Darkness envelopes my body and I feel myself quickly blink twice.

“What the hell got me here?” I ask no one in particular.

“Hey, Dave, got us another one…” a voice calls out from what appears to be in front of me, although I cannot be sure. My eyes aren’t working properly anymore.

I rub my eyes deliberately, then ask, “Why can’t I see anything?” I also notice that I feel numb all over my body for some reason.

Suddenly, a faceless and bald gray-toned man comes into whatever is left of my vision. I am not sure if what I am seeing is reality. Aren’t people supposed to have eyebrows, eyes, a nose, ears and a mouth? This man (woman?) has nothing that could distinguish them. But somehow, still, it speaks to me in an expressionless voice.

“Can you remember anything?” the form asks from its invisible mouth.

I shift my thoughts around, attempting to piece together different bits of information, but as soon as they come to the front of my mind, they just as soon disappear. I shake my head sadly and answer in the negative. “Sorry,” I mumble as an afterthought, my eyes focused in shame on the blackness below where I am standing.

“Eh, that’s okay. No one ever does.”

I abruptly lift my head back up to face it, while my facial muscles twitch in untold agony. “So no one here knows what has happened to us?” I ask apprehensively.

The faceless form in front of me just shrugs. “It seems that way,” it speaks from nowhere.

I feel a cry rise up in my throat, but it becomes caught somewhere between my vocal cords and tongue before it can come out of my mouth.

“Hey, Dave,” another figure says, walking up towards the two of us. Apparently, the faceless person who I am talking to is Dave. “Shouldn’t we tell her what we do know? So, maybe…she won’t go completely mad like some of the others have?”

“The others?” I ask, scanning around for any other bodies in the narrow alleyway we are cramped in.

Dave puts a cold hand on my shoulder and calmly tells me that I am not seeing everything. “You are one of the few who can get any of us out of here,” he goes on to say. “If you stay too long, you’ll lose sight of the end of this alley that you are seeing right now. Don’t you see any light source at all?” Dave anxiously prods me.

His question forces me to look farther down the diminishing alleyway—it is becoming more and more hallway-like each couple of minutes I stay here (at least that is what they hold the appearance of being, although time does not seem so important here) with Dave and the other faceless figure.

“Ah!” I gasp when the speckles of light finally reach my eyes. “There,” I point with some excitement gathering in my previously emotionless voice, “There’s some light! Maybe around half a football field away, if my calculations are right…”

The other figure is now behind me and pushes me forward. “If you know what’s best, go towards those little lights that only you can see. We’ll gather up some of the others and come with you!” it says.

“But, wait…” I whisper, “There isn’t enough room for more than one to fit.” I fidget with my thumbs a bit, feeling terrible for saying that.

I almost hear a growl rise up in the nameless person’s throat, but it keeps the vocalization down, instead choosing to push me as far as it can. Strangely, for something so frail and dead looking, it has plenty of anger to throw me countless feet towards the slowly disappearing lights. “Just go!” it yells. “Or else we--you, I mean--will miss our only chance!”

That is the only choice now, as I feel more and more fear clutching at my being. I want out of here so badly--I miss home. “Home…” I think to myself while running at breakneck speed, “I’m starting to remember something…” My eyes close and I’m being brought back to before this horrendous nightmare that I’m having.

I am sitting in a chair, and slowly but surely, a table materializes in front of me. Someone else is sitting on the other side of the table, asking me questions, probing me about how I feel and what my life is like. What could have made me change into such a different, depressed child, what had happened to me to cause me to do…what? Seriously??

My own fingers grasp the sides of my freezing cold face, and I stop in my tracks as I finally remember the scene: me apparently alone, searching the medicine cabinet for the right pills, swallowing as many as humanly possible. Then, the sound of the front door opening as I lay unconscious on the carpet. The last image: two adult figures—my parents—hovering over my body, chilling screams, a 911 call, and then…nothing.

Tears slide effortlessly down my cheeks as somewhat of a realization hits me. “WHAT’S GOING ON?!” I screech, tearing at my hair, falling towards the ground. But before I can hit the floor…I hear something.

“Keep going, keep going, keep going!” unknown voices claw their way into my brain. Invisible hands push me back up in my moment of weakness, push me forward, make me go closer to the lights. In a few seconds, I am not even running anymore. I am being carried by something, even though I do not see anything below me.

“I’m here,” someone says to me, wiping my tears away, warming every part of my body, “and I’m not letting go. Never. I am always here with you, Kara. Don’t ever forget that.”

In the instant I hear that Voice, I feel a sense of peace come over me. I relax my body as I come to understand that He is for me; I can hear Him say that even though it was not verbally voiced. I can just feel that it is true as I let go of my pain and worries and give them to Him. I let Him carry me on, and in no time I am at the Light. There is only one now, but it has swelled to an immense size. I almost make to turn back to see Him, but my head will not do what my mind wants it to.

Instead, I feel hidden arms wrap around my body in a serene, comforting embrace. “Don’t look back, Kara. Go forward and escape. I will be right behind you. In fact, I will be everywhere around you. Please remember that, my dear child,” He says to me, gentle lovingness in His voice. I smile, leaving the darkness behind me, and I take the last few steps to that wonderful Light.

Lightness now envelopes my body and I awaken to the hope of a new day.

The Hollow is now behind me, and He will protect me from it as long as I depend upon Him.

Another smile finds its way onto my face as I grasp the concept that He--and He alone--saved me from the Darkness.