt the warmth before his eyes
saw it. Out of the darkness, he saw two beams of white light, the most
beautiful white he had ever seen in his entire life. He smiled, and he thought
for a brief second that he had actually laughed, was actually still laughing.
He was laughing before he began to realize that those two beams were coming
directly towards him out of the blackness. They were cloaking? him in their glow and he forced his entire
body to turn towards the oncoming lights so it, like his face, could bask in
the warmth.?His
arms, greedy for the warmth, reached out in front of him, hoping that somehow,
they could feel the radiance before the rest of him did.?The
lights were close now, so close that the white was actually beginning to blind
him. He fought off the urge to close his eyes so as the blackness faded away
into the white his final thought was about the beauty of it all before the
blackness completely faded away and engulfed him in its beauty. He was finally
happy: Truly happy.? ??????????????? The
man driving the car leaped out, not really comprehending what he had just done.
He looked at the crumpled body, the puddle of blood forming around the man. The
driver wasn’t quite sure and at this point, he really didn’t want to examine
the body, but he thought the dead man before him was actually smiling. The driver’s head swung frantically, searching
for some sort of help, but he found none. All he saw was blackness. Distressed,
he looked for some sign of life, and his eyes focused on the lone street lamp,
the lamp that offered a small sign of hope. He began to race towards that
light, hoping that there was more behind that light instead of the overwhelming
blackness that surrounded it.?But all
was dark….
317