You never thought the [[dark|Author's Note]] would have so much presence, but it feels cold and unwelcoming. Reaching out besides you, you trail your fingers over what feels like wet rock.
You can hear soft water rushing and bubbling nearby.
Keep stumbling in the [[dark]].
Keep stumbling in the [[dark]].
Keep stumbling in the [[dark]].You hear rustling behind you, not the shimmering whisper of the water but something...deliberate.
[[Turn around]]
[[Ignore it]]As you turn around, you feel all of the hairs on your body stand up like tiny icicles. Maybe whatever you hear is friendly, maybe it's just a stupid animal, [[maybe]]...The rustling fades behind you. You continue on your way, keeping your right hand on the wall of the cave. With the oppressive dark making your eyes useless, you are free to concentrate on what your other senses tell you. Your eyes were never good anyway, and the dark means that you don't see flashes of light swimming across your field of view.
But the dark is still terrifying to that pre-verbal part of your brain. You can't reason with this fear; you can only try to [[keep walking.]]Your musings are swiftly put to a halt by the nature of the thing behind you. You still can't see it, but you can <em>feel</em> it.
You will never not feel it.For the rest of your life, you will never escape the sound of your footsteps echoing in the shadow of rock.Author's note (not part of the story): In this game I talk about the dark and vision problems with which I am personally familiar. You as the protagonist also share these vision problems and they inform your relationship to the dark as a mostly-sighted person.