"Do you know what it feels to just… You know… feel nothing?" she sobbed through gritted teeth, her body sprawled on the sofa, her palm resting on her forehead. The afternoon light shone through despite the closed curtains, and it was the light that she detested, and feared. She had grown so accustomed to darkness, that she did not want to accept anything beside it. Darkness had become her friend.
"You just… You just exist here and do nothing, and be nothing, do you know how that feels?" she wailed at the void. But every word she cried out received no answer. That was her life, every single day. Every single week. For five years. And no, she didn't like it. But it was easy. Easier than finding the strength to be happy.
Unseen to her, pools of black ink were seeping out from underneath the sofa, covering the floor of the living room. They made slimy, gurgling noises as they spread out, eventually climbing up the walls and rendering the room black.
She wouldn't have noticed it even with her eyes open.
A faint glow, the colour somewhere between murky white and light blue, appeared in the room. It was gone in an instant, as a young blond woman took its place. Her blue boots were planted in the ink, but they remained unaffected and stain-free. Her face was severe, her keen blue eyes darting around the room at the ink-covered walls and furniture. Her gaze fell upon the weeping girl on the couch. As she closed in on the girl, her expression softened with empathy. The girl reminded her of many others before her, the unfinished journeys, the unfulfilled lives. They were all because of the Darkness.
To eliminate it was her job.
The woman rested her palm on one of the walls and closed her eyes briefly. The faint glow reappeared, but this time on the scale of the entire room. Within seconds, all of the blackness had vanished, and there was not a single trace of ink left. Afternoon rays fell upon the room once again, and the moment the light reached her face, the girl sat up on the sofa, swept her hair away from her eyes and turned to the window.
"It's… it's a… beautiful day," she stuttered in realisation. "It hasn't been sunny in so long… Why haven't… Why haven't I noticed that before?"
The woman smiled, a smile that went up to her eyes. She cast a fleeting glance at the girl before dematerialising from the room with a glimmer of blue light.