1
00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:07,719
Darkness by Charles Hilend Craig I am
told that coincidence in a story is an

2
00:00:07,719 --> 00:00:12,359
element for which editors and readers have
a dislike, which approaches the sparkling.

3
00:00:13,519 --> 00:00:19,120
But if a story be thirty three
and a third percent of each coincidence imagination

4
00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:25,600
on the part of the principal character
and irony, what then Coincidence, which

5
00:00:25,679 --> 00:00:30,280
is another name for destiny, played
its trump early in the life of Graham

6
00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:36,799
Fletcher, in fact, before his
life began, but it was many years

7
00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:41,679
before the stakes were dragged across the
table of life and into the lap of

8
00:00:41,759 --> 00:00:46,960
a sneering fate. He had all
started when his father, John Fletcher,

9
00:00:47,479 --> 00:00:51,719
was carried home after a terrific explosion
in which he lost an arm and the

10
00:00:51,799 --> 00:00:57,640
sight in two perfectly good eyes.
His young wife fainted at the horror of

11
00:00:57,679 --> 00:01:02,280
it, and only a week later
Graham Fletcher was born into the world.

12
00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:07,040
While on the wall opposite the mother's
bed, a dread phantom played hide and

13
00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:14,319
seek with the tremendous human eye,
the half of which was missing, And

14
00:01:14,519 --> 00:01:21,079
the years which followed baared mute witness
that in that terrible hour a gargantuan fear

15
00:01:21,239 --> 00:01:26,840
was transmitted to the soul of young
Fletcher a fear of blindness. Two.

16
00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:33,239
The daily sight of his stricken father
had its influence upon the boy as he

17
00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:38,799
passed through his early youth blindness indelibly
there was seared on his brain, the

18
00:01:38,879 --> 00:01:44,439
fear of it, the horror of
it. It was when he was fourteen

19
00:01:44,519 --> 00:01:49,159
that a prophecy was made about him. Now the fortune teller had given ample

20
00:01:49,239 --> 00:01:55,040
proof that she was just as elaborate
a liar as the average fortune teller is

21
00:01:55,079 --> 00:02:00,079
supposed to be. She didn't try
to tell his fortune in the orthodox way,

22
00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:05,519
however, in fact, he didn't
want her to tell it. It

23
00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:08,520
so happened that young Graham was just
as full of old nick as any boy.

24
00:02:09,599 --> 00:02:14,159
It seemed human nature to him,
then, to hurl pebbles at the

25
00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:20,439
horse tied behind the gypsy's wagon.
He meant no real harm, but that

26
00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:23,960
did not prevent a jagged pebble from
striking an eye of one of the horses

27
00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:29,639
in such a manner as to cause
the animal to scream fearfully, while blood

28
00:02:29,759 --> 00:02:35,360
spurted from the injured optic. The
wrath of the woman fell upon the boy.

29
00:02:36,439 --> 00:02:40,120
Hoarsely. She spoke to him in
broken English for that you pay.

30
00:02:40,759 --> 00:02:46,360
Hey, see you blind this horse. One day you be blind too,

31
00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:52,520
then you die. No doubt she
would have done more than prophesy had it

32
00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:55,879
not been for the crowd near at
hand. But it was more than enough.

33
00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:01,439
She had set her mark upon the
so of young Graham Fletcher. He

34
00:03:01,479 --> 00:03:09,159
would not forget. And so was
another coincidence born almost an inexcusable one.

35
00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:16,879
The years passed deeper and deeper into
the being of Graham Fletcher pushed that phantom

36
00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:23,599
of unrest. He had gone home
crying after the incident with the fortune teller,

37
00:03:23,319 --> 00:03:28,759
but he was never to forget.
It was shortly after that that his

38
00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:34,840
imagination began to work. Overtime.
He had bad dreams. That was the

39
00:03:34,919 --> 00:03:40,120
first development. In these dreams,
he saw a hideous old hag with vulpine

40
00:03:40,159 --> 00:03:47,919
features and hawk like claws striving to
reach his face his eyes. Bad dreams

41
00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:53,800
at night, if continued, easily, give rise to day dreams. Now,

42
00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:59,280
day dreams are supposed to be pleasant. They are if you sleep well.

43
00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:03,639
But Graham Fletcher didn't, and so
he began to see things even in

44
00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:11,199
the day. Many things happened which
increased his fear. There was the time

45
00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:15,560
a hard bodied little bug got into
his eye. It sickened him, but

46
00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:21,279
his terror overcame. Even the feeling
of nausea. A life in utter dark,

47
00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:26,519
such as that his father was leading, stared him in the face.

48
00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:32,560
He was afraid. Of course,
there had been other incidents. Once he

49
00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:38,319
had tried to play football, a
rough tackle which resulted in a black eye,

50
00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:43,680
put the taboo upon that forever.
Then there was the incident of the

51
00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:47,839
automobile race, when a driver ran
through the fence and a splinter of board

52
00:04:47,959 --> 00:04:54,519
struck Fletcher in the face, breaking
his glasses and cutting a deep gash under

53
00:04:54,519 --> 00:04:59,800
the left eye. The whole world, it seemed, was conspiring to do

54
00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:05,319
with the sight of Graham Fletcher.
Thereafter, he never attended the races,

55
00:05:05,879 --> 00:05:13,360
and though he needed spectacles, he
never wore them. Fletcher, of course,

56
00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:18,319
had his recurrent nightmare. Strange to
relate. The old gipsy woman failed

57
00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:25,759
to appear again. Instead, it
was something intangible yet quite real, which

58
00:05:25,759 --> 00:05:30,639
oppressed him. The change made it
all the more certain he was doomed.

