Day 122: The Dark

Should be Day 156.  Another inspiration from a Bible verse.  Today it was 2 Cor. 4:6 "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness..."

 Pitch black.  No, blacker than pitch.  Imagine the blackest cat, the blackest cloud, the blackest pair of pants you have, and it was blacker than that.  My teeth chattered, but I forced my mouth to close.  Waves of numbing pain rocked my body so much that I could barely move.  I couldn't possibly imagine anything being able to grow under there.  

I had to find the light.  I thrashed my legs and reached upward, but my surroundings did not change.  I swallowed the panic that crept into my chest.  I just had to keep going.  I would eventually find the light, right?  My eyes adjusted to the dark, and even then, I saw nothing else but more black.  I kept trying to pump my arms and legs, but my bones felt like they were made of lead.  

Keeping my head up, I thought that if I kept moving in that direction, I would eventually reach the light, but I wasn't sure if I was moving up or sideways anymore.  It all looked the same.

Then, I noticed a stray ribbon of gold glimmer above me.  I blinked hard, thinking I had hallucinated it.  A few seconds later, another band of light streaked down.  Then another and a fourth.  The light pierced the dark and caused shards of the dark to scatter upon impact.  I moved faster now as the light became more focused.  Almost there.  Just a little farther.  I could taste the light already.  Closer.  Closer.

I'm sure if you were there, you would have heard the tremendous sound that came when I emerged from the icy lake.  The burst of light that showered on me was enough to send shivers down my spine.  No darkness could be seen anywhere.  I coughed and gasped and breathed sporadically, but I was smiling more than I ever had in my life.  Never was I so happy to be in the light.