The Flight

5. Seeking Solace

I only had one option: to run.
My arm was stiff from fear, and I acted without thought. I grabbed the flashlight from the drawer and made a run for it. The front door was only a few feet away.

The staircase was far less comforting than I had first imagined. It was flooded with darkness. The dark mist that had surrounded the man covered everything. The steps, the walls, the railings - all engulfed in darkness.
But being tentative was not an option. I didn't dear to take a look over my shoulder; even if it was tempting. Everything was still so quiet my ears seemed to have completely stopped working. Even my footsteps were muffled.
I held on to the flashlight - which I now realized was just like the one I had held on in my dream. But I didn't have time to think about that right now. I needed to find a bright place, where I would be safe. At least that is what I could make of it, considering the fact that my dreams didn't just appear to be just that.
The light would bring me solace.
I practically jumped down the stairs, not knowing where I was headed or if I still had to run. It was instinctual. It took about 1 minute to get to the entrance to my apartment building from the 8th floor that my apartment was on.
Out the door, passed the parked cars, across the road and the market square which were all deserted. Lifeless. Dead.
I needed to find a cellar with a back up generator. I knew that had to be one close by.

I found it just around the corner. Mr and Mrs. Swan's cellar only worked as a shelter for the unfortunate. They were a nice couple with a need to help.

In the cellar, I found the backup generator hidden under a plastic cover wedged in between to chairs.
I still didn't have time to think. It was as if my brain was only capable of focusing on the task ahead. I guess I was too afraid to let it run freely, and what that might do to my sanity.
The generator was up and running, and the cellar was basking in a yellowish light, very similar to the one in my dream. I was safe, I just knew it. I had found solace in the light. What I had been running from was nowhere to be seen. The light blurred out as my whole body relaxed.

Asleep on the floor, I was safe, for now. The light from the lamps were my night guard.
But I realized I had a much more pressing situation at hand. Because I thought sleep would be a good thing.

I was quickly proven the contrary, as my dream began to unfold.