2020 First Place Short Fiction: Paige Kelly

“At First”, Class of 2023

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Jackson Feiner, Class of 2021

At first there was only darkness, a dark vast abyss that comforted all in its dark embrace. Little two-legged beings rose from this darkness, walking, breathing, living in this darkness. The darkness with its long tendrils tried to embrace these beings, but to no avail. Darkness created many gifts for these beings to earn back their love: animals, earth, water, and food. Darkness soon found a brightness; this brightness attacked darkness from within the two-legged beings: life.

Over time, the two-legged beings defiled the many gifts darkness gave them. Soon the light in the beings faded from a vibrant blue to an evil green; then that light slowly took shape into winged beings. The two-legged creatures started to worship these beings as their saviors. Slowly the darkness was attacked by the winged beings, for these beings wanted to corrupt the two-legged. All the kindness the darkness had given to the two-legged was wiped away, forgotten; all the goodness inside the darkness was leached away by the winged creatures. The once comforting darkness became cold and withdrawn. No new gifts came for the two-legged beings.

Soon a ball of light cleared away the darkness to create day. The two-legged beings learned to grow food, purify their own water, hunt their own prey. The darkness wasn’t what it used to be, so it gained a new name: night. Soon the two-legged ones became afraid of the dark. Angered by their betrayal and for sending the winged ones to attack the darkness, night sent terrible plagues to punish the two-legged beings. To this day, plagues still haunt the two-legged beings, an endless cycle of revenge, hate, manipulation and ignorance that will follow the two-legged beings until the end of time. Can there ever be forgiveness, can there ever be darkness again, can the winged beings return to the darkness?