Darkness

Darkness. Despair the colour of the darkest night painted itself on
the canvas of Susan Hill's heart as the upward motion stopped abruptly.
A high pitched whine emanated from somewhere unseen and Susan tried to
mimic it as she opened her mouth wide to let out a shriek that never
materialised from her dry panic stricken throat. A hand reached out in
the darkness, lightly touching her as the black shadows closed in on
her, stifling her - suffocating her. She tried to withdraw from the
unseen hand but the space was too small for her to avoid it and she
felt herself pressing against the cold metallic wall.
She heard the soothing voice as if it was a million miles away.
Disembodied. The initial panic was giving way to a nausea that welled
up within her. Her fear and anguish embodied in the bile that she
spewed from her mouth.
"Try not to panic, it's probably just a power cut." The voice said
reassuringly. Susan was not reassured. She wondered how long this
darkness would last. Was there enough air? It was a very small lift
that she and the well-dressed gentleman had got into. Would the air run
out? Another wave of fear shot through her and her knees buckled and
she bruised her knee as it hit the floor. The well-dressed gentleman
bent beside her unseen in the pitch dark of the disabled lift and
offered her some comfort.
"My kids!" she yelled, "what about my kids. I have to get out of here
in time to fetch them from school!" And then she sobbed uncontrollably
as the man tried to offer her words of support.
"I'm sure they'll have this thing fixed in no time at all. My name is
Hugo by the way. Hugo Wiltshire." There was an air of vulnerability in
Hugo's voice that made Susan unafraid of him.
Susan tied to pull herself together. Her eyes were starting to adjust
to the small amount of light that was filtering in through the lift
shaft. She saw that Hugo was a balding middle-aged man who looked quite
uncomfortable in the suit he was wearing. Silence. Neither really knew
what to say to one another.
"I've never liked hospitals," Susan said to try and ease the
uncomfortable silence, "but I suppose if anything happens to us in here
we'll be alright."
They both laughed uncomfortably at Susan's attempt to make light of
their awful situation.
"What brings you to Walsgrave hospital Hugo?" Susan asked
politely.
"I'm here to visit my uncle. He's 75. Had a bit of an accident. Broken
both his hips in a fall."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. It's terrible at that age when you fall
isn't it?"
"Yes."
Silence again. Dark silence that accentuates the sound of breathing. At
least they were still breathing. The air was going to last.
"What about you Miss .. er?" Hugo asked almost reluctantly.
"Hill. It's Mrs. Hill. Susan." She said, "I'm here to visit my
husband."
"What's the matter with him?"
"Oh, he .. er.. cut himself badly at work. Lost a lot of blood. They
are keeping him in for observation."
"Oh, I see," said Hugo, "What does your husband do?"
"Errm &;#8230; house clearance." Susan said. It was a fair
description of Frankie's job. What Susan failed to add, however, was
that Frankie usually cleared houses without the owner's permission. He
was a burglar. "What do you do for a living, Hugo. With that suit I
imagine you work in finance.
"No. Not me," laughed Hugo rather ineffectually, "Don't let the suit
fool you. I hate wearing suits. I prefer a nice sloppy jumper and
jeans. I came here from an interview I was attending and didn't have
time to change. I'm a bio-chemist from Cambridge."
"That sounds interesting," Susan said.
"Only to a non-bio-chemist," scoffed Hugo in an attempt to hide the
anxiety that was welling up inside him with relation to their situation
in the immobile lift.
"So what brings you to Coventry?"
"A job interview initially," replied Hugo, "and now this business with
my uncle."
The light in the lift flickered momentarily and then went out. The
sudden influx of light hurt their eyes and plunged them into total
blackness again for a few seconds until they adjusted themselves to the
very low light level again.
"Is that a black eye?" asked Hugo after seeing Susan's face briefly in
the small burst of light. He thought that it was strange that he hadn't
noticed it before.
"It's nothing," Susan said. She didn't want to let on how Frankie gets
drunk now and then. How they argue, "It's my own fault really. So why
do you want to leave Cambridge? I hear it's very nice there."
"It's a case of having to really. We're getting a new boss."
"And you don't like him?"
"It's not a him. And on the contrary - I love her. She used to be my
mistress until she went away. I don't want to take any chances when she
comes back. My life doesn't need complications like that right
now."
The brightness of the light was so intense when the lift sprang back
into action that they both instinctively covered their eyes. When they
had adjusted again, Susan was slightly embarrassed about the mess she
had caused by vomiting.
"It's not your fault," said Hugo and the doors slid open as they
reached the floor they wanted.
It seemed that Hugo's uncle and Frankie were in the same ward and it
also transpired that they were in adjacent beds. Susan said goodbye to
Hugo and watched him sit down in the chair next to his old uncle's bed.
She smiled a 'goodbye' and drew her own chair up to Frankie's
bed.
"Draw that bloody curtain." Frankie ordered her and she dutifully
obeyed.
"What happened Frankie?"
"The old bastard I was doing over got frisky and pushed me. I knocked
the old git to the ground but lost my balance and fell through the
bloody French windows."
"It doesn't look too bad Frankie."
"Good. Because the sooner I'm out of here the better. The old geezer's
only in the next bloody bed aint he?"
Susan looked at Hugo and his frail old uncle and smiled a smile of
shame.