Free The Eye of Madness by John D; Mimms

was their hammering hearts, and the hideous hissing of the dark. Emergency vehicle sirens wailed outside. The living darkness was responsible for it all.
    They were shaken out of their terrified state when another scream rang out from somewhere below. Even though it was muted by distance and walls, it drowned out the high pitched wail of the sirens. Someone else was in the dark.
    Rebekah poked her head up and peered down into the street. She took a deep, shuddering breath when she beheld the chaos. People ran, jumped, climbed, crawled and drove over one another in a mad dash to escape the dark. It was a bright sunny day, but it didn’t matter because the dark was everywhere. It was in every shade and shadow. The darkness waited for the next person to stumble into the shadows like an insect in a web.
    Rebekah clutched Malakhi as another blood curdling cry erupted from the street. A woman crawled about in the darkness beneath a large city bus. She shuffled on all fours from one tire to the next, screaming and throwing her head from side to side. She finally settled on the right rear tire. With a sudden serene calm, she laid her head in front of it as if taking a nap, letting the massive bus drive over her head. Rebekah gasped and ducked under the window. She still heard the sickening crunch and pop of the poor woman’s skull in spite of the other noise.
    â€œMomma, what is it?” Malakhi wailed. “Where did grandpa go?”
    â€œI don’t know baby, I’m sure he is fine,” she lied. She wasn’t sure about anything.
    Sensing movement, she turned back towards the closet. Had the door opened more? She could have sworn it was only open a couple of inches, but now the dark slit was at least a foot wide. The volume of the dark chorus grew. It seemed to both echo and permeate from the walls around them. They must get out, but she did not know how.
    The hallway was the only direct route to the stairs and elevator, yet it was completely dark and windowless. The only other way was air vents, which were too small for both of them, not to mention they were dark inside. The building had no fire escapes; however there was an exterior metal staircase at the end of the hall past the elevator. The problem was they needed to traverse about sixty feet of dark hallway to get there.
    There was only one small flashlight in the apartment and it was not bright enough to search for loose change under the sofa cushions. The one thing they had an abundance of was candles. Being a waitress was not a lucrative profession. It was not uncommon for them to have power shut off for a day or two before Rebekah could scrape up the money for their bill. Candles and a small battery powered radio helped then to get through those times. They owned a large Menorah they kept for Hanukah which held nine candles. She also had two regular seven candle menorahs. There were enough candles to fill all of those with several to spare.
    It just might provide them the light they needed to make it down the hallway. A spark of hope started to grow until she remembered the candles and the menorahs were in the closet. Their tiny flashlight would not make a dent in the closet’s dark interior.
    Rebekah searched for a solution to their dilemma. Desperation was about to consume her when something met her eye, something bright and shiny. As she moved her head backwards she was blinded by a brilliant flash of light. The sun was reflecting off of the bathroom mirror. Inspiration took over.
    â€œIf I can reflect light into the closet,” she thought. “It might be enough to drive back the darkness long enough to grab the candles.”
    Another thought hit her, one more exciting than the last.
    â€œCould the mirror be used to reflect light down the hallway?”
    After a quick mental calculation she did not believe so. No, the closet would have to do.
    Rebekah tried to rise to her feet, but Malakhi clung to her.
    â€œDon’t go,