Here suffered the skies, plastered with murky darkness that quells all forms of luminescence. The moon quivered away from the impending darkness; the stars vanished from the imminent dispersion of blackness.

At such a night, an old man stepped out of the house, glancing back at his final sight of light, closing the door with an unwavering will to burst into the darkness. Accepting the living presence, darkness latched onto him with primordial grasps, eventually enveloping him in a shroud. Despite this prevalent fiendish aura, there was he, the old man, nonchalantly descending upon the solid stone slabs. Little did he know that an oppressive wind would soon arrive to assail him from his right. With such a force did the wind arrive, coercing the poor soul to cringe beneath its all-mighty power.

Beneath the barrage of the wind, despite the fragility of his own vitality, the old man reached for his withered, blackened spectacles, his final remaining ally. How could he live with another loss? However, despair was the succulent treat for the wind. A scream pervaded through the skies as the wind grasped and flung the spectacles away. His heart racing, his face sinking, the old man frantically scrutinized his barren environment, scanning stretches of land for his beloved spectacles. At that very moment, darkness swept and obscured the spectacles from vision, with a malicious intent to impair its living prey.

Now the old man sensed the foreboding presence of the darkness and kneeled, commencing to pray for darkness’ mercy. Shocked was darkness at such behavior—how could one ask for mercy after entering its grasps? Darkness scoffed at this request and responded by amplifying the power of the wind, which blew ever-so-mightily.

The old man screamed in agony as the wind ripped upon him. Oh the pain! His body, gradually losing vigor, cracked with every rotation down the sea of concrete, blood erupting from his lesions as friction degraded his body.

After what seemed to be a year, as a radiant blue pierced the skies, darkness fled in terror from the sparkling skies and with it, the wind. Stillness arrived to the world as his blurry eyes received the blissful colors of the vivid skies. What a day! The sun shone upon all organisms with a glistening smile, bringing animation to all other things after a period of rest. Oh the vividness! Who knew such a terrible event occurred right before!

But the old man felt life escaping between the grips of his fingers. His hope, his will, his allies, his health—all disappeared with the darkness. Only one wish still remained with him; one wish that he longed for since the catastrophic event penetrated the deep innards of his soul. One wish that superseded even the wish to remain alive. One wish that was only attainable through death. Perhaps it was time to depart after a time apart. As he closed his eyes to bid his final farewell, images flashed inside his mind—the perfect alignment of teeth curving upwards to form dimples full of warmth, the cheerful, reassuring yips that imposed a mood of euphoria upon those who were within ear shot, the extended arms and open hands reaching towards him—such beloved memories shuffled into nothingness. Nearly a century of life dissipated within a moment’s notice.

The old man smiled, closing his eyes for the last time and embracing the void.