59
00:05:30,879 --> 00:05:38,199
He never could figure out his illusion
satisfactorily. Sometimes he seemed to be crushed

60
00:05:38,319 --> 00:05:43,600
under a weight that all the power
of the world could not move. Again,

61
00:05:43,839 --> 00:05:48,399
it seemed that he was dropped through
infinite space, always though there was

62
00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:54,199
a sense of his eyes being dragged
out of him. At first, his

63
00:05:54,319 --> 00:05:59,519
awakenings would be with tears, Then
as he grew older, he would awaken

64
00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:03,800
in a state of cold, clammy
sweat. After the dream, there was

65
00:06:03,879 --> 00:06:09,759
little sleep for him again the same
night. It was when he was nineteen

66
00:06:09,879 --> 00:06:15,000
that he felt claws on his eyes. Thereafter, he left the light burning

67
00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:18,959
in his room when he went to
bed. It was only natural that Fletcher

68
00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:24,000
should try to find things to keep
him occupied, so that he would have

69
00:06:24,079 --> 00:06:29,480
no time to think of his illusions. He kept busy, but the phantoms

70
00:06:29,519 --> 00:06:33,720
continued to come. He welcomed with
avidity the chance to go into the north

71
00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:40,879
Woods for a short stay with two
friends. For a time, Fletcher was

72
00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:46,560
so busily engaged in the hunt that
he forgot his troubles. All would have

73
00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:50,240
gone well, perhaps, had he
not been left alone That night in the

74
00:06:50,319 --> 00:06:56,839
cabin, Jones and Gordon tramped over
to the station together to get supplies.

75
00:06:57,759 --> 00:07:01,879
They promised to be back before dark, and Fletcher had no premonition of impending

76
00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:06,759
disaster. During the afternoon, he
had hiked through the woods and later wrote

77
00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:15,000
several letters. It was when the
shadows became a bit flickery that Graham Fletcher

78
00:07:15,519 --> 00:07:20,879
felt the chill of the bitter cold
creep through him. Twilight fell. The

79
00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:27,079
black shadow among the trees had arms, now arms that groped for him,

80
00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:32,920
blind arms. They were blind.
He fled to the safety of the cabin.

81
00:07:34,399 --> 00:07:39,519
For a few minutes, the light
gave him comfort. Then he saw

82
00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:46,120
the shadows in the cabin, shadows
that moved. He jerked open the cupboard

83
00:07:46,199 --> 00:07:51,480
and took down a flat bottle.
He tasted the liquid, drank. He

84
00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:57,000
tried to read, but the shadows
kept creeping up one side of the page.

85
00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:03,079
The shadows sometimes they seemed to form
claws, claws that reached for his

86
00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:11,079
eyes. He drank again and again. Then he decided that his partners had

87
00:08:11,079 --> 00:08:13,959
stayed over at the station, so
he went to bed, leaving the light

88
00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:20,399
burning on the table. He put
the flashlight near him. His thoughts eased

89
00:08:20,439 --> 00:08:26,720
back over other days. He kept
his mind from the specter, and finally

90
00:08:26,759 --> 00:08:33,399
fell asleep. He dreamed. This
time a new trouble beset him. That

91
00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:39,559
bottle whiskey. He had read of
a number of deaths resulting from the drinking

92
00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:46,919
of wood alcohol in liquor. Now
he tossed feverishly, and after a while

93
00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:50,639
went to sleep again. The tall, old fashioned clock, to which he

94
00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:56,559
had paid scant attention, awakened him
when it struck seven. He lay for

95
00:08:56,639 --> 00:09:03,559
a moment, thinking seven the sun
would be up. And blackness was like

96
00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:09,639
a pall about him. It was
thick, hideous. He could almost feel

97
00:09:09,639 --> 00:09:13,840
it, hear it, taste it. Blackness. Could it be that he

98
00:09:13,919 --> 00:09:20,000
had heard wrong? That it was
still night? No where the lamp had

99
00:09:20,039 --> 00:09:26,320
been left burning on the table,
he could see no light. A cry

100
00:09:26,399 --> 00:09:31,039
of agonized dismay burst from his lips. His senses reeled, but by a

101
00:09:31,159 --> 00:09:37,480
powerful effort of his will, he
was able to reach the flashlight full into

102
00:09:37,519 --> 00:09:43,440
his eyes. He left it for
a long minute. There was no answering

103
00:09:43,519 --> 00:09:50,320
glow. God, he said,
Ah, fool that you are, Graham

104
00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:54,799
Fletcher. Had you but looked at
the oil lamp, you would have realized

105
00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:58,320
that it would not burn more than
an hour? And did you not throw

106
00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:05,559
away the useless battery in the flashlight? Yourself blind? You are not blind,

107
00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:09,919
Graham Fletcher, but you do not
know this. You are moaning softly

108
00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:15,120
as you reach for the gun beside
your bed. It is but the work

109
00:10:15,159 --> 00:10:18,279
of a moment to put the end
of the barrel in your mouth and push

110
00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:26,440
the trigger with your toe. There
destiny has raked the table clean once more.

111
00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:33,120
Jones and Gordon were appalled when they
saw the body of the suicide stretched

112
00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:39,360
out on the floor. No possible
motive made itself apparent to them. I

113
00:10:39,519 --> 00:10:45,240
suggest that this was a story or
coincidence. There is but one thing more.

114
00:10:46,279 --> 00:10:48,919
It is for the friends to glance
at the clock, note that it

115
00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:54,799
is five hours fast, and buy
some hocus pocus, decide at what hour

116
00:10:54,879 --> 00:11:00,200
their friend took his own life.
But they don't look, and therein is

117
00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:05,720
the irony. The clock will tick
merrily on until it has run down.

118
00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:13,559
The End of Darkness by Charles Hill
and Craig