As The World Became Dark: Chapter 1 (Part 1)

The young maid opened her eyes to darkness. The ringing in her ears sustained her dizziness. Half her face was in the ground; soft dirt smudged on her lips. She rolled over to get up but felt a sharp tenseness in her legs. Propping herself to sit up, she massaged her aching legs. Looking up at the sky she saw a dim impression of the moon. The night seemed cloudy. “Night? How long was I out?” It occurred to her that she was unconscious for some time. It was half past ten in the morning when she saw Madam Haddinger off. She rose off the ground and scanned the perimeter. No one was in sight.

She started to blindly walk across the lawn, following the dim sounds of dog barking. She then spotted him, the young lord standing at the entrance of the courtyard, looking out the gate. The little doggies were running around him. He didn’t notice her walk up behind him. “Are you alright sir?” she asked as she approached him. He didn’t respond right away. His gaze was fixed outside the gate. She could not guess his emotions for his expression was blank.

“Does she lie beyond this gate?” The young lord asked as he turned to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. “All the other servants are gone, my dear. I thought you were too.”

“Gone? You mean dead?” she asked despondently. The young lord drew her into him for an unexpected embrace. As he was holding her, she started to cry.

“All the servants are nowhere to be found. They have vanished. Dead or not, I do not know.” He released her to pull out a flashlight he had positioned on his belt. He flashed the light on her. “No blood. That’s good my dear.”

“Was sort of attack was this?” she wondered. She found it hard to focus on anything more than the young lord’s plight. He must have been yearning for answers before she arrived. “Where was his wife? Was she safe? Where did everyone go? What was happening?”      

“Sir, what do you intend to do now? If you are leaving, please take me with you.”

He handed the flashlight to her. She shined it on him and saw that his blond hair was dirtied, his blouse was torn, and his chest bruised.  His clothes were covered in mud. He looked back at her with a firm gaze.

“Don’t call me sir anymore. There is no need for such formalities now. Call me by my name, Edwin.”

She awkwardly looked down at her feet and then back at him. “Alright sir... Edwin.”

“And in turn there is no need to call you a servant now, Kethane. You are the only one with me now so I have no intention of leaving you behind. We are in this situation together, equals with one another. We must help each other survive.” Edwin turned around and started to walk back towards the mansion. The little dogs followed. “We are going to leave this place as soon as possible. We need to gather some supplies tonight. I want you to pack us any remaining food from the kitchen as I go fetch some medical supplies. Also fetch some warm blankets. We will ride in the truck, that is, if I can find the keys tonight.”

As they entered the mansion, cold air whooshed past them. They went separate ways. As Kethane walked up the grand staircase, she noticed she was crunching down on shattered glass. All of the huge glass windows surrounding the staircase were blown out. “An explosion?” But even so, that still did not account for this unnaturally cold night. It was almost freezing upstairs. She headed for the east wing where she knew the madam held her knit cotton blankets. There was a room at the end of the main hallway that she had never been inside of. It was the master bedroom. She never had the duty of cleaning inside it. For some reason she was especially curious to see inside now, lest she never returned. On the side of the door was an oil lamp, which she lit. She held the lamp in her right hand and smoothly opened the door with her left. As she walked in she felt a warm breeze. The windows in here were intact. The room was wide and spacious. The lord’s bed sheets were red with frilly edges, most likely the madam’s touch. She looked over at the luxuriant breakfront on the side of the room, which housed the madam’s personal items. Most of her jewelry and hair brushes remained. She opened the room’s closet and found three blankets placed at the top. She grabbed all three but as she was walking out of the room something caught her eye. There was a small envelope placed at the edge of the bed. She picked it up and realized it was sealed. It was addressed to Edwin, by the madam’s handwriting. “She must have written this right before she left…” She quickly placed the envelope in her blouse and carried the blankets out of the room. Edwin started to call for her downstairs.

“I got all the supplies I think we will need. We might encounter some bloody folks so I packed extra bandages. Let’s see what food we can get out of the kitchen.”

As Edwin walked ahead of her, she noticed he changed out of his muddy clothes. He wore a black pair of trousers without suspenders and a loose-fitting white hunting shirt. His long black frockcoat fell to his ankles. When they got to the kitchen, Edwin picked up a big cardboard box and started filling it with anything he could find. Kethane picked up a white sack and filled it with the fruit on the tables, which included peaches, plums, apples, and pears. She saw Edwin fill his box with the newly salted meats that were prepared the other day. Once they were done packing, they headed to the south gate of the mansion, where Edwin had his truck ready. Before they went outside, Edwin turned to her.

“You ought to change your clothes. Wear something fresh and warm. The temperature will drop even colder. The closet in my bedroom has some of the madam’s petticoats and coats inside. Hurry and pick something out of there then come back.” Kethane was a little uneasy to wear the madam’s nice clothes.

“Sir, are you sure I should do that?”

“Don’t be so concerned. We are about to go on a long journey. You have no need to keep your maid’s clothes on. What did I tell you before? You aren’t serving anyone. You will need to travel comfortably.”

At that she placed her sack on the floor and ran back up to the master bedroom. She picked out a modest looking black petticoat, with no fanciness or frills, and black overskirt that had a one accentuated bustle so as to appear proper but plain. She decided not to wear a corset, for it provided much inconvenience and little comfort. She picked out a light black coat to match the outfit. The madam didn’t sport bonnets as she did hats, so Kethane kept on her own bonnet. She remembered the envelope and placed it inside the coat pocket. When Edwin saw her, she could tell he was slightly disappointed. “Going to a funeral?” he heckled. Not replying, she picked up her sack and walked with him to the truck. He placed his box along with the sack in the back. They got in the car and headed in the same direction as the madam left earlier.

The road was pitched black. Kethane saw nothing as she looked out the window, not even the moon. The only light on the road was the car’s light. The chills made her weary, but she struggled to keep awake, watching Edwin as he drove. “I wonder what time it is.” He pulled out a pocket watch from his coat and handed it to her. The darkness was hindering her sight so she struggled to see the watch hands. Edwin noticed. “It’s about fifteen past two am. That was the time it was when we took off.”

“Thank you…” she shyly replied. As they drove she became colder even with her coat on. She reached in the back seat for a blanket. She unfolded and placed the blanket over her shoulders and knees. Edwin seemed to be unaffected by the weather. “I don’t understand why it’s so cold in the summer. It feels like the weather of winter past. This makes no sense…” she said with a shudder. “This makes perfect sense, if you think about it...” Edwin took his eyes off the road to hint at the sky. “There is no moon my dear. No stars... There was a massive explosion not far from here, probably a few miles away. The dust and ash from the explosion filled the air and blocked out our portion of the sun since this morning. It’s going to get even colder tomorrow. It will stay this way until the sky clears up.”

Kethane found herself opening her eyes to gloomy light. “I must have fallen asleep.” Edwin was still driving. She looked at the pocket watch she was tightly holding. It read eight fifteen am. “Six hours past? Have you been driving all this time?” Edwin did not answer her. He kept his firm gaze on the road. “Where are we headed?” She softly asked, trying not to sound overly concerned.

“We are headed for Maschuten, to find my wife. If she survived she will definitely be there.”